Board of Education Members

The South Colonie Board of Education is a nine-member board elected by the community that is responsible for the governance of the school district. Members serve three-year terms without pay.

You can contact the board by email at boe@scolonieschools.org

More information on your school board members

Brian Casey, Board of Education President

Brian Casey, a retired Colonie Police officer, has served on the South Colonie Board of Education since 2005. His term expires on June 30, 2025. Casey graduated from Colonie Central High School in 1967 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

He served as Board of Education President during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.

After graduating from Hudson Valley Community College, he served in the U.S. Navy for two years, completed Basic Officer Training and attended the FBI Academy’s Special Tactical Training Firearms School.

He joined the Colonie Police Department in 1971 and was assigned to the Community Services Unit for many years. In 1992, he helped establish the highly successful national Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in South Colonie which helps youngsters resist peer pressure and say “No” to drugs and alcohol. He taught DARE education at Lisha Kill Middle School for more than 10 years.

In 2001, Casey became Colonie Central High School’s first Student Resource Officer and served as an additional support resource to students, parents, teachers, administrators and the community at large. He also served on the district’s Safe Schools Committee and is a member of the Colonie Elks Club, the Colonie Youth Center Board of Directors, chairman of the Colonie Village Youth Council and a scoutmaster for Boy Scouts Troop 278.

Upon his retirement in 2003, the South Colonie Board of Education presented Casey with the distinguished President’s Spotlight Award for his years of service to the youth of Colonie. He also received a Distinguished Service Award and Command Recognition Award from the Colonie Police Department. Today, Casey continues to work with children and teens as the coordinator of Youth and Family Services for the Village of Colonie.

He and his wife, Sandi, have three grown children, Vikki, Thomas and Cori-Lyn.
Stephanie Cogan, Vice President

Stephanie Cogan is a long time resident of the district, who was first elected to the South Colonie Board of Education in 2018.

Cogan became active in supporting the district when her children began school, working in various capacities and serving in officer roles for the Shaker Road Elementary PTA, Colonie Central High School PTSA, and PTA District Council. In her 20 years of PTA service at South Colonie, Cogan was president for 16 of those years earning a PTA Lifetime Member award in 2013. She was instrumental in raising over $150,000 through volunteer efforts to benefit South Colonie students. Cogan has served and continues to serve many other district stakeholder committees.

Cogan was raised and educated in Pennsylvania earning a bachelor’s of Finance from The Pennsylvania State University. After graduation, she moved to the Capital District to begin her career as a bank examiner with the federal government. Soon after, she met and married Jim Cogan (CCHS ‘84) and together they raised three children Kyle (CCHS ‘13), John (CCHS ‘16), and Julia (CCHS ‘20). As part of her daughter’s graduation ceremony, Cogan was inducted into the CCHS Hall of Fame, Class of 2020, which was a meaningful and much appreciated recognition of district service.
Thomas Blakley

Thomas (TJ) Blakley is currently serving his first term on the South Colonie Board of Education. Blakley is a contract management specialist for the New York State Office of Mental Health and works to execute contracts for various statewide facilities.

Blakley is very active in the local sports community having supported the local Colonie Junior Raiders football program for 11 years and serving as the commissioner of the program for eight of those years. Additionally, he is the treasurer for the Colonie Football booster club and on the executive board for Colonie Little League.

Blakley has resided in the South Colonie School District for 14 years. He has three children that currently attend South Colonie schools.
Rose Gigliello

Rose Gigliello was first elected to the Board of Education in 2012 and served as president of the board for two years. Her term expires on June 30, 2027.

Gigliello has lived in the district for more than 35 years and is recently retired from her career as a Special Education teacher for the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s Degree in Special Education from the College of Saint Rose in Albany.

She has served on the district’s Curriculum Mapping Committee and Special Education Advisory Committee. She is a past Vice President of the Lisha Kill Middle School PTA, a former Religious Education Teacher for Blessed Sacrament Church, and has volunteered with the Homeward Bound Dog Rescue organization. As a board member, she has served, and continues to serve, on a variety of working committees.

She and her husband, John, have two daughters, both Colonie Central High School graduates.
Chris Larrabee

Chris Larrabee is serving his first term on the Board of Education. He was elected in May 2021 to fill a five-year term expiring on June 30, 2026.

Larrabee is a Business Services Representative for the New York State Department of Labor where he has been employed for the last 15 years. He is a Colonie Central High School graduate (Class of 1997) and went on to earn an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Hudson Valley Community College and a Bachelor Degree in Business from SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome.

An active member of the volunteer community for the Colonie Little League, Larrabee currently serves as the League Player Agent, recreation team Head Coach, and travel team Head Coach. Larrabee also coaches a Capital District Youth Basketball League South Colonie team and was appointed in a volunteer role to the Village of Colonie Zoning Board in 2020.

Larrabee has resided in the South Colonie Central School District for the last 18 years. He has one son who currently attends Lisha Kill Middle School.
Bob Mesick

Bob Mesick is serving his first term on the Board of Education. He was elected in May 2021 to fill a five-year term expiring on June 30, 2026.

Mesick works as a business banking relationship manager for Pioneer Bank. An active member of the sports community, he has previously volunteered as a girls basketball coach for the Capital District Girls Basketball League (five years) and was a volunteer coach for Colonie Girls youth softball recreational league.

Mesik is a graduate of the College of St. Rose. He has lived in the South Colonie Central School District for 18 years and is a parent to two children. One of them is a graduate of Colonie, while the other is currently enrolled at Colonie Central High School.
Mike Keane

Mike Keane is serving his first term on the Board of Education. He was elected in May, 2019 to fill the years remaining on the unexpired term of Leonard Motto, who resigned in 2018.

Keane has lived in the district for 20 years. He is employed as the Director of Human Resources for Living Resources Corporation. A 1992 graduate of Colonie Central High School, Keane earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the College of Saint Rose.

He has served the district as a former President for the South Colonie PTA Council, Sand Creek and Roessleville PTA’s. He’s served the New York State and Northeast Region PTA as the Male Engagement Specialist. Additionally, Keane has served as a board member/manager/coach for South Colonie Girls Softball. Professionally, he’s served as a board member and presenter for the Capital Region Human Resources Association. You are likely to find Mike around our varsity softball team holding down the unofficial title of team photographer.

He and his wife, Kim, have a son and a daughter, both of whom attended South Colonie Schools. His son has graduated, and his daughter is currently enrolled.
David Kiehle

David Kiehle began serving on the South Colonie Board of Education in 2009. He is a former school board President and Vice President.

He has lived in the district for more than 55 years. Now retired, he had been employed for 39 years as a mathematics teacher at Shaker High School in Latham.

Kiehle earned master’s degrees in Advanced Classroom Teaching of Mathematics and Educational Administration, and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education, from the State University at Albany. He also earned an associate’s degree from Corning Community College.

Kiehle is a former President of the North Colonie Teachers Association and member of the Town of Colonie Community Partnership. He is a former Cub Scout pack leader and football coach at Shaker High School, and has helped over the years with South Colonie PTA and Friends of Music activities. He and his wife Sheila’s two children, Matthew and Kara, are South Colonie graduates. Kiehle assisted with PTA and Friends of Music when his children were in school.

During his tenure on the school board, he has served as a member or chair of the Academic Achievement, Audit-Finance, Board Operations, Strategic Planning, and Facilities committees. He has also served as board representative on the South Colonie Curriculum Review Board.
James Tim Ryan

James Tim Ryan has served on the South Colonie Board of Education since 1994. He was elected to the Colonie Central High School Hall of Fame in 2016.

As a longtime member/officer of the South Colonie Board of Education and as an activist in local youth athletics and organizations, Ryan – Colonie Central High School Class of 1966 – has spent countless hours dedicated to the children of Colonie.

First elected to the Board of Education in 1994, Ryan continues in that role today after more than two decades in the governance of South Colonie’s approximately 5,000 public school children. He served as school board President for 12 years (1998-2001), (2005-2009), and (2013-2015), and has been chair and/or member of numerous school board committees.

These committees include Academic Achievement, Accountability and Board Operations, Audit and Finance, Communications, Facilities, Graduation/Hall of Fame, Information Technology, Policy, Strategic Planning, and Transportation. During the 1990s he served on former Superintendent Dr. Thomas Brown’s Shared Decision Making Committee, which brought more parents and community involvement to the district.

He has also served as school board liaison for Town of Colonie Planning and Labor Management. He has made numerous presentations at the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) and National School Board Association (NSBA) conventions.

Ryan has also been involved in a variety of activities as a member of the greater Colonie community. This includes serving as an usher, lector and Eucharist Minister (1990-present) at Christ Our Light (St. Francis de Sales) Church, Little League and Babe Ruth coach (1989-1993), coach, manager, and Financial Director of the West Albany Athletic Association (1980s-1990s), Scoutmaster (1988-1990) for Cub Scout Pack 90, Colonie Central High School Basketball Booster Club President (1993-1996), member and Booster Club President of Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs (2002), and the Albany-Colonie Yankees (1994), and Booster Club member of the Albany River Rats (1994-2000). He has also assisted in the yearly collection and distribution of winter clothing items for area needy.

Ryan is a 1970 graduate of Siena College with bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He worked in New York State government for 35 years, starting with the Commission for the Blind and Visual Handicapped, teaching visually impaired individuals business and independent life skills. He went on to manage and administer several statewide programs to help low income families and the aged, including Food Stamp Outreach, HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program), and EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit Program). He retired from state government in 2005.

He and his wife, Deborah, have three children, all Colonie Central High School graduates.

Meet the Board