School board terms sought

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

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Three veteran city school district Board of Education members have decided to seek new three-year terms on the board.

“We all feel that we are doing a good job and want to continue doing it,” said Frank Palumbo, board president.

Palumbo, of Wilton, and board members Mia Pfitzer, of Wilton, and Jeffrey Piro, of Greenfield, are running as a team as they have in past elections.

Whether they will be challenged by other candidates is still unknown. Nominating petitions required to place a candidate’s name on the May 20 election ballot won’t be available until Monday, school officials said Friday.

Those circulating a nominating petition must obtain 100 signatures from people who live in the enlarged city school district in order to have their name placed on the ballot. The deadline for filing the petitions is 5 p.m. April 30.

Palumbo said that he, Pfitzer and Piro have run as a team in three earlier elections. They are each finishing their ninth year on the school board.

He said they want to continue to support Superintendent of Schools Janice M. White, who was appointed last summer to replace longtime superintendent John E. MacFadden, who retired.

Palumbo said he won’t be surprised if there are others interested in being on the school board. And he said he wouldn’t be surprised if no other candidates filed petitions.

School board members are volunteers and receive no pay for their work.

Palumbo is currently board president, Piro is a past board president, and Pfitzer a past board vice president. The three joined the board in 1999.

Palumbo is a licensed landscape architect and site development group manager for C.T. Male Associates P.C. in Latham, an engineering firm.

He has a degree in landscape architecture from the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University and a master’s in urban and environmental studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

He, like the others, has served on other community volunteer organizations such as the Wilton Recreation Commission, Saratoga County Arts Council and Franklin Community Center.

He and his wife, Susan, have two sons, Colin and Peter, who attend Saratoga Springs High School and the Maple Avenue Middle School.

Pfitzer has been active as a volunteer in the schools for many years. She served as president of the Home School Association at Dorothy Nolan Elementary School and has been involved with school drama productions at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Pfitzer has an associate’s degree in science from Northeastern University. She and her husband, Greg, live in Wilton. Their daughter, Sally, is a sophomore at Boston University and their son, Michael, is a junior at Tufts University.

Piro is a licensed professional landscape architect. He is a senior associate at J. Kenneth Fraser Associates and assists public schools and their architects with site and infrastructure requirements.

Piro is also a member of the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES Board of Education and is seeking a second term on that board as well.

Piro has been on the board of directors of the local American Red Cross, the Greenfield Town Planning Board and Saratoga County Arts Council.

He has a degree in environmental studies and landscape architecture both from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University.

Piro and his wife, Debbie, have two daughters and live in Greenfield. Abby is a 2000 Saratoga Springs High graduate, and Lauren is a 2004 Saratoga Springs High graduate and a 2008 graduate of Syracuse University. Piro’s granddaughter attends Lake Avenue Elementary School.