All candidates run at large. The three candidates receiving the highest vote totals will serve three-year terms beginning July 1, 2007. The fourth will serve from May 2007 through June 2008 to complete the remainder of the term left vacant after a resignation. Candidates running for the school board will participate in the PTO Council’s annual “Meet the Candidates Night” on May 1 at 7 p.m. in the Van Antwerp Middle School auditorium.
 

Debbie Gordon of 509 Windsor Court is seeking a first term on the Board of Education.
She currently serves as PTO Council co-president for the Niskayuna Central School District and previously served on Craig school’s PTO as co-president (2003-05) and corresponding secretary (2005-06). Gordon volunteers for several community organizations, including the Schenectady Hospice Gala Committee since 2000, serving as co-chair (2003-2005). She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Temple Gates of Heaven and was previously a co-president of the Schenectady Jewish Community Center PTO. Since 2002, Gordon has been the treasurer of the Medical Alliance of Schenectady County and has served as treasurer for several Niskayuna Youth Sports teams.
Gordon graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and earned a master’s in social work from Syracuse University. Gordon is a certified social worker who worked as a Rape Crisis Counselor in Syracuse from 1993-1995.
Gordon and her husband, Brian, have lived in Niskayuna for the past 8 years. Their two children, Aaron, a fifth-grader and Stacy, a fourth-grader, attend Craig Elementary School.

David Hudson of 2198 Story Avenue is seeking his third term on the Board of Education.
He has participated on numerous district-level committees including the Safe Schools Planning Committee, the Internet Safety Committee and Elementary Class Size Committee, and he also worked to support the successful January 2006 building project effort. He serves as Niskayuna’s school board liaison and voting delegate to the New York State School Boards Association and represents the district as liaison to D.A.R.E. He is the current school board liaison to Hillside Elementary and Van Antwerp Middle schools, and also previously served as PTO treasurer for both schools.
A network systems programmer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hudson is responsible for several network infrastructure protocol services. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial audiology from State University of New York at Fredonia.
Hudson is actively involved with his children in Boy Scout Pack 34 and Girl Scout Troop 358. He is also an officer of the Saratoga Lake Sailing Club.
A lifelong Niskayuna resident and a graduate of Niskayuna schools, Hudson and his wife, Trudy, have two children, Amy and Peter, who are students at Niskayuna High School and Van Antwerp Middle School.

Markley Opdyke of 1442 Valencia Road is seeking a fourth term (non-consecutive) having previously served on the Niskayuna Board of Education (1992-2001).
He taught foreign languages at Niskayuna High School for 30 years before retiring in 1991. Opdyke is the current chair of the Board of Trustees at his church, where he has served several terms. He served for two terms on the Board of Directors of the Niskayuna Co-op Market. Opdyke volunteers for the Salvation Army soup kitchen and home furnishings program, and also sings with his church choir.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in French from Amherst College in Massachusetts, and studied in France for one year on a Fulbright Fellowship before earning his master’s in teaching from Harvard University in Boston.
Opdyke and his wife, Kay, have been residents of Niskayuna since 1976, and have two sons, Daniel and David, who both graduated from Niskayuna High School.

Deb Oriola of 1226 Viewmont Drive in Niskayuna is seeking a first term on the Board of Education.
She is currently a member of the Rosendale Elementary School PTO and previously served as PTO treasurer (2003-05) and co-chair of the learning fair (1999-2004). She had participated on Rosendale’s Shared Decision Making Committee (2001-2003), and currently serves on Niskayuna High School's Shared Decision Making Committee. Oriola is a current member of the district’s Gifted Learning and Enrichment at Niskayuna (GLEAN) Committee. She is a co-leader of Girl Scout Troop 441.
She earned a master’s of business administration from the State University at Albany, and is employed as a program manager for the University’s School of Public Health Continuing Education Department. Oriola received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
She and her husband, Chuck Batzinger, have resided in Niskayuna since 1997 and have two children: Peter, a freshman at Niskayuna High School, and Kate, a fifth-grader at Rosendale Elementary School.

Jeanne Sosnow of 37 Dublin Drive is seeking her second term on the Board of Education.
She has participated on numerous district-level committees including the District Safety Committee, the Audit Committee, of which she is chair, and the district’s 50th Anniversary Committee. She helped facilitate the successful January 2006 building project effort and serves as the board liaison to the Community Education program.
She served as both president and treasurer for the Niskayuna PTO Council. Sosnow was also president of Birchwood and Niskayuna High School PTOs and was a member of Iroquois Middle School’s Shared Decision Making team.
Sosnow was a founding member of the Niskayuna Community Partnership, and served as N-CAP Niska-Game coordinator.
Prior to serving on the board, she was employed as an instructional assistant in the Niskayuna schools. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bucknell University.
Sosnow and her husband, -Peter, have lived in Niskayuna for 17 years and have three children: Sara, a graduate of Niskayuna High School, and Emily and Molly, who both attend Niskayuna High School.

(April 2007)