Richard Engelbrecht (left) and his daughter, Cheri, at the awards ceremony May 9.
Current BOCES Board President Doug Gustin (left) and Richard Engelbrecht at the awards ceremony.
Madison-Oneida BOCES News
(Madison, NY
) The Tri-County School Boards Institute honored Madison-Oneida BOCES Board of Education member Richard Engelbrecht May 9 with the Distinguished Service Award for his 40 years of board service.
Engelbrecht, who represents the Madison Central School District, joined the BOCES Board in 1972 and has served several terms as board president. He also served on the Madison school board and has many community leadership roles under his belt.
He is retired from a life-long career as a dairy farmer.
His nomination, submitted by the BOCES Board to the SBI Awarding Committee, read:
Madison-Oneida BOCES is currently in its 45th year of service to our local communities, and Richard Engelbrecht has served on our Board of Education for 40 of those years. He has been dedicated to the betterment of educational opportunities for children in the Madison and surrounding communities throughout his time as a school board member and community member. His dedicated service to our organization and our mission to enable learners to excel is evident in many ways.
Since joining the BOCES Board in 1972, Richard has served several terms as Board President. He is active on the board and currently serves on our Audit Committee and as our representative to the Oneida-Madison-Herkimer School Boards Institute. He is also a member of the Policy Board that serves the BOCES Consortium of Continuing Education, an adult education partnership between Madison-Oneida and Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES. He has attended hundreds of events, including Open House, Completion Ceremonies, National Technical Honor Society Inductions, LPN Capping Ceremonies and Employee Recognitions, just to name a few
Forty years on a school board is monumental. Over the past 40 years, he has helped pave the way for enhanced programming and new facilities that have helped BOCES and local schools better serve the educational needs of a diverse population of learners. As a board member, he provided guidance, support and encouragement for multiple BOCES facilities projects to ensure that all projects enhanced the education of career and technical, alternative middle and high school and special education students. The end result of these projects featured expanded classroom space and resources for alternative education students, expanded career and technical education classrooms including an information technology academy, a day treatment wing for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties and a transitional educational program for students in grades 5-8.
In addition to his work with the BOCES, Richard previously served on the Madison Central School District Board of Education for five years. He is retired from a lifelong career as a dairy farmer. He continues to serve as judge, advisor and consultant to the 4-H Dairy Committee as well as Director of the Boonville Oneida County Fair and judge of the NYS Purebred Dairy Cattle Association. He also spent 30 years as a member of the Selective Service Draft Board.
Among his many attributes are his true dedication to the education of students and focusing on creating ways to ensure their success. His input on program goals and objectives always focused on key components such as rigor and challenge, but with compassion and empathy for individual student needs.