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▶Key Actions & Decisions
●Albion teacher-contract negotiations were at impasse and had been referred for state mediation, according to a labor-relations presentation recorded in the district’s September 14 board summary. The record describes the district’s account of the talks; it does not establish a settlement or the present status of mediation.
●Karl Kristoff, an Orleans/Niagara BOCES labor-relations specialist, told the board that the Albion Teachers’ Association declared impasse on June 24, after the sides disagreed about the order in which to address remaining issues. A mediator had been appointed, he said, but no next negotiating sessions were scheduled at the time of the presentation.
●Kristoff said negotiating teams reached a tentative agreement on November 26, 2025, and association members rejected it on December 11. He explained that the proposed terms never took effect because the agreement was not ratified. That distinction matters for families and taxpayers: the rejected proposal is not an adopted pay or scheduling change.
Albion teacher-contract negotiations were at impasse and had been referred for state mediation, according to a labor-relations presentation recorded in the district’s September 14 board summary. The record describes the district’s account of the talks; it does not establish a settlement or the present status of mediation.
Karl Kristoff, an Orleans/Niagara BOCES labor-relations specialist, told the board that the Albion Teachers’ Association declared impasse on June 24, after the sides disagreed about the order in which to address remaining issues. A mediator had been appointed, he said, but no next negotiating sessions were scheduled at the time of the presentation.
Kristoff said negotiating teams reached a tentative agreement on November 26, 2025, and association members rejected it on December 11. He explained that the proposed terms never took effect because the agreement was not ratified. That distinction matters for families and taxpayers: the rejected proposal is not an adopted pay or scheduling change.
The summary attributes to Kristoff a five-year salary estimate of 22.1 percent, or $2,742,032, for the tentative agreement and 33.6 percent, or $4,181,804, for an April 2026 association proposal. Those are presented as calculations across the same five-year period, not annual raises or increases in every teacher’s paycheck. The summary says the tentative-agreement estimate covers salary-schedule movement and a professional step without associated cost items.
The presentation identified compensation, workday time and a retirement benefit among the unresolved issues, along with sick-leave verification, sick-bank committee representation, enrollment of teachers’ nonresident children and extracurricular schedules. These descriptions come from the presentation recorded by the district. This packet contains no independent association statement, bargaining proposal or tentative-agreement text with which to test that characterization.
Kristoff told the board that the expired agreement’s terms, including salary-step movement and benefits, continued while a successor agreement was negotiated, and that instruction, programs and daily operations continued without interruption. This reports his September explanation; it is not independent verification of legal rights or a guarantee about later developments.
The district’s summary describes mediation as the next step, followed by fact-finding if mediation fails. No later outcome is supplied by the September record.
Sources: [09-14-26 BOARD SUMMARY](https://files-backend.assets.thrillshare.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/2526/Acsd/644d3953-bd47-42fa-a9ae-fc43391529d6/09-14-26-BOARD-SUMMARY.pdf?disposition=inline)
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Source-based reporting published 2026-10-07. Source events and document statuses are listed separately above.
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Related Board of Education Meetings
Albion approved school security agreement, added special-education support and adopted immigrant-student policy
●Albion’s school board approved a security-services agreement before the fall term and, in September, authorized an additional full-time aide for special-education support. Those decisions appear in the district’s official August 24 and September 14 board summaries.
●The security agreement followed an August 3 presentation from C.O.P.s representatives about placing guards in schools and providing coverage for school events. Representatives described their staff as off-duty or retired police officers or military members. At the August 24 special meeting, the board approved the agreement. The summaries do not provide the signed contract, its price, staffing schedule or exact duties, so those details remain unverified.
●The board also adopted the 2026–27 district-wide safety plan on August 3. Superintendent Mickey Edwards reported that the amended plan had been posted for a 30-day public-comment period and that no comments on the amendments had been made. The board separately approved confidential building-level emergency-response plans. The summary records adoption but does not describe the plans’ operational details.
Albion school board’s July organization set leadership, public contacts and substitute pay
●Albion’s school board elected Linda Weller president and John Kast vice president at its July 7 organizational meeting, according to the district’s official summary. It was a separate meeting from the regular July 7 business session.
●The organizational record set regular meetings to begin at 6 p.m., with the August 3 meeting excepted at 7 a.m. The calendar listed November 2 and December 7 for later fall meetings and directed publication of the dates through a legal notice in the district’s official newspaper. This reports the calendar adopted in July; later cancellations or changes need current notices.
●The board appointed Rachel Coolbaugh as records-management and Freedom of Information officer and Giuseppe Navarra as data-protection officer. It named Kevin Beaumont as liaison for homeless children and youth, with Bradley Lehman and Rebecca Manfreda as alternates; Lehman was named liaison for students in foster care, with Manfreda as alternate. These are the appointments in the organizational summary, rather than a verified current contact directory.
Albion school board authorized $8.45 million school levy and $687,760 library levy
●Albion’s school board approved a 2026 tax warrant authorizing collection of $8,449,039 for schools and $687,760 for the library at its August 3 meeting, according to the district’s official board summary.
●The warrant’s town-by-town table assigns $3,294,160.03 of the school levy and $268,147.83 of the library levy to Albion. Gaines accounts for $1,877,855.10 and $152,859.23, respectively. The warrant also lists portions in Barre, Carlton, Kendall, Murray and Ridgeway in Orleans County and Elba in Genesee County.
●Eight board members voted yes; Christopher Kinter was recorded absent. The table reports total assessed value of $894,340,520 across the listed areas. These figures establish the collection authorization, not an individual homeowner’s bill or a year-over-year tax increase. The summary alone does not supply a prior-year comparison or a household’s exemptions.
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