Former Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education member Kent Brandstetter has been selected to serve as the president of the Cayuga Onondaga BOCES board this academic year.

The decision came at the BOCES reorganizational meeting Thursday night.

Brandstetter, who has served on the BOCES board for nine years and was most recently its vice president, is the Auburn representative for the BOCES, which is comprised of nine component school districts in Cayuga and Ondondaga counties. Russ Riddell, who represents Moravia Central School District, will serve as vice president of the BOCES board.

Brandstetter said it will be a challenging year for BOCES, which will open its new campus in Aurelius in the fall and then search for a new superintendent. Current superintendent Gary Gilchrist is retiring from the post he has occupied since 1999.

"It's a great responsibility," Brandstetter said. "We have an awful lot of work."

He is confident, however, in the board's ability.

"We're a very good working board," he said. "I think I have a great group of board members."

Brandstetter had served on the Auburn school board for six years until this month, when his latest term ended. He decided against seeking re-election to that position.