Kelly Rocheleau
Education, court and crime reporter
The Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education has new leadership for the 2025-26 academic year.
Jim Van Arsdale was elected president and Matteo Bartolotta was elected vice president at the board's reorganization meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Harriet Tubman Administration Building.
Both members of the board, who hadn't previously held leadership positions on it, were elected unanimously by themselves and the other seven members. No other board members were nominated.聽
After being sworn in by district clerk Michelle Major, Van Arsdale and Bartolotta took seats next to district Superintendent Dr. Misty Slavic. New聽board member Jason Horbal was also sworn in.
People are also reading…
After the meeting, Van Arsdale and Bartolotta told 水果派AV they were excited about their new positions.
"I think we've got a great team in place, we've got a strong superintendent and we're going to get things done," Bartolotta said.
Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education member Matteo聽Bartolotta is sworn in as its vice president by district clerk Michelle Major at a reorganization meeting at the Harriet Tubman Administration Building on Wednesday afternoon.
They said their goals for the next school year include addressing Auburn's absenteeism rates, feeling they are too high, and getting the district to invest more in its infrastructure. Van Arsdale noted the district's most recent building is Auburn High School, which opened in 1970. Bartolotta said the district is working on a building survey.
"Decades of underfunding from the state has really put us in this situation where now that we're getting proper funding, we to have to look in and listen to the people that know where we need to do work," Van Arsdale said.
Jason Horbal is sworn in as a member of the聽Auburn Enlarged City School School District Board of Education by聽district clerk Michelle Major at a reorganization meeting at the Harriet Tubman Administration Building on Wednesday afternoon.
A fifth-grade teacher at Millard Fillmore Elementary School in the Moravia Central School District, Van Arsdale was elected to the Auburn school board in 2022 and won another three-year聽seat in 2025. He is also the cofounder and director of youth music nonprofit Perform 4 Purpose.
Bartolotta, the owner of Nino's Pizzeria in Auburn, joined the board in 2021. He originally wasn't going to run again in 2024, but then launched a write-in campaign and won another three-year seat.
The board's new leaders聽expressed interest in the positions at a meeting last month.
"I'm looking forward to working hard to make this the best district possible for our students," Van Arsdale said.
Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.
Kelly Rocheleau
Education, court and crime reporter
