Williams chosen to lead Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Ed

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - Katonah-Lewisboro School District trustees have chosen Barbara Williams of South Salem to lead the school board in the 2026-27 academic year.

She succeeds Lorraine Gallagher, the board's president for the past two years. Gallagher, who began her second three-year term on the board this month, will continue to serve as a trustee.

When Williams won her first term on the board two years ago, she was the leading vote-getter in a five-person race for three seats. With 1,149 votes, Williams even outpolled the board's longtime member and former leader, Marjorie Schiff, who was elected to her fifth term with 1,115 votes.

At the board's July 6 reorganization meeting, Williams nominated Schiff to serve as the Board of Education (BOE) vice president. Noting in an email “Marjorie's experience, leadership and connections with regional school board organizations,” Williams called Schiff “an invaluable asset to our young board.”

Four of the board’s seven members, including the new president, are still in their first terms and two others are just beginning their second.

Schiff, now in her fifth three-year term, was first elected in 2012 and served as president for 10 years, stepping down in 2023 after deftly leading the board through a tumultuous period of declining enrollment, tax-cap-constrained economics and a deadly pandemic. She opposed the controversial closing of Lewisboro Elementary School, a building whose future continues to bedevil the school board more than a decade later

“We are grateful,” Williams said of Schiff, “that she is willing to step into the VP role to mentor and help develop our BOE into a highly effective governance team that can serve KLSD well for years to come.”

The board unanimously ratified its new officers, who then took their oaths, administered by District Clerk Kimberly Monzon.

Williams, the board VP this past year, thanked the trustees for their support. "It means a lot,” she told her colleagues. “We’re going to do some great work together.”

In a statement last week, she said, "It's an honor to serve as board president alongside my fellow trustees and our talented district administration to keep strengthening and elevating KLSD.”

Williams said she was “excited about the opportunities we have and the important work taking shape across our schools, from enhancing K-12 literacy, to expanding project-based learning and career pathways, to adopting a data-driven approach to support student well-being at the high school and implementing universal Pre-K for our youngest learners. It's rewarding to contribute to a KLSD where all children can thrive."