On May 20, Waterville Central School District residents will elect two district resident to serve on the Waterville Board of Education. The individuals elected will serve a three-year term beginning July 1, 2025.
The board is comprised of seven school district residents, elected by voters, and is the official policy-making body of the school district. Board members are not financially compensated.
Candidates are listed in the order they will appear on the ballot.
Daniel (Dan) Nichols is a 2005 graduate of Waterville Central School, where he captained the varsity football and basketball teams and was a 2004 delegate to NYS Boys’ State. Following graduation, Dan attended Utica College, where he was a starting lineman for the varsity football team and graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in information assurance. Dan went on to earn a master’s degree in information management and a certificate of advanced study in data science from Syracuse University. He also obtained a professional certificate in product management from Cornell University and completed an organizational leadership course through Harvard Business School Online.
Professionally, Dan has spent the last 15 years working in the federal contracting space, five of which were spent supporting research and classified operations at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y. For the past four years, he has been working as a cloud-computing platform engineer and product manager, mentoring active-duty soldiers in applying lean/agile development practices to deliver technical capabilities to both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. Dan is employed by a subsidiary of an Alaska Native Regional Corporation, NANA, created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for the Inupiat people in Alaska’s extreme northwest. He also works part-time as a course facilitator for Cornell University’s online professional certificate program, teaching courses in project and product management.
Running for re-election, Dan is finishing a three-year term on the board of education, two of which he has served as board president. Prior to the school board, he served as a trustee for the Village of Waterville from 2017 to 2021. He is also active in youth sports, coaching Pop Warner football, Brothertown Optimist’s Biddy Basketball, and is a former junior high football coach for WCS. Dan resides in Waterville with his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Jadeyn, who attends Memorial Park Elementary.
Personal Statement: I would like to draw on the lessons learned over these past three years as a board member, two of which I’ve been fortunate enough to serve as board president, to help shape the direction of the district. I believe we need to continue to make the budget process more transparent and easily understood for the public, leverage data-driven decisions that align with a well-communicated district strategic plan, and thoroughly analyze our needs and expenditures. It is more important than ever, with federal pandemic relief no longer a source of funding, that the district examines the resources, personnel, and programs on which we are expending funds to responsibly plan for the future while working to continuously improve our student experiences, provide support to our students, faculty, and staff, and keep the tax burden as predictable and low as practical for our residents.
Laurie Zweifel is a passionate advocate for children’s well-being and will bring a fresh and experienced perspective to the Waterville Central School District board of education. She graduated from Waterville Central School in 1977 and furthered her education, earning her PhD in clinical child psychology from St. John’s University. She worked at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center, Children/Youth Services for over 30 years. Laurie then worked at Canton-Potsdam Hospital to expand their mental health clinics across St. Lawrence Health System.
Throughout her 35+ years working with children and diverse family systems, she has collaborated with small, rural school districts, advocating for students’ academic, behavioral, and emotional growth. Collaborating with teachers, counselors, administrators and, very frequently, with the Committee of Special Education, she earned respect as a problem solver, identifying areas of concern and interventions to address these. Further, she provided mental health services within the school setting and provided support to teachers and counselors. Laurie also participated in staff development, with presentations on mental health and more recently, the negative effects of the pandemic on our youth.
Laurie was an active member of the north country community, serving on the Ogdensburg City School District school board from 2011-2021 and the St. Lawrence Co. Community Services Board for three terms. She was active in her children’s school activities, including coaching Odyssey of the Mind for 10 years.
Laurie’s vision for Waterville Central School is to focus on student needs and to provide a safe environment for them to reach their academic potential. Responding and resolving issues as they arise, as well as proactively identifying concerns, is imperative to a high functioning school. The future of education is challenging at this time, and it is imperative that the school board navigates changing mandates, remains fiscally sound, and guides the WCS district to provide the best possible education for our students.