JOSEPH YELICH RETIRES JULY 1

Injury Breaking Up

Water Street Brawl

Led To New Career

Hard Work, Hartwick Teaching Degree

Set Brindley On Road To Superintendent

By LIBBY CUDMORE • AllOTSEGO.com Exclusive

ONEONTA – Could Thomas Brindley, who will become the new superintendent of Oneonta City Schools on July 1 when Joseph Yelich retires, have been a police chief by now?

“I was an Oneonta police officer for seven years,” the assistant superintendent and former Oneonta High School principal said in an interview after the news of his promotion became public today. “I was 20 and a SUNY Oneonta student when I started with the department in 1987.”

But in 1994, breaking up a brawl on Water Street resulted in a career-ending shoulder injury. “I spent the next year convalescing,” said Brindley who became assistant superintendent at the end of last year. “And then I got the job at Hartwick.”