CCS Teachers File 16 Labor Grievances; School Board Seeks Treasurer, Positive Audit Results

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZELCOOPERSTOWN

At the Wednesday, November 19 Cooperstown Central School School Board meeting, representatives of the Cooperstown Faculty Association said its members have filed 16 grievances since the summer over alleged breaches of their contract, adding that this represents unclear and inconsistent policies within the district. Further, the Cooperstown Central School School Board said it continues to seek a new treasurer, but in the interim, Superintendent Sarah Spross said, the district has retained a third-party vendor to handle the work.

Alan Walther, partner of the Bonadio Group, presented the district’s annual audit, which offered an “unmodified opinion” on district financial statements. “That is the highest level of assurance,” he said. Walther reported that the district ended the last fiscal year with $7.1 million in its fund balance, “of which 1.4 million was appropriated to 2026” to balance this year’s budget. “Your unassigned fund balance was approximately $136,000.00—that is within the New York State limitation—and your net favorable variance to the budget was approximately $936,000.00 per year,” Walther closed.

Walther said the audit is incomplete, however, “because the federal government has not issued its compliance supplement for 2025. There’s been a little bit of chaos at the federal level.”