Archive: Around Town

School Board member Sandi Dhimitri announced Monday that board President Anne Drake received an award from the Tompkins Seneca Tioga School Board Association Executive Committee.  Dhimitri told Lansing's Board Of Education that the committee singles out one outstanding  board member from the whole BOCES community each year.  Dhimitri presented the award to Drake on April 1st, and shared the citation Monday at the regular Lansing school board meeting.

"On behalf of the TST BOCES School Board Association Executive Board it was my pleasure to present the award to Anne," Dhimitri said.  "If you spend any time in Lansing at almost any event you problably have seen this person.  Whether it is running events at her church, working as a volunteer for the fire department, or planning the after-prom party you have seen her.

"She works tirelessly for our community and is also the person to arrive early to set up, stays to the end of cleanup, and actively engages with the community throughout the event.

"Perhaps she understands the changes that our school district has gone through better than most, because she attended here at the same schools she now serves.  She works full time for the Tompkins County Department of Mental Health, and is raising two very active daughters.

"She approaches her work on the Board Of Education from a place of intelligence and compassion.  Often, as we spend too much time in the minutia and on the small details, it is she who brings us back to focus on the students.  She is the constant voice of concern for all children.


"I want to talk a little bit about the time she has spent in board services.  She has served the Lansing Board Of Education for almost nine years.  She has been pushed into leadership roles that she definitely felt uncomfortable with when she started, only to discover not only could she do them, but she could excel at them.

"In many districts nine years of board service would seem like about average service.  In Lansing I feel it's appropriate to count board service in 'dog years.'  Each year is as though it has lasted for seven.  To give you some perspective, during Anne's time on the board she has served with eight different business administrators, and if you count interims we have had ten superintendents during that time.

"She has held us together, helped us focus, led us to a place where we have a fantastic team of administrators supporting wonderful teachers working to develop the next great generation of students here in Lansing."

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