Board of Education Members

email: cdraper@swboces.org   

Catherine Draper, President, was elected to the Southern Westchester BOCES Board of Education in 2013, having served for nine years on the Pelham Board of Education. She was sworn in as president in 2017. Ms. Draper is a part-time legislative aide for Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, trustee and past president of the Board of Trustees of the Westchester Library System and board chair of the Westchester Children's Association. 

Past positions include president of the Pelham Education Foundation; president of the Pelham Public Library; president of the Rotary Club of the Pelhams and the Pelham Rotary Charities Fund; president of the Junior League of Pelham; president and trustee of the Pelham public library; and member of the Pelham Zoning Board of Appeals, the BEPT Teacher Center Policy Board, and the Pelham Family Service  Board of Directors.

Ms. Draper is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was named by the Pelham Civic Association as “Person of the Year” for 2009 and was the recipient that year of  the Pelham school district's  Thomas B. Fenlon Award for Distinguished Service to Education. She has also received the Pelham Rotary's Paul Harris Award in  1998 and 2013;  the Junior League of Pelham Volunteer of the Year Award (1997) and the Elizabeth I. Junod Award (2001).

email: jfiliberti@swboces.org  

John V. Filiberti served on the Eastchester UFSD Board of Education for nine years, including one year as President. He was appointed to the Southern Westchester BOCES Board in March 2015 to fill an unexpired term. He was elected the following April and re-elected in 2018 and 2021. He is a legislative aide at the Westchester County Board of Legislators, as well as a licensed real estate salesperson and small business consultant. Previously, Mr. Filiberti was a Vice President  for Merrill Lynch in New York City and a former Air Traffic Controller at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Virginia.

email: sbrady@swboces.org

Sheryl Brady was appointed to the Southern Westchester BOCES Board of Education in August 2019 to fill an unexpired term. She is in her 13^th year serving on the White Plains Board of Education and has been a member of the Curriculum and Instruction, Policy, Special Education, and Finance subcommittees. Sheryl is the Manager of Operations at Bennett International, an educational consultancy company; in addition, she teaches Religious School and was a member of the Board of Trustees at Congregation Kol Ami. Previously, Sheryl was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Department Chair at Purchase College, SUNY.  She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Cornell University where she was a Danforth Fellow.    

email: lmcbride@swboces.org   

Lynn Frazer-McBride has been a special education teacher, mentor, librarian and coach. A recent retiree, she currently works as a consultant staff developer for the New York City Department of Education. Mrs. McBride, the chair of the education committee, was first elected to the Mount Vernon School Board in 1995. During her tenure she has served as President and Vice President. Mrs. McBride was elected to the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association in 2006. She is the legislative representative for the Federal Relations and the State Legislative Networks. She also participates on the legislative and Manhattanville-WPSBA College committees. In 2008, Mrs. McBride was also elected to the Board of the Association of Small City School Districts. She is an active member of the Council of Urban Boards of Education and the Alliance of Black School Educators.

email: rojohnson@swboces.org
Robert Johnson of Port Chester has taught chemistry and physics at Westhill High School in Stamford, Conn., since 2007. He has also been a producer/host with WPKN in Bridgeport, Conn., for 40 years and has held the same role with White Plains Community Media since 2016. He is a board member of the nonprofit Ripple Effect Artists in New York City. He holds a master’s degree in teaching from Lehman College and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Sacred Heart University. He is a trustee of the Mount Pleasant Cottage School Board of Education. From 2011 to 2017, he was a trustee of the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District Board of Education. He served as vice president of that board in 2014-15 and president in 2015-16. He is married to Dr. Michaele Goodman, a psychologist in private practice. They have a son, who is a senior at Port Chester High School. 

 email: vdwilliams@swboces.org 

Valarie D. Williams was elected in 2020 to a three-year term on the Southern Westchester BOCES Board of Education. A veteran educator in the Greenburgh Central School District, where she has taught since 1997, Ms. Williams is both a Reading Specialist and an Academic Intervention Specialist. She was elected to the City School District of New Rochelle Board of Education in 2019.