Olean Schools Accountability Project

08/05/2026

Keeping with the focus being on Former State Senator turned Olean City School District Board of Education President Cathy Young.

In November, I informed the Board that someone from the district had been injecting themselves into my place of employment. The who and extent was unknown, other than it being a "she." Cathy Young privately emailed me back saying she would look into it (thanks!). Then a few weeks later, she called me. As you can hear below, she sought legal advice from an attorney not connected to OCSD and the general thought was they "shouldn't be doing that." She then apologized for how it affected my reputation and status at work at the time.

In January, I informed the Board that my FOIL showed Jenny Bilotta, the district's Business Administrator, had seemingly been the one doing it, and sent confidential information of three students/families to my employer in the process. I outlined how this was likely a violation of multiple laws, and was retaliatory in appearance. Seemingly no accountability followed. Only silence.

Then, following additional "complaints," I lost my job just two short weeks later. Again, nothing.

In May, the New York State Education Department ruled completely in my favor while dismissing every attempted defense that the District had. NYSED determined that District did in fact violate the Federal law FERPA, or Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and New York State Education Law § 2-d when (not so super)intendent Dr. Genelle Morris authorized Jenny Bilotta to pull the records and send them to my employer.

Not only did no accountability follow, but Jenny Bilotta would later go on to seemingly mock my employment status on Facebook (before taking it down).

Cathy - you knew of the conduct, you sought legal advice that told you it shouldn't be happening, and you seemingly allowed it to continue. As President of the District's oversight body, you are just as to blame for the District being sued for retaliation, defamation, and abusing their government authority to go after my job. All while Jenny Bilotta knowingly violated state and federal student privacy laws to do it.

08/04/2026

*insert “We’re waiting” GIF here*

But really - for the first time in Olean history, funds from a political party were brought into a non-partisan school board race. Young and company funneled potentially up to a record $27,000 from the New York Republican State Committee in their win last year. That’s 50 times more than the average OCSD candidate spends. Only to not fulfill one of their primary goals: replacing the Superintendent.

The same political money, albeit much less of it, was used this year despite the two candidates running unopposed. We will see if now a Young-backed and funded majority can fulfill her stated goal 🤷🏻‍♂️

07/31/2026

In 2023, 2024, and 2025 the proposed amendments of the (not so super)intendent’s contract were available to the public as part of the agenda on BoardDocs before the vote.

Now in 2026 they just make changes in/after executive session without any public notice, and without any way for the public to view the amendments before or after the vote 🤷🏻‍♂️

06/26/2026

06/25/2026

Does your child attend OIMS? If they didn’t receive a yearbook, these two officials played a role in why.

According to district emails, Superintendent Genelle Morris authorized Business Administrator Jenny Bilotta to retrieve and forward a parent’s emails containing student names and allegations of inappropriate physical contact to employees at another organization.

The New York State Education Department later determined that the disclosure violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and Education Law § 2-d.

The parent whose communications were forwarded was also the individual largely responsible for producing your child’s yearbook.

Instead of focusing on students, Olean City School District leadership chose to target a parent who had been critical of the district’s handling of student safety concerns.

06/23/2026

Save our schools!

06/22/2026

Through Superintendent Genelle Morris’ authorization of Jenny Bilotta’s actions, “The district violated FERPA and Education Law § 2-d by forwarding complainant's emails containing student names and allegations of inappropriate physical contact to employees at [another educational agency]… There is no evidence that the emails were forwarded for an educational purpose. While the district maintains that the emails were forwarded for “legitimate work related purposes" FERPA contains no such exception.”

- NYS Education Department

The sad part is that none of the information that she dispersed was even sent to her - it was sent to the Superintendent’s office. So, how/why did she decide to involve herself in the conduct of a private citizen?

Superintendent Genelle Morris authorized Business Administrator Jenny Bilotta to access my emails through the district’s email storage and archive system, Mailmeter, and to send them to an external organization. They coordinated to disperse emails containing sensitive student records of three families, and allegations of sexual misconduct by one of them. These are emails that in no circumstances Jenny personally had a reason to read, let alone the freedom to disperse.

The Board has a legal and ethical obligation to oversee this District. That responsibility does not disappear because the individuals involved occupy high-ranking positions. Most of you ran on your own commitment to “drain the swamp” so to speak. To bring accountability back to the highest levels of our district.

If a new teacher improperly disclosed confidential student information, would there be consequences?

If a secretary improperly disclosed confidential student information, would there be consequences?

Or is accountability reserved only for those without titles and administrative offices?

We all know staff have been perp-walked out of the building for less. Parents entrust this District with their children, their records, and their privacy. That trust has been violated.

The District’s actions have generated allegations of retaliation, interference with a private citizen’s employment, misuse of District resources, and now a state finding that student privacy laws were violated at the state and federal level. All with the Superintendent’s authorization.

Every day that passes without accountability sends a message to this community that violating student privacy is acceptable, that targeting critics is acceptable, and that senior administrators operate under a different set of rules than everyone else.

I urge the Board to immediately disclose the corrective actions being taken, and hold responsible individuals accountable regardless of their position.

NYSED’s full determination of Jenny Bilotta’s actions can be found here:

https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/data-privacy-security/olean-decision-6-17-26.pdf

06/19/2026

Through Jenny Bilotta’s actions, “The district violated FERPA and Education Law § 2-d by forwarding complainant's emails containing student names and allegations of inappropriate physical contact to employees at [another educational agency]… There is no evidence that the emails were forwarded for an educational purpose. While the district maintains that the emails were forwarded for “legitimate work related purposes" FERPA contains no such exception.”

- NYS Education Department

The sad part is that none of the information that she dispersed was even sent to her - it was sent to the Superintendent’s office. So, how/why did she decide to involve herself in the conduct of a private citizen?

I don’t know why, but let me me tell you the how - Jenny Bilotta accessed the emails through the district’s email storage and archive system, Mailmeter. She actively searched for emails containing sensitive student records of three families with the sole intent of sharing them with at least two individuals outside of Olean City School District. These are emails that in no circumstances she had a reason to read, let alone the freedom to disperse.

NYSED’s full determination of Jenny Bilotta’s actions can be found here:

https://www.nysed.gov/.../data.../olean-decision-6-17-26.pdf

06/17/2026

Through Jenny Bilotta’s actions, “The district violated FERPA and Education Law § 2-d by forwarding complainant’s emails containing student names and allegations of inappropriate physical contact... Emails from a parent to a school that are directly related to a student and maintained by the school are education records covered by Education Law § 2-d and FERPA.“

- NYS Education Department

The saddest part is that none of the information that she dispersed was even sent to her - it was sent to the Superintendent’s office. So, how/why did she decide to involve herself in the conduct of a private citizen?

I don’t know why, but let me me tell you the how - Ms. Bilotta accessed the emails through Mailmeter. Emails containing sensitive student records, emails that in no circumstances she should have had eyes on, let alone the freedom to disperse them.

I am going to ensure this document lands in the inbox of any school district that you try to work at in the future.

NYSED’s full determination of Jenny Bilotta’s actions can be found here:https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/data-privacy-security/olean-decision-6-17-26.pdf