Board of Education

The Tech Valley High School Board of Education is comprised of 10 members, five representing the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education and five representing the Questar III Board of Education.

Board members are: President, Paul Puccio of Schodack, Vice-President, Jeff Bradt of Cohoes, Sandra Beloncik of Rotterdam; John Bergeron of Schenectady; Edmund Brooks of Valatie; Robert Gibson of Troy; Nancy Knabbe of Ghent; Kevin Kutzscher of Sharon Springs; Lynne Lenhardt of Delmar; and Carol Orvis of Rensselaer.

Sandra Beloncik
Sandra Beloncik was first elected to the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education in 2000 and is currently serving her third term. She currently serves as the board’s vice president and trustee and chairs the board’s Component/Community Relations Advisory Committee. Mrs. Beloncik is also serving her fourth term on the Schalmont Central Board of Education and also has been a vice president. She is active with the NYS School Boards Association, serving as a voting delegate for seven years. She is serving as the CAPSBA Representative for Schalmont for the eighth year.

Mrs. Beloncik is a graduate of Mohonasen High School and attended Brockport University. Currently, she works in the sales department at Adirondack Beverage. She also serves as the vice chair of the Town of Rotterdam Ethics Committee.

Mrs. Beloncik lives in Rotterdam with her husband, Michael, and has a grown son and daughter.

Dr. John Bergeron
Dr. John Bergeron has dedicated 30 years of service and continues to serve on the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education. He currently chairs the board’s Policy Advisory Committee and serves on the board’s Audit and Facilities/Finance Committees. He was a past president and vice president of the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education.

Dr. Bergeron is retired from GE Corporate Research and Development where he was a research scientist. He is former director of the Electromagnetic Energy Policy Alliance of the Unites States. His career includes teaching at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels at Cornell University and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is a member of the Standards Coordinating Committee of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers and numerous professional societies.  Dr. Bergeron graduated from Brown University and holds a Ph.D. in biology from Cornell University.

Dr. Bergeron lives in Schenectady and has three sons.

Jeff Bradt
Jeff Bradt was first elected to the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education in 2000 and is currently serving his third term. He serves on the board’s Policy and Community Relations Advisory Committees. Mr. Bradt is serving his 12th year as a member of the Cohoes City School District Board of Education.

Mr. Bradt is the director of food and nutritional services for Albany County Residential Health Care Facilities. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science in food administration. Mr. Bradt has volunteered as treasurer for the Harmony Hill Elementary School Parent Teacher Association in the Cohoes district and is a member of the Health Care Food Management Association.

Mr. Bradt lives in Cohoes with his wife and has two children in college.

Edmund Brooks
Edmund R. Brooks has been a member of the Questar III BOCES Board of Education since October 2005. He is also a member of the Questar III Audit Committee. Mr. Brooks previously served as a member of the Ichabod Crane Board of Education from 1996-2006, including terms as president and vice president.

Mr. Brooks is a senior unemployment insurance tax field auditor with the New York State Department of Labor. He previously worked 32 years in the heavy machinery industry, starting as an apprentice and ending as a general manager. He is also the former director and president of the Sandy Hill Associates Credit Union.

Mr. Brooks is a graduate of St. Mary's Academy in Glens Falls, a New York State Sponsored Machinist Apprenticeship program, Adirondack Community College and Siena College. He resides in Valatie.

Robert Gibson
Robert Gibson serves as president of the Questar III BOCES Board of Education, where he has been a member since 1993.

Mr. Gibson served on the Brittonkill Central School District Board of Education from 1980-1989, serving as president from 1981-1989. He has frequently presented workshops on parliamentary procedures for new school board members, served as voting delegate at New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) Annual Conventions, served on two NYSSBA special committees, and was a member of the NYSSBA Resolution Committee for two years. In 2003 he was a member of the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA) Select Seminar on the “Challenges and Opportunities of NCLB.” 

He is the university registrar at the University at Albany and previously served as associate dean for Undergraduate Studies and Director of the Advisement Services Center. He is active in various committees on campus, including the Educational Policies Council and the University Senate, where he serves as parliamentarian. He was the recipient of the 1991 Outstanding Adviser Award and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Administrative Services. 

Mr. Gibson previously held volunteer positions as president of the Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors, Chair of the Pre-Law Advisors National Council, President of the SUNY Registrar’s Association, and five years as president of his church council. He continues to volunteer as parliamentarian for the Science Teachers Association of New York State Board of Directors. 

A native of Columbia County, Mr. Gibson graduated from Germantown Central School District and received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from SUNY/Albany. He and his wife Donna currently reside in Center Brunswick. They are parents of a married son who is a graduate of Brittonkill and the University at Albany.

Nancy Knabbe
Nancy Knabbe has been a member of the Questar III BOCES Board of Education since 1996. She has served on the Strategic Planning Committee and participated in many of the learning conferences provided for local school board members. 

Born and raised in Chatham, Ms. Knabbe graduated from Chatham High School and later completed a business course at the Burroughs School. She worked for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the New York State Department of Social Services for 25 years as a resource consultant and case management supervisor.

Ms. Knabbe was elected to the Chatham Central School Board of Education in 1975. She served on the board for 25 years, including seven years as president and three years as vice president. During her tenure, she chaired the Finance, Transportation and Education committees. She was also an active member of the Columbia County School Board Association for 25 years, including six years as President of the organization. She previously served on the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) Rural School Committee, BOCES Ad Hoc Committee and the Distinguished Service Committee.

Ms. Knabbe serves on the Columbia County ARC Board of Directors and formerly served as a volunteer with the Columbia County United Way Board of Directors for 12 years. She lives in Ghent, and has three adult children, eight granddaughters, twin grandsons and twin great granddaughters.

Kevin Kutzscher
Kevin Kutzscher was first elected to the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education in 1995. He has served two terms each as board president and vice president. Mr. Kutzscher chairs the board’s Human Resources Advisory Committee and serves on the board’s Policy Advisory, Audit and Facilities/Finance Committees. He also serves on the Ad Hoc Committee on Leadership Transition. Until this past June, Mr. Kutzscher had spent the last 15 years serving on the Sharon Springs Central School District Board of Education where he has been a president and vice president of the board of education.

Mr. Kutzscher is employed as a transportation manager for Schoharie County Head Start. He has volunteered as a Boy Scout troop leader and has served as a member of the Sharon Springs Booster Club and Parent Teacher Organization.

He lives in Sharon Springs with his wife and has a son and a daughter.

Lynne L. Lenhardt
Since 1997, Lynne L. Lenhardt has been a member on the Capital Region BOCES Board of Education and serves as board president. She is also a member of the Bethlehem Central Board of Education, elected in 1988. In 2001, Ms. Lenhardt was elected to the New York State School Boards Association Board of Directors and represents approximately 70 school districts in seven counties around the Capital District. She serves on the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee and Operations Committee and chairs the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on BOCES. Formerly, Ms. Lenhardt was President of the Capital District School Boards Association and was a member of the Commissioners Advisory Council of School Board Members. She recently chaired the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA) school board institute steering committee and participated in CASDA’s Select Seminars on Leadership and on Collaborative Leadership to Improve Student Performance. Ms. Lenhardt is an “Ambassador” for the New York State School Boards Association, speaking on educational issues to the media and to community organizations. She also is a member of the College Council of Empire State College.
 
Ms. Lenhardt received a master’s degree from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy and formerly taught high school social studies. She also served as an adjunct college instructor of mathematics and worked in the New York State Legislature. She is a substitute teacher and does private math tutoring. She is an active participant in the Bethlehem Community Partnership, St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Slingerlands Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, Bethlehem Historical Association, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Bethlehem Central Community and Alumni Endowment Fund.

Ms. Lenhardt lives in Delmar with her husband George and they have two grown children.

Carol Orvis
Carol Orvis has served as a board member of Questar III BOCES since 1990, including a year as vice president.

Ms. Orvis served as a board member of the East Greenbush Central School from 1977-1992, including two terms as president. She also served as chairman of the Rensselaer County School Boards Association and president of the East Greenbush Education Foundation. She is a past presenter for the New York State School Boards Association.

Ms. Orvis is a realtor for Prudential Manor Homes. She previously served as director of the Hudson Valley Girl Scout Council and coordinator of Displaced Home Maker programs in Troy and western Massachusetts.

She is a member of the Rotary of Southern Rensselaer County and the Greenbush Historical Society, and has held a number of volunteer positions including president of Mount Holyoke Club of Albany, director of Mount Holyoke Fund for Northeastern NY, executive vice president of the Hudson Valley Girl Scout Council, president of Rotary of Southern Rensselaer County, member of the Albany Artists Association, member of the Special Committees for the Council of Community Services Albany United Way and board member for the Greenbush Historical Society.

Ms. Orvis has received the East Greenbush Central School District’s President’s Award, Rotary of Southern Rensselaer County’s President’s Award, Prudential Manor Homes Community Service Award, Girl Scouts Thanks Badge, East Greenbush Teacher’s Association Community Person of the Year Award and two awards from the Greenbush Education Foundation.

Ms. Orvis is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University. She lives at Cantonment Farm in the town of East Greenbush. Ms. Orvis and her deceased husband, Kenneth Gordon Orvis, Esq., have three children.

Paul Puccio
Paul Puccio has served on the Questar III Board since 1999. Last year, he was a member of the Questar III team that provided mandatory training to Boards of Education regarding fiduciary responsibilities. He has also provided consultative services to school districts on topics such as developing district mission and vision statements, and setting Board of Education goals and objectives. 

He has been actively involved with a number of community service organizations since 1974. He currently serves on the Schodack Central School District Board of Education, where he has been a member since 1981. He previously served as president of the Schodack Board for nine consecutive years. In 2006, Mr. Puccio was appointed to a seven-year term on the Planning Board for the Town of Schodack.

Mr. Puccio is a past speaker and instructor at Capital Area School Development Association and New York State School Board Association seminars, institutes and conventions on topics including budgeting, management of employee benefit programs, board/superintendent relations, and addressing alcohol and drug abuse issues in schools. 

Mr. Puccio is a retired New York State executive. A 33-year career public servant of New York State, he began with the Division of the Budget in 1970, then served as an associate commissioner and deputy commissioner overseeing areas such as finance, policy, planning and research in the Offices of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and the State Department of Civil Service before serving as deputy commissioner of State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

Mr. Puccio holds a bachelor’s degree from the University at Rochester and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University at Albany. He currently resides in Castleton.