The Liverpool Board of Education opened its 2026-2027 school year with new leadership and a contested step toward restructuring its business office, at the board's annual reorganization meeting on July 7. The board unanimously elected Alexandra Gyder as president and Kimberly Melnik as vice president for the coming school year. Both votes carried 9-0, with all nine members present: Nicholas Blaney, Jecenia Bresett, John Solazzo, Kimberly Melnik, Matthew Jones, Alexandra Gyder, Dawn Curry-Clarry, Victoria Baratta and Michelle Merlino. Superintendent Richard Chapman and other district administrators, including Darrell Clisson, Kasey Dolson, Kimberly Vile, Brett Woodcock, Dana Ziegler, Jonna Ball and Briana O'Brien, attended along with District Clerk Gail Massett, who called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Most of the reorganization business moved through as consent agenda items, batching officer appointments, authorizations, personnel bonding and other routine items, with all passing unanimously. Dawn Curry-Clarry abstained on the Other Appointments consent item, which included the appointment of Kasey Dolson and Harmony Booker-Balintfy, Ed.D., as backup Section 504 Compliance Officers. Two votes broke from the unanimous pattern. The board approved its list of Designations - covering the district's official newspaper and bank depositories, among other items - by a vote of 8-1, with Matthew Jones casting the only Nay. Jones cast the board's other lone dissent as well, voting against the appointment of the Audit Committee, which otherwise carried 8-1. Later in the meeting, under a discussion item on restructuring the business office, the board voted to create a new position of School Business Official. That motion carried 5-0, but four members - Michelle Merlino, Victoria Baratta, Jecenia Bresett and Dawn Curry-Clarry - abstained rather than voting yes or no, leaving the vote closely divided in practice even though no member voted against it. Immediately afterward, the board voted unanimously, 9-0, to move forward with interviews for a separate School Treasurer position. The minutes do not elaborate on the reasoning behind either move. The board also declined to take a personnel matter behind closed doors. A motion to enter executive session - to discuss the medical, financial, credit or employment history of an unnamed person or corporation, or matters related to that person's or corporation's appointment, employment, discipline or removal - failed on a vote of 3-5, with Alexandra Gyder abstaining. Jecenia Bresett, John Solazzo and Matthew Jones voted in favor; Nicholas Blaney, Kimberly Melnik, Dawn Curry-Clarry, Victoria Baratta and Michelle Merlino voted against. The minutes do not identify who or what the proposed session concerned, and because the motion failed, no closed-door discussion took place. The board tabled two other matters: the appointment of the Curriculum Committee, and a proposed FEH contract for bus routing, which the board voted to table indefinitely by a margin of 7-2. John Solazzo and Dawn Curry-Clarry voted against tabling the routing contract. On business that did move forward, the board approved second-reading revisions to four district policies - numbered 6470, 7315, 7242 and 8470 - and approved a resolution to join the RIC ONE Risk Operations Center, both unanimously. Several items appeared on the agenda for discussion only, without a recorded vote: a proposed tax certiorari settlement involving a parcel identified as Target #1475 in the Town of Clay, a technology purchasing lease arrangement with OCM BOCES, a proposed memorandum of agreement with the teachers' union on splitting coaching positions, and a district transportation study. The board did give approval to proceed with a 360-degree access road project at Liverpool High School, according to a note in the minutes, though no vote tally was recorded for that decision. The reorganization portion of the meeting concluded at 6:26 p.m., after which the board moved into routine business, approving minutes from its June 22 meeting, personnel actions, and recommendations from the district's Committees on Special Education and Preschool Special Education, along with the May 2026 Treasurer's Report and a list of surplus items - all by unanimous vote. The board's next two meetings are tentatively scheduled for August 11 and August 25, both at 6:00 p.m. at the District Office.