Inside a packed middle school auditorium, including soon-to-be Superintendent Brian Dunn, the Pine Bush School District said thank you to four men who are retiring from their coaching jobs, and recognized the achievements of 122 varsity athletes who maintained at least a 90 grade point average during the spring season.

“Thanks for coming,” PBSB President Gretchen Meier told the crowd. “This is one of the best nights of the year.”

Michael Gillespie, director of physical education, health and athletics, introduced the coaches, saying that they represent a total of 115 years of service to the district’s athletic programs. Gerald Risco, Mark Brennan, and James Wright walked to the front of the room, stood beneath the stage and were met by fervent applause. The fourth coach to be recognized, Alfred Schmidt, was unable to attend the event.

Gillespie said in total, the men led teams during somewhere between 250 and 300 athletic seasons, just one example of their commitment to the programs and the students. Pointing out individual accomplishments, Gillespie said that Brennan started the boys’ lacrosse program and has been the only varsity head coach in the team’s 20-year history. When that program was up and running, Brennan established a girls’ lacrosse program, Gillespie said. Brennan also coached in the soccer and football programs.

Wright, a Pine Bush alum himself, coached football for 26 years. At various times, he also coached boys’ tennis, track and wrestling, and was the first ever coach of the unified basketball team.

Another Pine Bush alum, Risco has coached cross country and indoor and outdoor track for the past 30 years, an “extraordinary accomplishment which is almost unmatched,” Gillespie told the crowd.

“I say almost unmatched,” Gillespie said, because Schmidt, who was unable to attend the assembly, has been working side-by-side with Risco for the past 30 years, helping the programs thrive. Schmidt’s service in fact predates Risco’s arrival, Gillespie said. Schmidt, who has been coaching at Pine Bush for 39 years, even coached Risco when he was a student. And Schmidt, along with Risco and Wright, graduated from Pine Bush.

The four men, who have each coached at Section 9 championships, have had an impact on thousands of students, and each has had former team members return to the district to help coach, Gillespie said. On behalf of the district, Gillespie thanked the coaches for all they did during decades of service. Board President Meier called the coaches’ work “priceless.”

The men received certificates and a second enthusiastic round of applause from the crowd.

The 115 students who, under New York State guidelines, qualified as scholar athletes during the spring season, are among the total of 306 such scholar athletes who participated when counting all three scholastic sports seasons that make up the 2021-22 school year.

In addition, every spring team had at least 75 percent of their rosters achieve a grade point average of at least 90, earning the scholar-athlete team designation. Those teams are varsity baseball, varsity softball, girls’ and boys’ varsity outdoor track and field, girls’ and boys’ varsity lacrosse, and girls’ and boys’ varsity golf.

Board Approves New Contracts

Pine Bush, like many public and private organizations, has had difficulty filling job openings, a situation made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this spring, at the time the board approved a new contract with its teacher’s union, Michael Pacella, the assistant superintendent for business, said the district was working on new contracts for other employees that he hoped would improve Pine Bush’s ability to attract and keep workers.

Interim Superintendent Donna Geidel thanked Pacella for his hard work and fiscal responsibility after introducing him as “our infamous and wonderful business official” to universal laughter.

Board members thanked Pacella, who is retiring at the end of this school year, for his work getting the contracts in place. Board Vice President Matthew Watkins noted that the negotiations went “very quickly and very well,” which he attributed to the relationship the district has with its employees. Pacella said it was hardly a one-man show, and thanked Geidel and Angela Wise-Landman, the director of human resources, data and school counseling, for their assistance.

Pacella said the new “win-win” agreements include pay increases and concessions that worked to the benefit of everybody.

Details of the contracts, which were not available, cover Local Union 74 United Service Workers Clerical Employees; Local Union 74 United Service Workers Operations and Maintenance; the Pine Bush School-Related Professional Association; and the Central Administration/Confidential Managerial employees. All of the contracts begin on July and run through June 30, 2026, except the deal with the operations and maintenance workers, which runs through June 30, 2025.