On May 18, residents will elect three members of the Fayetteville-Manlius School District Board of Education.
The board is the official policy-making body of the school district. It is responsible for carrying out the laws and regulations pertaining to the education of the community’s children. It adopts school district policy, curriculum and programs of study, approves the hiring of all personnel and establishes the conditions of employment.
In addition, the board has the responsibility of maintaining facilities, establishing an annual budget and setting a tax levy. The school board adopts a proposed operating budget each year at a public meeting. Eligible residents then have the opportunity to vote upon the proposal.
The F-M Board of Education is comprised of nine school district residents who are elected by voters to three-year terms in an annual election. Terms are staggered so that three members are elected each year. Board members are not compensated for their work.
In addition to the elected members, the board includes a non-voting student member selected each year by the administration to serve a one-year term. The student, who must be a senior at F-M High School, will attend all public meetings and is encouraged to participate in all public discussions.
Three candidates filed nominating petitions for the three available seats: Daniel Seidberg, Sharon Lindars and Marissa Joy Mims. (Candidates’ names are listed in ballot order.) The available seats are for three-year terms, beginning July 1, 2021.
Board of Education Candidates
The candidates are listed in ballot order. Residents will have the opportunity to vote for up to three candidates.
Daniel Seidberg
Daniel Seidberg, of Manlius, is serving his first 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 at F-M High School and the other at Eagle Hill Middle School. He is a trustee of the FM Education Foundation, served as a youth soccer coach for 14 seasons, co-chairs the Cavalry Club swim program, served as a member of the F-M Community Facility Task Force and is involved in other FM 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.
Sharon Lindars
Sharon Lindars, of Manlius, is serving her first term on the board of education. She 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 is a certified teacher in New York. She has 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 has coordinated after-school clubs at Mott Road since 2014. She and her husband, Paul, have two children enrolled at Wellwood Middle School, one in fifth grade and the other in sixth grade.
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 and currently serves as its president.
Ms. Mims is chair of the Onondaga County Justice Center Oversight Committee, which develops policy recommendations for the Onondaga County sheriff. She previously served on the board of directors for Fayetteville-Manlius A Better Chance and Focus Greater Syracuse, and served as vice president of the Caucus of Black School Board Members, previously serving as the Area 4 Director. Ms. Mims served on the steering committee and as communications chair for the East Area Support Network. She was a member of F-M’s former special education advisory committee.
Ms. Mims is a Class of 2008 member of Leadership Greater Syracuse, a National Society of Black Engineers member and a VEX robotics coach.
She received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University and completed the National Writing Project program at SUNY Cortland. She is currently a technology teacher for Syracuse City School District. Her two children are F-M graduates.