Board Members - Fayetteville-Manlius Schools

Board member biographies

Jason Catalino

Jason Catalino, of Fayetteville, is serving his first term on the F-M Board of Education. He has lived in the district for seven years, and he and his wife, Karrie, have three children: two enrolled at Wellwood Middle School and one at Mott Road Elementary School.

Mr. Catalino is an accounting manager with National Grid and has more than 20 years of experience as a certified public accountant. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from SUNY Geneseo and a master’s degree in business administration from LeMoyne College.

Mr. Catalino previously served as an assistant coach for F-M Little League and is a member of the board for the Syracuse Chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Over the past six years, he has been an active volunteer for various Mott Road Home and School Association (HSA) events.

Rebecca Cohen

Rebecca Cohen, of Fayetteville, is serving her second term on the board of education. She and her husband, Brendan McGinn, have three children who attend Fayetteville-Manlius schools.

Ms. Cohen is a Fayetteville-Manlius High School graduate. She attended Brown University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. She earned her Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Ms. Cohen is an attorney with Bousquet Holstein PLLC, where she practices immigration law. She is an active pro bono volunteer with the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, with a particular focus on helping serve immigrant and refugee communities. She is a certified mediator, having mediated cases in courts, public schools and community mediation centers.

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Sarah Fitzgerald

Sarah Fitzgerald, of Manlius, is serving her first term on the board of education. She and her spouse, Patrick have four children who attend Fayetteville-Manlius schools.

Ms. Fitzgerald has been a district resident for 20 years. She is a volunteer with Enders Road’s Home and School Association and previously served as the organization’s co-treasurer. She also serves on the Vera House Board of Directors and leads its Strategic Planning Committee, leads Playschool Preschool’s Parent Advisory Council and is a Leadership Greater Syracuse graduate.

Ms. Fitzgerald graduated from LeRoy High School and received a Bachelor of Science degree from LeMoyne College. She is a former Human Resource Manager and Program Manager for Sensis & Saab Corporation, and is currently a stay-at-home parent.

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Kelly Fumarola

Kelly Fumarola, of Fayetteville, is serving her second term on the board of education. She and her husband Adam have lived in the district for 16 years. They have two children: one at Wellwood Middle School and the other at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. Prior to her board service, she served on the F-M Community Facility Task Force and is a former co-vice president and president of the Fayetteville Elementary School Home and School Association.

Ms. Fumarola graduated from Ramapo High School in Spring Valley, New York, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and a Master of Science degree in education, both from Binghamton University. Beginning her career as an elementary-level teacher, she transitioned to the not-for-profit service sector, leading to her work as an independent consultant. Ms. Fumarola currently serves as director of development at a Syracuse-based, not-for-profit organization.

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Cynthia Hefti

Cynthia Hefti, of Manlius, is serving her first term on the board of education. She and her husband, Jonathan have two children who are Fayetteville-Manlius High School graduates.

Ms. Hefti has been a district resident for 20 years. She is an Oneonta High School graduate, received a Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Oneonta, and a Masters in the Art of Teaching degree from Colgate University. Before retiring in 2020, Ms. Hefti was an F-M English teacher for 24 years. During this time, she was the pilot teacher for the high school’s former ILEX program, which is now called ACCESS, and received a Teacher of Excellence award from the New York State English Council. She also served as advisor for two high school student groups: an animal shelter assistance club, and a club focusing on supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

Ms. Hefti is a member of the Fayetteville-Owahgena Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

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Sharon Lindars

Sharon Lindars, of Manlius, is serving her second term on the board of education. She served as board vice president from 2019-2021, participated on the district’s policy and community relations committees, served as a board legislative liaison and represented the board of education on the F-M Education Foundation.

Shari is an F-M graduate, having attended Mott Road and Fayetteville elementary schools, Wellwood Middle School and Fayetteville-Manlius High School. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University, from which she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a Master of Arts degree in elementary education. She taught in elementary schools for 14 years in Maryland, Texas and North Carolina.

She moved back to the Fayetteville-Manlius area in 2010 and was a certified teacher in New York. She worked as a substitute teacher and a teaching assistant for the Fayetteville-Manlius School District and as a substitute and adjunct teacher for the Liverpool and Syracuse school districts. She served as co-president of the Mott Road Elementary School Home and School Association from 2015-2017 and coordinated after-school clubs at Mott Road from 2014-2019. She and her husband, Paul, have two children, one at Wellwood Middle School and the other at F-M High School.

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Marissa Joy Mims

Marissa Joy Mims, of Manlius, has lived in the school district since 2006 and was elected to the F-M Board of Education in 2009. She previously served as the board’s vice president from 2010-2011 and served as president from 2011-2015.

Ms. Mims is the Legislative Liaison for the board of education. She serves on the board’s audit and community relations committees in addition to the New York State School Boards Association Resolution Committee.

Ms. Mims was the 2017-2018 Vice-President of the Caucus of Black School Board Members, previously serving as the Area 4 Director. She is chair of the Onondaga County Justice Center Oversight Committee, which develops policy recommendations for the Onondaga County sheriff. Ms. Mims serves on the board of directors for Fayetteville-Manlius A Better Chance and Focus Greater Syracuse. She is vice-president of public relations for the Manlius Lions Club and serves on the steering committee and as communications chair for the East Area Support Network. She was a member of the district’s former special education advisory committee. Ms. Mims is a Class of 2008 member of Leadership Greater Syracuse.

She received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University and completed the National Writing Project program at SUNY Cortland. She is pursuing a second career in teaching after working in nonprofit management. She is currently a long-term substitute eighth-grade science teacher in the Syracuse City School District for the 2016-17 school year. Her twin son and daughter are in 10th grade at Fayetteville-Manlius High School.

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Daniel Seidberg

Daniel Seidberg, of Manlius, is serving his second term on the board of education. He has lived in the F-M district his entire life, having attended Mott Road Elementary School and Wellwood Middle School before graduating from F-M High School. He and his wife, Jenée, also an F-M graduate, have two children, one a 2021 F-M graduate and the other at F-M High School. He volunteered as a trustee of the FM Education Foundation, served as a youth soccer coach for 14 seasons, co-chaired the Cavalry Club swim program, served as a member of the F-M Community Facility Task Force and has been involved in other F-M programming.

Mr. Seidberg received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law. Mr. Seidberg is an attorney and also the president and co-founder of an international company that provides emergency technology and communication tools to fire departments, emergency medical services agencies, police departments and other first responder entities throughout North America.

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Daryll Fitch Wheeler

Daryll Fitch Wheeler, of Fayetteville, is serving her third term on the board of education. She has been a district resident since 1950 and attended F-M from kindergarten through grade 12. She and her husband, David M. Wheeler Sr., also an F-M alumnus and former principal of Wellwood Middle School, have seven children, all of whom are F-M graduates. They currently have four grandchildren attending F-M schools and two who graduated in 2017 and 2021.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Nazareth College of Rochester, a Master of Science degree in Reading and Language Arts from Syracuse University, and a Certificate of Advanced Study in School Administration from LeMoyne College.

Before retiring in 2011, she taught English and reading at Fayetteville-Manlius High School and in the Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District at Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School and Moses DeWitt Elementary School. She finished her career at OCM BOCES in the Regional School Support Center and the Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment department, working directly with teachers and administrators in a three-county region. A member of the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Fayetteville, Mrs. Wheeler serves as a lector and Eucharistic minister and recently co-chaired the parish’s celebration of its 150th anniversary.

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