Liverpool Board Hires Rick Chapman as Superintendent, Then Splits Over Extending the Interim's Contract
In a 23-minute special meeting June 30, 2025, the Liverpool Board of Education unanimously appointed Rick Chapman as superintendent through 2028 at $217,500 a year, then went into closed session and emerged to extend outgoing Interim Superintendent Brian Nolan's contract by one month, with Jecenia Bresett casting the only no vote.
New York State flag flying in Baldwinsville — photo:
Quintin Soloviev
(BY 4.0)
▶Key Actions & Decisions
●• Appointed Rick Chapman as Superintendent of Schools, contract running August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2028, with annual compensation of $217,500 through July 31, 2026 — motion carried unanimously, 8-0.
●• Authorized district counsel to transmit a memorandum to "an individual identified during executive session" — motion carried 5-0, with Nicholas Blaney, Jecenia Bresett and Kimberly Melnik abstaining; the minutes do not name the individual or describe the memo.
●• Entered executive session at 6:06 PM "for the employment history of a particular person and to discuss a matter which may lead to the appointment of a particular person" — motion carried unanimously, 8-0.
●• Returned to public session at 6:22 PM, 16 minutes later.
●• Extended Interim Superintendent Brian Nolan's appointment to July 30, 2025 and authorized an amendment to his employment agreement to memorialize the extension — motion carried 7-1, with Jecenia Bresett voting no.
●• Set July 8, 2025 as the date of the board's annual reorganization meeting, with a public hearing to follow immediately afterward at the District Office.
●• Adjourned at 6:23 PM, 23 minutes after the meeting was called to order.
The Liverpool Board of Education needed just 23 minutes of public business on June 30, 2025 to settle who will run the district for the next three years — but not before a closed-door session on a matter the minutes never fully explain.
The headline vote was unanimous. All eight members present — Nicholas Blaney, Hayley Downs, Kimberly Martin, Jecenia Bresett, Daniel McKeever, John Solazzo, Kimberly Melnik and Matthew Jones — voted to appoint Rick Chapman as superintendent of schools. His contract runs from August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2028, with annual compensation of $217,500 through July 31, 2026, according to the resolution.
Before that, the board had also authorized its legal counsel to transmit a memorandum to "an individual identified during executive session." That motion carried 5-0, but three members — Blaney, Bresett and Melnik — abstained rather than vote yes. The minutes do not say who the memo concerns or what it addresses.
The board then entered executive session at 6:06 PM "for the employment history of a particular person and to discuss a matter which may lead to the appointment of a particular person," the minutes state. It returned to open session 16 minutes later, at 6:22 PM. As with the counsel authorization, the record does not identify whose employment history or potential appointment was under discussion.
Coming out of that closed session, the board took up one more resolution: extending Interim Superintendent Brian Nolan's appointment to July 30, 2025, and authorizing the board president to sign an amendment to Nolan's employment agreement memorializing the extension. That vote carried 7-1 — the only divided roll call of the night with an outright no. Jecenia Bresett cast that dissenting vote, after joining the unanimous 8-0 vote to hire Chapman earlier in the same meeting.
The extension covers the district's leadership through the month before Chapman's contract begins; his term does not start until August 1, one day after Nolan's extended appointment ends.
The board also set July 8, 2025 as the date for its annual reorganization meeting, with a public hearing to follow immediately afterward at the District Office.
Along with the board members, Interim Superintendent Brian Nolan, Kasey Dolson, Jonna Ball, Darrell Clisson and District Clerk Gail Massett were present. The meeting adjourned at 6:23 PM.
This article was drafted by AI (claude-sonnet-agent) from the official meeting transcript and reviewed by a human editor.
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Related Board of Education (Liverpool) Meetings
Liverpool School Board's Routine Votes Split 6-1-1 a Dozen Times Straight — Then Nearly Vanish on the Rest of the Agenda
●• Twelve routine business items (3.1-3.12), including minutes approval, personnel actions, preschool and special-education placements, 2025-2026 part-time/substitute pay rates, gifts and grants, two Treasurer's reports, a budget transfer and surplus items, each passed 6-1-1: six aye, Kimberly Melnik nay, Jecenia Bresett abstain (Hayley Downs had not yet arrived).
●• Bond resolution authorizing vehicle purchases "not to exceed $2,993,963" and issuance of serial bonds passed 7-2 by roll call, with Bresett and Melnik voting no together.
●• Annual Facilities Use Agreements approved unanimously, 9-0.
●• 2024-2025 Internal Audit Report and its corrective action plan each accepted unanimously, 9-0.
●• 2024-2025 tentative and estimated fund balance analysis and reserve plan recommendation approved unanimously, 9-0.
●• Board voted unanimously to set July 1, 2025 as its annual reorganization meeting date, then voted again, also unanimously, to move that date to July 8, 2025.
●• Vista Higher Learning adopted as the district's ENL curriculum for 2025-2026, unanimous 9-0; MTSS Teaching Assistant Restoration Plan also approved unanimously.
●• 2025-2026 lunch prices approved 9-0; draft 2025-2026 meeting schedule tabled to the July 8 meeting, 9-0.
●• Board entered executive session at 8:42 PM for an update from counsel on pending litigation, returned at 10:00 PM, and voted 9-0 to ratify four agreements settling one civil court action, to be kept on file with the District Clerk.
●• Approved July 8, 2025 regular meeting minutes and July 8 Public Hearing minutes, unanimously
●• Approved personnel actions as submitted, unanimously
●• Approved Committee on Preschool Special Education recommendations on student classification and placement, unanimously
●• Approved Committee on Special Education recommendations on student classification and placement, unanimously
●• Accepted gifts and grants as submitted, unanimously
●• Acknowledged receipt of the May 2025 Treasurer's Report, unanimously
●• Approved surplus items and a budget transfer as presented, unanimously
●• Approved a service agreement with BPAS, unanimously (motion by Kimberly Melnik, second by Daniel McKeever)
●• Approved the Excellus Stop Loss Renewal for 2025-2026, unanimously
●• Approved both a Memorandum of Understanding and a Memorandum of Agreement between the district and the United Liverpool Faculty Association, each unanimously
●• Discussed the 2025-2026 BASCOL Agreement under "For Discussion" but took no vote on it
●• Held no executive session; meeting ran 6:00 p.m. to 6:59 p.m.
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