January 2006
Contact: Dorothy Wills-Raftery
(845) 255-1400 xt. 1209

Ulster BOCES Welcomes Barbara Carroll of New Paltz to Board of Education

“Improving communication is my first priority”

The Ulster County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) welcomes new Board of Education (BOE) member Barbara Carroll. Carroll represents the New Paltz Central School District and comes to Ulster BOCES having served 13 years as a member of the New Paltz Board of Education, during which time she served two terms as president and two terms as vice president.

Carroll, who is a longtime resident of New Paltz, holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley. A mother of two daughters (who have both graduated from the New Paltz Central School District), Carroll has also worked in the publishing field as a news reporter for the Daily Freeman and a grant writer for Shingebiss Associates in New Paltz. Most recently, she rounded out her career as a part-time administrator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. Carroll retired in 2002, but continues to be interested in the community.

In her spare time, Carroll enjoys keeping in touch with her children, travelling, reading, and completing a 35-year old ongoing house remodeling project.

Her first priority as an Ulster BOCES Board of Education member will be to “try to improve communication between the local school boards and the Ulster BOCES Board,” states Carroll. “That’s based on the fact that when I was on the New Paltz Board, the local members seemed to feel a sense of disconnection as far as what was happening on a countywide level. So improving communication is my first priority.”

Carroll is also an advocate of experiential learning. “One of my principal concerns from the very beginning of my term on the New Paltz Board was increasing experiential learning opportunities. I’m convinced that there are many, many bright and capable children who need that in order to be fully engaged in education. Since it seems that experiential educational opportunities for adolescents are a large part of Ulster BOCES, I’m hoping to learn about that and, ultimately, to see those opportunities expand and grow.”

Carroll filled a vacancy created by the resignation of long-time member Barbara Santoro, who recently moved from the area.

“On behalf of the Ulster BOCES Board of Education, I would like to warmly welcome Barbara Carroll, the representative of the New Paltz Central School District, to our Board. We are very pleased to have Barbara join us, and look forward to the benefits of her background and expertise,” offers Arnold Gottesman, president of the Ulster BOCES BOE. “Membership on the Ulster BOCES Board provides wonderful essential services to the students and staff of all of Ulster County. While we represent individual school districts, we are essentially trustees for all of our children. We welcome Barbara. It is a pleasure to have her join us.”