Skip To Main Content

Logo Image

Logo Title

Special Board Election: December 2025

Tracy Holihan was elected to the South Orangetown Central School District Board of Education in a special election on December 16, 2025. Holihan was elected to fill a seat vacated due to resignation and will serve the duration of the unexpired term, which ends June 30, 2028.

Communications Regarding the Board Vacancy

(sent via ParentSquare)

December 4, 2025: The Tappan Zee High School Youth & Government Club will host a Meet the Board Candidates Forum on Monday, December 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the South Orangetown Middle School Auditorium. Students will serve as moderators for the forum and will not be accepting questions from the floor.

For additional information about the upcoming Special Election on Tuesday, December 16, please visit the Special Election webpage. 

November 19, 2025: The Board of Education will hold a special election on Tuesday, December 16, 7:00AM-9:00PM, for one Board seat vacated due to resignation. The individual elected will serve the duration of the unexpired term, which ends June 30, 2028.

The candidates, in the order that they will appear on the ballot are Tracy Holihan and Denise Desjardins. Candidates have been invited to submit brief personal profiles, which will be linked to the Special Election webpage when available. Voter information, including early mail and absentee ballot applications, is posted on the Voting Information webpage. 

Please vote on December 16.
 

October 22, 2025: At its October 21 meeting, the Board of Education adopted a resolution to hold a special election on Tuesday, December 16 from 7:00AM-9:00PM, for one Board seat vacated due to resignation for the duration of the unexpired term, which ends June 30, 2028. 

Nominating petitions will be available starting Wednesday, October 22, from the District Clerk’s office at 160 Van Wyck Road, Blauvelt. Candidates must submit petitions with a minimum of 45 signatures by Monday, November 17 at 5:00PM. Eligibility requirements and Board responsibilities are posted on the Board of Education webpage.

Voter information is posted on the Special Election webpage and will be mailed to all South Orangetown residents in early December.

The Board of Education appreciates the thoughtful feedback community members provided over the past few weeks. Please mark your calendars for December 16 and be sure to vote.
 

October 10, 2025: At its October 7 meeting, the Board briefly discussed its options for filling the recently vacated seat. According to New York State Education Law, the Board has two options to fill a vacancy: appointment or special election.

Appointment:

  • The Board would appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy at a public meeting.
  • The length of term would be until the next annual election, May 19, 2026.

Special Election:

  • A special election would require legal notices, nominating petitions and voting machine procurement for a public vote and would cost approximately $20,000. The Board is currently looking at paper ballots as a potential option to lower the cost of a special election.
  • The person elected would serve through the duration of the unexpired term, June 30, 2028.

The Board would like to provide the community with an opportunity to share their thoughts regarding these options. Community members may submit their feedback to the Board via the feedback@socsd.org email address until Monday, October 20 at 5:00PM. 

It is anticipated that the Board will announce its decision on how it will proceed with filling the vacancy at the next board meeting on Tuesday, October 21.

September 25, 2025: We were notified by John (Jay) Savage that, effective Friday, September 26 at 5pm, he will be resigning from the South Orangetown Central School District Board of Education.

We would like to thank our community for your patience as we navigate through this challenging time. We look forward to focusing solely on what matters most: our students, families and staff. 

Among our District’s core values is the ability to foster an inclusive school environment based upon respect, responsibility, equity and global citizenship. These and other values — along with our District goals of the Profile of the Graduate, Literacy, Responsible Use of Technology and Citizenship/Character Education — will be the topics of future BOE presentations.

Together, we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment which prepares every student for future success. We will continue to keep you informed as we move through this process.