Election Day is May 17th. Find your polling location HERE
Dean Kolligian
Dean Kolligian is running for re-election to the Saratoga Springs Board of Education. If elected Dean would be serving his second term on the board.
He is legitimately the most qualified individual running for the board of education this year, having served on countless boards including Chairman of the Hospital Foundation Golf Invitational; Town of Wilton Zoning Board of Appeals; City of Saratoga Springs Downtown Special Assessment District; Wellspring and the New York State Troopers PBA Signal 30 fund.
Dean and his wife, Erinn own McGregor Village Development corporation where he serves as its President. They have four children in the district.
In addition to all his board work, Dean spends his time coaching youth sports in Saratoga Springs & Wilton.
Billie McCann
Billie McCann is a Caroline Street Mom, of twins, running to serve a first term on the board of education. She is a pediatric Occupational Therapist for over 20 years, a certified life coach and a business owner.
Her professional experience and personality align well with the requirements to be a successful member of the board of education, including being an expert communicator and a willing collaborator.
Billie is running to advocate for fairness and equal opportunity for all students including the ones with fewer financial resources who make up the largest marginalized group in the school district.
Her platform includes advocating for parental rights, curriculum transparency and policies that support the success, health and safety of our students and school personnel.
She believes strongly that the district must address the rising violence, vaping and antisocial behavior by supporting our teachers when they refer students for discipline and encouraging behavior modification through restorative practices.
Ed Spickler
Coach Ed Spickler is running to serve a first term on the board of education.
Originally from Mechanicville, Ed is the son of a Disabled Veteran who after decades of distinguished service retired from the V.A. Medical Center in Albany and a long tenured nursery school teaching assistant. A graduate from Northeastern University, Ed’s has a successful career in business and finance, working for Coopers & Lybrand, Prudential Financial and Bearing Point Consulting.
Since 2014, Coach Ed has been a volunteer coach in Saratoga Springs and Wilton for Little League, Cal Ripken baseball, Junior NBA and Saratoga Springs Rec. Center basketball. He also founded the Saratoga NFL Flag Football.
Ed’s long and dedicated service to the community make him an excellent fit for the Saratoga Springs Board of Education where his skills in communication, accounting, finance and project management would benefit all stakeholders of the Saratoga Springs School District.
His platform includes improving the district's transparency and communication, including providing community stakeholders with full transparency on curriculum and financial matters.
Ed believes strongly that the school should be providing a safe environment for the students to learn and as such wants to see the school’s policy on vaping, drug use and policy more rigorously enforced.
Finally, Ed wants the arts and music programs fully funded and more effort placed into providing adequate education and services for students with disabilities.
Ed and his wife have two children in the district including one at Maple Ave Middle School.
Natalya Lakhtakia
Natalya Lakhtakia is running for re-election to the board of education. She won her first term on the board in 2019, winning her seat by only 0.50% of the vote.
Natalaya is a self-described WOKE Socialist and an organizer for the left-wing extremist group, Democratic Socialists of America or DSA.
DSA and Natalya advocate for various extremist policies including abolishing police, prisons and capitalism.
This is what Jay Jacobs, Chair of the Democratic Party of NY said about members of DSA;
“I’ve read the DSA platform. Everyone should. Tell the voters where you and the DSA stand on "defunding the police;" ending capitalism in America, unilaterally disarming the nuclear deterrent of the U.S. military, and seizing private businesses that have to lay off workers even when their survival requires it. [DSA members] should tell the voters that she favors decriminalization of "sex work," making 26-year-olds who commit violent crimes "youthful offenders" and the discontinuance of gang databases. Simply, the DSA wants America to replace the capitalist system with the historically proven failure of socialism.”
When Natalya isn’t crushing capitalism, she is working as a remote (zoom) speech pathologist for a school district in New Mexico.
Natalya supports the local BLM activists, which you can read about HERE.
Lakhtakia’s lack of professional experience and extremist politics make her an extremely bad choice for the board of education
John Brueggemann
Skidmore professor John Brueggemann is running for re-election to the Saratoga Springs board of education after winning his first term in 2019.
Back then, John ran on a platform of civility and decorum with people in the community.
However, that statement has come back to bite John hard, as it was recently revealed that John Brueggemann referred to parents as “bastards” in response to parent complaints about sexually inappropriate content being taught by a male English teacher to 14yo students.
John has the qualifications to serve as an effective member of the board of education but it's unclear if his leaked email will harm him in this election.
Martha Devaney
Martha Devaney is a professional political activist, a Socialist, and former Bernie Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2016 & 2020. She has no kids in the district.
Devaney has been billing herself as a “financial expert” (because most all financial experts are Bernie acolytes) but according to records obtained from the Saratoga County Clerk's office, Martha has several outstanding financial judgments against her, totaling ~$40,000.
The primary role and responsibility for a member of the school board is to oversee the finances and budget of the district, which totals ~$135M.
Given her past and perhaps present financial troubles, clearly she would not be a good fit for the board.
This information was taken from our own reporting and the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum. Click here to watch the entirety of the candidate forum.
Update: article updated to remove qualification language from Lakhtakia profile. Lakhtakia is licensed speech pathologist in the state of Ny.