On May 15, voters in the East Syracuse-Minoa Central School District will go to the polls to elect three members for the district’s board of education. Each of the three seats is for a four-year term.
This year, three candidates are running to fill the three seats. Two of the candidates are incumbents seeking reelection, while one is a newcomer to the board.
Deborah Kolod is a lifelong resident of the district, currently residing on Emilie Lane in East Syracuse. She and her husband, Chris, have three children who are ESM graduates.
Kolod works for Jamesville-DeWitt School District as a Typist II. She has an associate’s degree from SUNY Empire State College and is also an ESM graduate. She has served three terms — 12 years — on the ESM Board of Education.
She is also on the ESM Education Foundation Board and Onondaga-Madison School Board of Directors.
Leah Cushing and her husband, Robert, live on Manlius Road in Kirkville. They have three children who are ESM graduates.
Cushing is the postmaster in Minoa for the U.S. Postal Service and is also an ESM graduate. She has a bachelor of arts in psychology from Syracuse University. She has served two terms — eight years — on the ESM Board of Education.
Tracy Callahan lives on Beresferd Lane in Minoa with her husband John. They have five children: Claire is a recent ESM grad, Eric and Jack attend ESM CHS, Henry is at Pine Grove and Kate is in Fremont Elementary.
Callahan has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Le Moyne College and is also an ESM alum.
She is president of the Minoa Library Board and treasurer of the Pine Grove Middle School PTO. She is also on the Board of the ESM Education Foundation and serves on the committee for their annual Dinner Dance. In addition, she is the volunteer coordinator for the Hope for Heather Teal Ribbon 5K Run in Minoa.
