Candidate Statement and Brief Biography for NCN

I was asked to submit a biography and candidate statement for publication in NewCastleNOW.  Here is what I submitted.

Jeffrey S. Mester:  Candidate Statement and Biography

Candidate Statement

This is my third time running for the School Board and I can safely say that the oddity of running for a volunteer position never seems to go away.  We are asking you, the community, to select us as the best, most appropriate volunteer.  So, first, I would like to recognize my fellow candidates, Warren and Rick, for their willingness to volunteer.  I admire their decision to offer to commit their time to the community.

One of the reasons I originally ran for the Board six years ago was because of my strong belief in my responsibility as a community member to serve our community in a way that best suits my qualifications with the community's needs.  That remains true today.

New York State says the qualifications for school board membership are an ability to read and write, be  a qualified voter, and be a resident of the district for at least one year prior to the election.   Not a very high bar indeed. 

Any candidate that receives enough votes can be a member of the Board of Education, but to be an effective member of the Board requires much much more.   It is not simply about being smart and having the time.   It is not about representing one segment of the community.

As  one of my fellow candidates will learn, there is a lot more to the job than the hot button issues.  It is easy to identify problems; it is much harder to offer solutions and make decisions.  I am the only candidate who can stand on a proven, successful track record of doing just that.

Being a school board member is about, first and foremost,  having a passion for education.  It is also about understanding education law and regulations, about understanding the budget, and about listening.  Listening to the community, listening to the students, listening to the administrators, listening to the staff,  and listening to your own gut.

Going forward, I will continue to work for ALL members of the community to reach responsible budgets.  I will further seek to reduce the burden on taxpayers by strengthening the public-private partnerships such as with the Chappaqua School Foundation and the Sports Boosters.  I will continue to support openness and transparency.  I will continue to support and seek public involvement and input. 

The Board cannot and should not face the challenges ahead alone.  We need community involvement and support. I will seek to bring the various interest groups including residents with children in the schools as well as residents without, and district personnel together to collectively and creatively find sustainable solutions for our district.

For the past six years, I have worked tirelessly on behalf of the members of this community to be an effective member of the school board.  It requires a person with an extensive and detailed knowledge of the district, a complete understanding of the budget and the structural budget issues the district faces, a person who can make practical and reasoned decisions, a person who is flexible and can build consensus, a person who can balance competing community interests, and a person who has vision and conviction.  There is no experience like direct experience and a proven track record.  I stand on mine.

Simply put, common sense with an uncommon commitment.

Brief Biography

I am 51 years old.  I have three terrific children one of whom graduated from HGHS last year and two currently in high school.  All three started in the district in Kindergarten at Roaring Brook Elementary School, attended Seven Bridges Middle School, and then went on to Horace Greeley High School.  My professional background is in the trading of equities and equity derivatives.  Most recently, I have been in the compliance side of the business.  I have an undergraduate BA in Economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Kelllogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. 

Does Bill Clinton Read His School District Website?

In the news today, former President Bill Clinton in a joint press conference with President Obama talked about retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency.  It is part of President Obams'a "Better Building Initiative". This article states,

Noting rural communities like his new hometown of Chappaqua, N.Y., Clinton added: "Every little county has got one bonded contractor. That bonded contractor can guarantee to every public school, every state, county and local building, every little office building ... what the savings are going to be."

All the former President has to do is go about a mile down the road from his house to Horace Greeley High School to see this in action.  The district recently signed an Energy Performance Contract with Johnson Controls that guarantees that the cost savings from the upgrades to district facilities will pay for the cost of the improvements themselves.  Or, over the term of the agreement, there is no net cost to the taxpayer for significant improvements to the district's infrastructure.

Maybe President Clinton reads the Chappaqua Central School District website.  If he does, he would have seen this article posted to the CCSD site on the energy performance contract.  Right here in his adopted hometown we are going green and according to his analysis helping to create jobs!  Too bad he doesn't give Joe Gramando, John Chow and the district credit for being an early adapter and proactively green.




Energy Performance Contract - Phase 1 Project Timeline

To support the administration and faculty in their efforts to create a rich and dynamic learning environment that will prepare students to be productive members of an increasingly global community of limited natural resources, the District entered into a long-term Energy Performance Contract with Johnson Controls in July 2011. 

Basically, an energy performance contract is a financing tool that utilizes cost savings from increased building efficiency and reduced energy consumption to pay for the cost of installing new energy conservation measures - without any up front capital expenses.  

The contract agreement is for Johnson Controls to guarantee that the savings (plus building aid the District receives from the state) will meet or exceed the annual payments to cover all project costs, and that Johnson Controls pay the difference if at any time energy savings do not materialize.

Phase I of the energy performance contract brings improvements to all 6 school building, the Education Center and the Chappaqua Public Library. 

Proud Resident of New Castle and CCSD

Photo By Larry Clark; Muscle by HGHS Varsity Football
Varsity Football players pushing cars on 117 on way home from game.
Link to other photos from Larry Clark

Below is an edited version of an email I sent to my fellow Board members and the administration late on Saturday night.  Turns out, that because of the power outage at the Ed Center, it did not go out until later.  I altered the letter for publication, to remove any personal references, and to make it more blog readable.  As 97.3% of it is unedited, you get the point.  I also apologize for the length and stream of consciousness style, but for anyone who knows me well or whose child has had me as a coach, you know I tend to rant and ramble in my emails.  And with special thanks to the parents on the New Castle Knights/Hornets+, I now try to give the important stuff in paragraph one (I'm Ok; the bull is dead.)  and the rest is the details.

Alyson, Randy, Vicky, Karen, Lyn, John, Eric, et al:

I am writing to tell you all how proud I am of the district and our community after watching some events unfold today.

First, at 9:00am, I watched our JV Football team beat, crush actually, Spring Valley on a cold, windy and begining to snow field here at HGHS.  The Varsity team was to play at Spring Valley at 1:30.  The team left for SV on two buses at 11:30ish.  I left at noon.  It was snowing hard when I left and the roads were trecherous.  Quite frankly, as a parent I was concerned about the buses crossing the Tappan Zee and heading deeper into the storm, but not wanting to be the paniced parent or the over protective one, I grinned and bore it.

Just past the Tap, hard to see, but by the side of the road was a Chappaqua Transportation bus.  I recognized the number 390 as one that had left with the football team.  (I am weird that way with bus numbers, license plates and other random numbers.  Weird in other ways too, but that is another email.)  It is slippery and slow going, but I manage to pull over about 20 yards in front of the bus.  I figure as a parent and BoE person I should check on the kids' well being.

It was hard to tell about the boys because they were not on the bus.  They had all immediately piled onto the other bus and continued on their way.  I found out later that the entire bus started smelling an odor and the driver determined the bus was overheating, contacted the other driver and they arranged to make the transfer.  I get back in my truck and continued to the field.

By this time, it is blizzard like conditions when we arrive at the field.  I talk to the bus driver who made it and he tells me that Joan is sending a mechanic and another bus.  I am a little amazed.  Sending the third bus to replace the broken one would be the proper thing to do most any day, but today, it sort of seemed like throwing good money after bad.  It was so hard going on the roads that I did not think it safe to have him drive.*

Anyway, I walk to the field and it is covered, really covered in about 4-5 inches of snow.  You cannot see the field at all.  The refs are up to their ankles in snow.  At this point, there were only two other people in the stands.  Of course they were Chappaqua parents!  If you know the football team and its fans, you knew that more would show too.  They did.

The whole thing is surreal.  The players are taking running slides in the snow having fun.  They decide that since we are there, we should play the game.  I think if they had had some foresight, they would have called it off early in the morning.  Of course, to top off the crazy scene, when they start the national anthem, I guess for all 5 of us in the stands and the two teams, it is James Marshall Hendrix (aka Jimi) playing the anthem on his heavily distorted guitar.

The game starts and it is what you would expect from a game played in a literal blizzard.  Neither team can move the ball, neither can punt it nor place kick it.  But boy do the boys look like they are enjoying themselves!  By now, an additional 10-15 Greeley parents (and brothers AJ and Koby!) have shown up.  Mostly the regulars who support the players regardless.  There were two SV parents there the entire time.

Since we decided to stand in front of the press box where there was an overhang and where we figured we could hear what the coaches were saying since we could not actually see the field if we looked left into the storm, we found out that a lot of the families in SV hail from the islands and there was no way they would be out in this.  Interestingly, both my sons told me that the other team's players were real nice, real funny and complaining about the cold the entire game. 

At half time the score was 0-0.  It was obvious that if any team found a way to score, it would likely be the winning score.  It took until midway through the fourth quarter, but we finally managed a touchdown!  The game ended 7-0 Greeley!!

But there was still the problem of getting home and doing it safely.  At that point we did not know the 2nd bus had arrived.  The few parents had already taken count and were prepared to take 3 or 4 players in their cars to get them home safely.  Normally, Coach T requires that the players all take the team bus to and from every game.  None of hopping a ride with mom or dad like they do in middle school.  Today, as we all gathered at the buses in the lot afterwards, Coach T, unhesitatedly made the announcement that parents could take their kids.  I guess it was sort of a reward for the families that traveled and supported the teams - if having a cold, wet and smelly football player in full pads in your car is a "reward". 

These boys were exhausted and COLD.  Most had on an Under Armour shirt of some sort and not much else besides their pads and uniform.  They were wet too!  The boys got on the buses with the parents and some support staff following behind caravan style.  Immediately, within a 1/4 mile of the lot, we were stuck in a mess of cars slipping and sliding. 

The drivers did an amazing job being cautious and persistent with the buses.*  It took about two hours to get to 117 in Pleasantville, normally a 30-35 minute ride.  But we were stuck once again on 117.  A lot of cars were sliding and spinning their wheels.  So what did our cold, wet and tired players do?  They got off the bus and started to help push cars out of the snow or to the side of the road. They saw a problem, and they presented and executed a solution.  Critical thinking in action!

Photo By Larry Clark
Muscle by Greeley Football team

I am quite sure that first, we should not have had those buses running at all today.  But the boys loved playing and I can tell you that they will all be talking about this game when they are our age.  There might be more like 2 feet of snow in the retell and the ride back will have taken 6 hours, but it was one for the ages.

I am also quite sure that letting kids off the bus on 117 is not something we normally would do. If we search long and hard enough for a policy, I am sure we can find one that prohibits it.  But, it was the right thing to do.  To see the boys, in their depleted state being part of the Chappaqua community was awesome.  The driver and the coaches who let them off the bus should be commended.  Being a good citizen sometimes means doing what is right, not what is written in the rule book.

When they finally did get to the high school, it was amazing to watch them all arrange rides and make sure that no one was left at the HS.  These are kids helping kids, no parents involved.  Football brothers not leaving anyone behind.  Maybe it is limited to the football team and is a testament to the coaches, but I would like to think that it is really a testament to the whole district and the staff.  When I go to games, all the staff know me and say hello.  I know they are watching out for the kids, even Joe's [Gramando] staff whose primary responsibility has nothing to do with the kids directly. 

Although I have really gotten to my point, I add the following addendum to the story.  If you have read this far already, I thank you as I know many of you, like me, have no power.  I am not trying to drain your cell batteries, just making a long winded point.

On the way home in my truck, not knowing the extent of the damage in Chappaqua I agreed to head to the high school before going home.  One of mine left this or that and claimed he really needed it.  Ok, let's go.  So I am heading down the big hill on Roaring Brook just before the light with about a 67% chance of making the turn and then being able to stop at the bottom when I am flagged down by a couple who appear to be in their late 60s or early 70s.  (I have no ability to judge or guess age anymore.)

I stop.  Their minivan is clearly in the wrong place and I see no hope of it getting in the right place by anything we or they could do.  They tell me that they called AAA who told them sorry, ain't happening tonight.  They then called 911 who pretty much blew them off too.  They were told to go to the Holiday Inn.  Sounds great, but these are two older folk, lost, without any way to do anything.

"Get in" I hear myself saying.  I tell them I will take them somewhere, not sure where just yet, but first I need to stop at the high school.  They get in and start telling us their tale.  Turns out they had a heavy accent and their english was not so good.  (I think they were speaking german, but it was all greek to me.)  After the high school I need to stop across the street so the boys can get something or other there too.  Now I leave this old couple in my truck as all of us go inside to figure out what to do with them.

I end up driving them to the police station.  The police officer on duty btw was not very nice nor very helpful, but I am sure he was having a long hard day.  He told me to drive them to the Holiday Inn.  I told him, no thanks and we are leaving them here in your capable hands to discuss the slogan, "To serve and protect".  The nice couple who told us all about their dog who got lime disease and died while we drove to town, tried to thank me by reaching into his pocket.  No, it is what we do here in Chappaqua, we help each other out in time of need I told them.  I was even prouder when my boys were thanking me for helping them and telling me I did the "right thing" even if it took them another extra half hour to get out of their wet cold clothes.  

But it does not end there.  I realize it is now close to 6:30 and we have not eaten and I am not going to cook tonight.  I wish I could plan my meals months in advance like Karen, but if I were to do that, there would be a lot of pasta and Rocky's on the menu.  So we stop in Pizza Station.***  In there is John Buckley from the Town Board and a few tables of customers.

I say hello to John.  I commiserate with him and tell him at least the BoE members recognize that an October snow storm must be a budget buster.  He asks why I am out and I give him the Reader's Digest version (see what I did there?).  He then tells me that he stopped at Quaker Hill making his rounds to local businesses and there is a newley wed couple, married earlier today I think, stranded at QH.  "I never want to make calls and ask for favors, but for once I called a buddy on the FD and asked him if he could grab a 4 wheel drive vehicle, come to QH, and take this young couple to the Holiday Inn on their wedding night." he told me.  Another community member just trying to do the right thing.

Then, this one table consisting of a grandmother, mother, and young boy who had overheard our entire conversation asked me "who we are".  I tell them we serve on the town council and school board.  They are amazed.  Turns out they live in NYC, their car had some sort of glitch (wipers stopped?) and since the trains were not working they were stuck here in the pizza place. 

Next thing I know, I am on the phone with her husband who has decided to drive up from Manhatten to rescue them but is lost as they had closed part of the Saw Mill and his gps was taking him in circles.  I direct him to the Pizza Station.  The woman told us that they were looking at houses in Westchester (not today, but in general) and had not looked in Chappaqua "yet".  She told us that she would not consider buying in another town now after hearing and witnessing all sorts of good deeds today.

I tell you all this to point out that most of the town never hears about all the good people do around here, about the spirit of volunteerism, about the good that we do as a board.  Why?  Because good news does not sell, controversy does.  Unfortunately, most of the town only knows of us through what they read in the blogs.  If only they knew of the extraordinary things done in the district every day.**

As Gregg said last year on his way out, it is only a thankless job if you are looking for thanks.  I tip my hat to you all fellow volunteers who do this for some reason I am not sure even we know, but do it nonetheless.

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

Stay warm, stay safe and stay home,

Jeffrey

* I had a chance to meet Seth from Chappaqua Transportation on Monday at a meeting where opening of school was discussed.  I thanked him for the terrific job that his drivers did Saturday and let him know that the Coaches had also written to the AD and Board pointing out what a great job his drivers did.

**As an example, on Monday (Oct 31st) while driving around the district facilities in my role as Co-Chair (with Randy K) of the Board's Facilities Committee, I happened upon Joe Gramando working hard to get things back up and back to normal and then a meeting in the high school where all the district administrators (Ed Center and building principals) lead by Lyn McKay were meeting to discuss and finalize a plan for opening schools and communicating with the community to keep them up to date on the situation.  They had developed plans A, B and C depending on power restoration, bus safety and facilities availability.  I was impressed not only with the operational planning, but with the attention to detail going into communicating efficiently and clearly with the community on a timely basis.

Also, I want to recognize the extraordinary level of cooperation between the Town of New Castle and the CCSD.  I know there was communication at all levels of the two entities.  The BoE communicated with Barbara Gerrard and she with us, as well as Superintendent McKay and Assistant Superintendent Chow (and Joe Gramando) in constant contact with Penny P and other members of the Town staff sharing information, finding ways to help each other out, etc.  Two simple examples of cooperation would be the Town in a time crunch and while being burdened with so many other logistical items managed to pull off a Halloween celebration for the kids at the community center and in town that probably should be the template for Halloweens to come.  The district opened HGHS as a warming center and place to shower for residents of New Castle.  

*** As another totally "only in Chappaqua" moment and as a testament to our merchants, I was in Pizza Station again on Monday early evening (I still had no power) when in walked a young trick or treater.  Unfortunately, PS was all trick or treated out.  The owner, whose name I do not know, shrugged and ask if he wanted a slice instead of candy.  I big shake yes of the head and two minutes later off he went with his free Halloween slice.  (When it came time to pay for my slice, I said, "Trick or Treat?, but I guess that does not work for big kids.)

+

New Castle Hornets 2009-10

JSM

Budget Advisory Committee

On Friday September 30th, Christine Yeres an editor and blogger for NewCastleNOW, posted a story about a school board budget advisory committee.  In that blog posting, she makes a big point to emphasize that the committee's meetings are not open to the public.

First, she misstates that these meetings are Board committees.  They are not.  There are no Board members attending or leading this committee.  What?   The administration is trying to hear from the public directly without Board interference?   Last year, the finance committee of the Board consisting of me and Randy Katchis lead a committee of about 25 community members split into 3 groups working on issues related to the budget.

One group, working on ways to communicate with the public, ultimately suggested the Board conduct a survey of the community to help ascertain what the community valued (and did not value) with the CCSD education structure.  That group even spent hours attempting to write up such a survey.  The Board last year agreed with the recommendation and determined that it was such a good idea it was worth spending money to get accurate and statistically relevant results.  

This year, before the end of October, the Board will receive from the private firm hired to conduct the survey, the preliminary results of the survey.  We are looking forward to hearing from ALL segments of the community, from folks with children just entering the school system to empty nesters and everyone else.

Second, the group approved a flyer developed and written by the sub-committee dubbed "the mandate group".  We approved of the flyer, posted it on our website and agreed with the principles espoused in the document, mainly seeking ways to get mandate relief and to change the system including the Triborough amendment to the Taylor law as well as the defined benefit pension system.

Third, the Board approved the continuation of the group that was trying to analyze the districts allocations on spending and compare them to other neighboring districts.  This is the group currently meeting that a few folks seem to be upset that they cannot attend.

To me, one of the the flaws of the system last year was that all three sub-groups were part of the same committee.  In hindsight, there should have been three separate groups.  There should have been a group that met to discuss ways to better communicate with the community both with the budget AND in general.  There should have been a group a little broader than focusing only on mandates that was more targeted toward being a political action committee that dealt with mandates and was an ongoing committee that could help address all interactions with Albany on an ongoing basis.  Three, there should be a group that helps analyze the specific numbers of the budget and does comparisons to other districts and maybe devises their own metrics to measure success and efficiency of the budget.

Another flaw with last year was the timing of the committee meetings meaning they started too late to affect last year's budget much and with the timing of the board responding to what was produced.  If you watch the  first meeting of the board when I tried to get the school board to accept the reports and suggestions, you will see one of the most frustrating (2nd behind not approving Wednesday as the meeting date for this year because the PTA did not want to do the work to change the calendar) meetings of my 4+ year board career.

When I was quoted in the NCN blog as having said that I thought that a problem with last year's committee was that it became a political platform, I think some members of the community are misconstruing what I meant or I did not do a good enough job explaining.  I think that ALL three of the subgroups had a bias.  Three different bias'.  That was a natural result of the members of the various sub groups.  Of course there will be a bias if we are human.  

What I did not like was that rather than produce work, at times, from all three groups, when we got together as one group, there was political posturing rather than factual reporting.  That was true of all three groups whether it was discussing the special ed expenditures, the community feedback or what the board could or should do about mandates.

By having the community volunteers this year work directly with the administration, it eliminates the time lag between waiting for the board to accept and approve of the work, it eliminates whatever political agenda all the Board members have in accepting or rejecting a report of the committee and it allows the committee members themselves to focus on the work without interference.

It has also allowed the district to start the meetings sooner than last year with the hope that any result will be applicable to the budget produced this year (2012-2013 school year.)

As for whether the meetings should be public, I have no strong opinion either way.  On one hand, I support transparency, so having them be open would make sense.  On the other hand, once you introduce the public, it will change a few things but mostly, these are community volunteers.  As an elected Board member, I expect public criticism and the anonymous blog attacks.  They are what they are to me.  I have come to accept that if I just do what I think is right and remember my fiduciary obligation, then whatever is written about me or the Board is whatever.  I rarely read the blogs.  I get feedback in the forms of emails, direct comments, meeting comments, phone calls, etc.  Edit: Sometimes my kids tell me that another person called me an idiot on NCN.  They threaten to post their own complaints if I make them take out the garbage or clean their rooms.  "They're anonymous, Dad.  No one will know its us complaining."

I have learned that actions speak louder than words.  My favorite maxim or old world saying gets me through; "The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on."  Personal attacks, I ignore,  Constructive criticism I consider closely.  Suggestions are analyzed. Compliments accepted knowing you are "only as good as your last trade."

But volunteers on a committee that is trying to analyze district budgets or create metrics to measure the success of the administration and/or Board did not really sign up for that nor should they be subject to it.  Maybe we should release the names to Christine and Tom to show that it is a cross section and ask them not to publish them unless the individual oks it?  Is there a way to create public accountability without subjecting the volunteers to the noise?

The district has many committees that are not open to the public nor do we release names for those who serve.  Has anyone ever been to or wanted to attend other than the members themselves a wellness committee meeting? A green committee meeting? Etc.  This year, the new Superintendent, Dr. McKay has made it a priority to have meetings with the public to both get their feedback and to provide information and transparency to the community.  I think it is clear that the Board itself has tried to be as open as possible too.  

The last Board meeting on September 27th was a work session.  One complaint we have received is that the meetings go too late and we do all this boring approving or rejecting of various board business business.  On the 27th, we did not have any business.  We simply had two reports to the Board and public, the President updated the community on several issues including turf and the new iPads the Board is using to go paperless and streamline the meeting process as well as open up questioning to the community and reporters present to ask anyone anything.  We tried to make it more of an open discussion among Board members themselves and between the district and the community.

But, this change and the structure of the work session to allow earlier input from the community was not reported on by NCN or anyone else for that matter.  Instead, the focus was on the fact that a committee was closed.  Even if reporters came to these budget committee meets, would you trust them to report it accurately without their own opinion and bias?  (I recommend against expecting a complete and unbiased reporting.)

Granted, it was the first time we did it so there was not a lot of questions or comments, but hopefully the next time it will expand and become an important part of the interaction between the Board, the administration and the community.  And, as noted above, we are conducting a professional survey of the community.  Finally, as always, you are welcome to send suggestions, ideas, comments, criticisms and compliments directly to the Board via email (Board@ccsd.ws) or to us individually (First two initials of first name plus last name at ccsd.ws).

Edit (10/5/2011): As of today, the Board of Ed has received not one, not a single email directly to the Board (or me) with concerns about the Budget Committee.  

I can be reached via email at JeMester@ccsd.ws or if you want to ask a question here or have me post an answer here use comments@newcastlealternative.com.  And, you can use the button at right to call me too. (914-840-2233).  To post a comment to this article (or any article) use the form at the bottom of the article.

JSM

Edit:  You can also use the district's website (ccsd.ws) to ask a question.  Two years ago we implemented a feature called "Ask the District" so that you can submit questions about anything from the mundane (When is the 7 Bridges lot going to be paved --by the end of October, btw) to specifics (What percentage of the budget goes toward retirement funds)  There is a quick link to it on the left side of the home page.

Follow Up to Turf Post

The following are some questions I received and my answers.  These are my answers only.  I do not speak for the entire Board.  If you would like to send an email to me, I can be reached at the link below (comments@newcastlealternative.com) or JeMester@ccsd.ws.  Emails you send to my district email or to the Board's email (Board@ccsd.ws) are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.  To call me, click on the link on this page.  If you block your caller ID, I do not see the number.  Leave a message if I am unable to answer.


Q. Will the Board us district funds for the turf field?


A. No.  The Board and the district has said repeatedly that we will not use district funds for the turf when we have academic priorities that take precedence.

Q.  Then why was the Board voting to sign the contract with the Engineering firm before it had the funds in hand from the turf committee?


A.  First, we tabled the motion initially and approved the motion at our September 8th meeting contingent upon having the funds in hand from the TCTC or them demonstrating that it was placed in escrow for the district.  Second, the turf committee is a community group and is made up of members of the community, natch.  Quite frankly, I trust them to honor the legally binding MOU we signed with them.  I do not think we should treat them any differently from other community groups that use our facilities.  For example, the PTA currently owes us $40,000 for a program they run.  We have not said, "No, you cannot have that program until you paid."  That makes no sense for many reasons.  One, we asked the PTA to be a conduit for the program.  Two, they are a community group whose word is their bond.  They told us they would pay and we know they will without doing a D&B report on their credit.  Why should we treat the TCTC differently than the PTA?

Another reason why I think we could have and should have signed the agreement prior to having the actual funds in house is that there are other issues that arise that are critical to the timing.  As this is district property, the district has to sign the contract.  In order to actually undertake the work on our fields, believe it or not, Albany (Dept. of Ed) needs to approve of the work.  If you have ever asked for government approval on a construction project, you know that it takes time.  A lot of time.  So, in order to install turf in the summer of 2012, we need to file in the early fall and we need to submit an engineering study as part of that filing.

Also, if we file in a timely matter and meet certain criteria there is a chance that the state will give us matching funds for up to around 23%.  Why not try to get that money?  It was taken from us as tax payers.  Let us get it back.

Q. Why is the PTA and others in the community saying that you are rushing into this without public input?


A. Again, I have no idea.  That simply is not true.  There were significant meetings on this two years ago.  Again in the spring , the Board of Ed's Facilities Committee announced and held (June 1st) a public meeting on the issue.  There were approximately 30 people in attendance.  Of those who attended, some were neighbors with concerns, some were community members with other concerns and some were supporters.  We stayed and answered every question and gave anyone who wanted to a chance to speak.

In fact, that meeting was announced by the PTA!!!  Below is the relevant section from a copy of the email they sent announcing it.

Artificial Turf The topic of artificial turf in Chappaqua will be on the agenda of the Facilities Committee when they meet on Tuesday June 1 at 7:00pm at the Education Center.  Consider attending if you would like to learn more about private fundraising to bring turf to Chappaqua and how the process of gaining approval for a turf field will work.  You are also welcome to attend the meeting to raise any other questions or concerns about the facilities of the Chappaqua School District.

For the PTA to claim that we are doing anything hastily is simply incorrect and disingenuous.  The PTA tried to make some point that the September 8th meeting was not on their precious district calendar, but the September 1st one was and they chose not to attend.  In fact, in response to concerns a Board member expressed, the motion was tabled until those concerns could be addressed one week later.

Additionally, the district did not announce the meeting two hours before it began.  The PTA sent out their own email.  The district posted the meeting on its website and sent out an announcement to everyone on our mailing list that has asked to receive such emails.  Ours was sent on Tuesday, a full 52 hours in advance.

And, I personally sent emails to both The Patch and NCN to let them know about the meeting.  I certainly would not characterize sending an email to local bloggers to get the word out as anything but full transparency.  I cannot control their publication schedule or their editorial decision on what is worthy of being blogged about.

Schools Open!! Email, Turf and more

Schools Open!! Congratulations to Dr. McKay, the administrative team, the teachers and the entire staff on a terrific first week of school. Also, thank you to Joe Gramando and his staff for the outstanding job they have done over the summer and this past two weeks dealing with the terrible weather conditions that has affected so many of us and our neighbors.

 I received more calls, texts and emails tonight about the schools than I did in the past two months combined. Apparently, many residents read the email (copied below) sent out by the PTA late this afternoon and had questions and concerns about the email. First, tonight, the Board approved an amended motion to accept the contract with the engineering firm for preliminary work on the potential turf field contingent upon either receiving the actual funds from the community group spearheading the effort, TCTC or TC2 or their demonstrating that the monies have been put in escrow on behalf of the district. Tonight's 5-0 vote reiterates that the Board never intended nor will spend district funds on a turf field. For those who attended the September 1st meeting and those who took the time to inquire with the district, that fact was never in dispute.

To respond to your questions about the PTA email, let me reiterate that I do not speak for the entire Board (our President, Alyson K does), I speak only for myself. 

I regret that the PTA sent the email to the community prior to asking for and understanding the facts of the issue. As they did not attend the September 1st meeting, their decision to rely on published media reports for their information lead to their own hasty email filled with innuendo and inaccuracies that in the end reflected poorly on the PTA. I am quite confident that going forward the Board and the PTA can and will resume our terrific working relationship with the common goal of helping the children of this community.

I also want to publicly thank the Sports Boosters and Jim N for all their efforts especially in coordinating the many various town and school related groups to make this effort a true community project. For the first time, Jim has managed to get five local youth sports organizations to work together in addition to several school organizations. At tonight's meeting he also extended an olive branch to the PTA to join the group effort on turf and noted his regret that they had not communicated sooner.

Should this fundraising effort prove successful, the gift of a turf field will reduce district maintenance costs by around $50,000 annually, will benefit all the district's high school JV and Varsity teams and will significantly increase the available fields for local youth organizations both in terms of hours of availability and with the current weather related closings. This is a win-win-win all around.

Let me also make it clear that the monies sought are not being siphoned from monies that would otherwise go to the district. These are completely private funds. The TC2 is working with the CSF to find ways to benefit both groups without diverting contributions from the CSF. The TC2 intends to make in clear in their fund raising efforts that they are only seeking donations for the field and do not want to affect any other donations a contributor may make. They want this to be incremental giving not replacement giving.

The Board's next regularly scheduled meeting is on September 20th at 8:15 in the HGHS academic commons. See you there.

Here is a link to the email and below is the text.

The Chappaqua Board of Education will be meeting at 6:30 tonight, Thursday, September 8th, at the school district Education Center, 66 Roaring Brook Road. This special meeting is not on the district calendar and was scheduled hastily, mainly to consider an action tabled at the Board's September 1st meeting. The action under consideration is whether the Board should approve advancing approximately $141,000 in taxpayer funds to pay for an engineering study of what has been promoted as a privately-funded effort to build a lighted turf sports field at Horace Greeley High School. Private fundraising efforts by the Chappaqua Turf Committee have just begun and the Board of Education is considering advancing the cost of the engineering study until such time, if any, that sufficient private funds are raised to reimburse the school district. Please consider attending tonight's meeting if you'd like the Board of Education to hear your views before it decides whether or not to approve the use of school district funds for this purpose during a time of severe fiscal constraint.

Whose Schedule is It?

At the CCSD School Board's May 24th meeting, I made a simple suggestion to move our Board meetings next year to Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays. For as long as I can remember, and probably longer than that, CCSD School Board meetings have been held on Tuesdays. No one I asked can give me a reason why, other than that is the way it always is/was.

I asked to move the meetings for two reasons. One, so our meetings do not conflict with the Town Board meetings. Anyone interested in local governance like I am cannot actively participate in both Town Board meetings and School Board meetings. While you can watch them both online at your convenience, if you wish to attend both and/or participate in both, you are forced to make a choice of one over the other. While I concede regular attendance at both board meetings is limited, that is besides the point. This is about good governance.

I also think that having the meetings on the same day sends the wrong symbolic message to the community. As it is, correct or incorrect, the message we send to the community with our meetings scheduled on the same day is that we do not work together and we do not care about the conflict.

I want to change that perception. Coming off the recent conflict over the former Reader's Digest property, this would be a great first step toward repairing the relationship between the two boards. The two boards share many of the same interests, have many (but not all) of the same constituents, and are both part of the same community; we need to act like the good neighbors we are.

Changing the meeting day to Wednesday also sends a positive message to the community of change. Over the past few years, the School Board has changed with the times. We are a proactive dynamic Board that is able to be both academically supportive and fiscally responsible. But, perception may not yet have caught up with reality.

Change continues this year in the district. We will have two new Board members. Of the remaining three Board members, one is completing his rookie year, another her second year and I am finishing my fourth year. Next year, the average term of a sitting Board Member will be 1.4 years. We will also have a new Superintendent and a new Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum as well as a new head of Human Resources.

A change to Wednesdays signals a new way of doing things, that we are willing to be flexible, dynamic, and break conventions.

Two, moving the meetings to Wednesdays would be a significant positive change for me personally. I do not think it necessary or appropriate to give the details of my personal reasons, but suffice it to say that the change would materially benefit my family life, my professional life and my personal life. Not changing will also have a measurable negative affect on my situation.

While serving on the School Board is a privilege, it is not without its burdens. Between Board meetings, exec sessions, committee work, interviews, school walk thrus, retreats, meetings with constituents, and meetings with administrators and staff the time commitment is immense. It is not a role one takes on for any sane reason other than a true commitment to the community and its children. That may sound corny, but it is true. Every Board Member I have ever served with or known personally, regardless of where they stand on individual issues, serves because of a commitment to education, to the children of the community and to their neighbors. It is certainly not for the pay or the perks.

So, while it may sound self serving and may even be self serving, to the extent possible, I strongly believe that we should make serving on the Board less of a burden where ever possible. Accommodating Board Members when possible will help retain experienced Board Members and will not be a limiting factor in attracting new volunteers. To the extent we can make it easier on any one of us without making it harder on any of us, we should. We already do everything possible to accommodate those on the Board who work full time. Why not accommodate those with evening conflicts too? We should try even if that means more work in the short run for the Administration or other groups that may be affected.

If you watch the tape of the meeting, none of the remaining Board Members nor the two incoming Board members have an issue with moving the meetings to Wednesday. I can also say that subsequent to the meeting all checked their schedules and still have no issue themselves with moving to Wednesdays.

But, there is opposition within the school community to the change. No one I spoke to thinks it is a bad idea. All opposition to the change revolves around logistics/work involved in making the change.

Quite frankly, while I am sympathetic to the amount of effort needed to successfully make this change and have volunteered to take on that task, we should make the decision based on what is right, not on the amount of work needed. Making the expedient decision over the right decision will send the wrong signal to the community and will negate the hard work this Board and this Administration has done in becoming more flexible, more transparent and more community accessible, or to put it in more 21st century terms, more user friendly.

We should never let the threat of hard work prevent doing what is right.

Cupcakes, Kids, Volunteers, Civility and Respect

You would have to be living in a cave to not have heard the story about Michael Wolfenson, the New Castle Town Councilman/cupcake vigilante. I know Michael, and I am quite sure that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn't; or at least not the same way. I would like to think that the boy’s parents would handle it differently next time too. The family friend who called the paper 5 weeks later too. Everyone would take a mulligan on this one if they could.

The national and even international media has made this into a story about the big bad politician picking on the little kids. To me, that is not what this story is really about. This is a story about civility and the public reaction to the story. Michael Wolfenson, regardless of your political leanings, regardless of your opinion on his local votes, regardless of where you stand on the Reader’s Digest site and regardless of where you stand on the great cupcake capitalism debate deserves to be treated with respect and civility. (Make no mistake about it, the boys also deserve respect, civility and whatever accommodation is appropriate for 13 year old boys.)

Michael Wolfenson is essentially a volunteer trying to help his neighbors, friends and town residents the best he can. Michael Wolfenson got involved in town politics because of an overwhelming desire to honor local residents killed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. He spent years fighting for a singular cause because he knew in his heart it was the right thing to do. If you have been to the 9/11 memorial at Gedney Park, the very park in which this incident took place, you would agree his efforts were well worth it. He simply wants to help the community. You may not always agree with him on what is right, but his intentions are good.

I have said this in the past, but it is worth repeating here. I can assure you that neither he nor the other town board members are in it for the money. Town Board members are paid less than $10,000 a year. (The Supervisor gets approximately 5 times that amount.) My guess is that that works out to way less than minimum wage when you factor in the time they contribute.

We need people like Michael Wofenson in this town. We need volunteers. We need people to be on the School Board, the Town Board, the Zoning Board, the Planning Board, the Board of Assessment Review, the Board of Architectural Review, the Conservation Board, the Downtown Steering Committee, the Environmental Review Board, the Millwood Task Force, the Sustainability Board, the Recreation Commission, the PTA, New Castle Cares, LWV, the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, the Chappaqua School Foundation, the boards and coaches of AYSO, CYSC, GYL and NCBSA, and all the other ways in which neighbors volunteer to help neighbors and contribute to the community.

Who in their right mind would want to volunteer for the community when the reaction to all they do is personal attacks? Playing “gotcha journalism” with local volunteers does nothing other than to dissuade them from continuing public service. I know, I am one of those volunteers. I am a member of the CCSD Board of Education. I have also coached countless of my children’s sports teams. I have gotten the emails from the parents who use stop watches to track their children’s playing time or from the parents say, “I don’t want to tell you how to coach, but…” and then proceed to tell you how to coach.

During the difficult budget discussions of the last few years I have heard residents call the teachers names, the board members names and each other names when they disagree with their point of view. How is that going to help the situation? Ad hominen attacks are unnecessary and counter-productive. There are no "bad guys" in the budget debate. There are differing groups that need to recognize that the collective long-term success is contingent upon short-term sacrifice. By all.

Heck, I have seen residents of New Castle make anonymous comments picking on students for making Cum Laud, for making speeches at graduation and for their sports efforts. Why? These are kids, not much older than the cupcake entrepreneurs simply trying to find their voice, to plot a way through this crazy thing called life.

Last spring, I thought long and hard prior to filing to run for re-election to the School Board. The primary reason I hesitated at all was the consideration of being a public figure in this day and age. Heaven forbid you make a mistake, and look what happens. Add in the people who hide behind the anonymity of the internet to make personal attacks and you too would question your decision to volunteer.

Know this, to be a public figure, even if it is just a volunteer here in Chappaqua, means having to endure and come to terms with personal attacks. But it should not have to. If we as a community want to continue to attract residents to our community and, as important, to attract volunteers from among those residents, we need to treat each other and those volunteers with respect and civility. Challenge the ideas; don’t attack the person.

The sense I get is that in our rush to judgment, our rush to attack, our desire to bring down the person we fail to recognize that the system is strengthened by having multiple and alternative candidates, multiple and alternative volunteers. We are chasing those potential contributors away. You can’t “vote da bums out” if you have no alternatives bums for whom to vote.

Let us as a community rise above. Let us find a way to recognize and applaud these children’s entrepreneurial spirit and let them continue to dream big while also appreciating the good intentions, the time and effort that Michael Wolfenson and all the various organization volunteers give to the community.

JSM

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Town Law 265

The usual disclaimers apply. I am not speaking for the School Board, I am speaking as an individual. (Refrigerate after opening. Shake well before each use. Your mileage may vary. Past performance means bupkis.)

To some this may sound odd or not be obvious, but I believe the decision on whether or not to sign this petition in support of Town Law 265 is potentially a very big decision with far reaching implications, some not so obvious and some not so direct. I am not aware of the Board of Education ever having signed a petition. Should we decide to sign this petition, we should do so aware of all the issues, not just, "do we support this petition?" Are we setting precedent, are we overstepping our charge and are we meddling in the town's affairs? Having said that, I also believe that there are times to make exceptions, times to set precedent and times to make long term decisions that are not necessarily in your short term best interest. And, as my board colleagues know, as a Board member, former business owner and father, the phrase I rail against more than any is, "Because that is the way we have always done it."

When considering this vote this morning, the first thing I had to consider was the basic question of the merits of the petition. Regardless of any other implications, if I did not agree with the petition's premise, there was no need to waste time on other considerations. What is this petition asking? As I understand it, and as I considered it, we were simply being asked to sign a petition as a landowner who falls within certain boundaries (100') in relation to the proposed zoning change at the former Reader's Digest site. In essence, this petition asks if we support imposing a requirement of a super majority vote from the lead agency (the Town Board) in order to approve the zoning change. It is not asking for our opinion on the zoning change.

As a school board member this entire process with respect to the proposed zoning changes and redevelopment of the former Reader's Digest site has been in one sense surrealistic. I ran for the school board not the town board. I could easily have decided to focus my volunteer efforts in support of this community by helping to govern the entire town, not just the school district. While I may decide to do that at some point in the future, I prefer to focus on our schools, our children, their education and by proxy, the real estate values that are driven in large part by the excellence of our schools. That excellence does not come without significant cost.

The converse is true too. The Supervisor and members of the Town Board chose to run for the Town Board for their own personal reasons, and not the school board. Yet, here we both find ourselves mired in each other's business.

Parenthetically, I would like to add that whether I agree or disagree with all the decisions made by the Town Board from garbage pickup to Gazebo building to their efforts to revitalize downtown is irrelevant. This to me is about one issue, the district and its taxpayers to whom I owe a fiduciary duty. I would also like to go on record as stipulating that regardless of agreement, I believe the Town Board has always acted with the best of intentions and tried to do what they thought was best for the town. While their role is not purely voluntary, the small amount they are paid will never be just compensation for the efforts they put in and the inappropriate personal attacks they take. Challenge their positions if you wish, but do not question their integrity. Do not lose sight of the fact that like the School Board, the Town Board members are our neighbors.

So why is this surrealistic? Because, with this decision, the Town Board is actually, in addition to affecting the Town of New Castle, having a direct affect on and potentially creating long term cost and therefore program affects on Chappaqua Central School District residents. If the project gets approved with its present proposed structure, essentially what is happening is the Town Board is voting to have the CCSD taxpayers take the risk of significantly increased costs, potentially millions of dollars. So, while the town's upside in terms of dollars is, by their own estimates, $200,000, there are very likely scenarios whereby the town would increase its net income by $200,000 while at the same time the CCSD taxpayers would have increased costs in a rollover budget (all programs and offerings remain the same as previous budget) of MILLIONS of dollars. To the taxpayers that overlap the CCSD and the Town of New Castle the Board they elected to represent them on town issues is also acting counter to their interests with significantly more at stake. An overlapping taxpayer could have additional costs that are significant while the Town can rightfully claim that they lowered their portion of the bill. I firmly believe that the one of the primary factors the Town Board should consider when deciding the zoning change request is its potential effect on the CCSD taxpayer.

One way to look at this, and to me the appropriate way to view this as a school board member, CCSD taxpayer and resident of New Castle, is that a vote by the Town Board to approve this project in its present form is simply saying that they have not considered the CCSD taxpayer. But to do that is to ignore the fact that 90% of the CCSD taxpayers are New Castle residents.

And, what has yet to be mentioned through all this is that the 10% of CCSD taxpayers who are in the town of Mt. Pleasant essentially are having their taxes potentially raised without representation. That was sort of the problem 240 years ago. Who but the Board of Education is looking out for the Mt. Pleasant taxpayers in the CCSD?

I recognize too that the Town represents those who live on the West side of town who are not residents of the CCSD. To a west sider who does not live anywhere near the project and will not be affected by the traffic, the noise or any other change, this is simply about money. Their money. They want the project approved because it may have a positive effect on the tax levy for them. If I did not want to factor in some sort of value in helping my fellow New Castle townies, I would feel the same way. One thing I am not really sure of though is the direct effect on any one west side taxpayer, or for that matter any New Castle taxpayer.

Assuming that the discussion regarding twice a week trash pickup is a good proxy for the amount of money benefiting the town, on a per resident basis, if the redevelopment of the former Reader's Digest site yields an additional $200,000 of revenue to the town, that would be approximately $37 per household if allocated consistent with the trash savings. But, I do not think that is actually how it would work. I am pretty sure it is a function of the assessed value of the house and the equalization rate. Simplified, the higher the value of the house, the greater the savings. Lower valued houses would save less than the $37.

So part of the surrealistic aspect of this is that there are residents of New Castle who are not part of the CCSD who have interests that are not necessarily aligned with the 90% of CCSD taxpayers who are also New Castle residents, and there are 10% of CCSD taxpayers in Mt. Pleasant who are potentially greatly affected by this that have no representation on the New Castle Town Board making this decision.

Make no mistake about it, there is a risk to the CCSD taxpayer that this zoning decision could have significant negative financial impact (raise taxes or cut programs or both) on the schools. To me, the only question is how to mitigate the risk or return the risk to the developer and not place it on the taxpayer. Some might argue that the risk is not great. Some that it is unbearably immense. While this Board has indicated it believes the risk is immense and likely to happen, our primary concern is on whom is it appropriate to place that risk.

Let me be clear about that. Speaking for myself, but I think consistent with the consensus of the board, the opposition is not to the project per se. The opposition is to the project in its present form. Until the risk of the remaining 119 units that are not either fee simple or part of the settlement stipulation for low income housing is mitigated and assumed by the developer or someone other than the CCSD taxpayer, we are opposed. Quite frankly, while I believe even the stipulation housing should be fee simple, if the units are held to the 20 already proposed or less, I will not oppose it.

Having said all of that, this is clearly a very important decision that needs to be made by the Town Board. I would argue that this is the most important decision made by a New Castle Town Board in generations. This is a decision that will have ramifications and affects, some good and some bad, for years and years to come. It could potentially change the entire character of the town. It could have significant financial impact on residents.

The sudden availability of 179 houses priced between $500,000 and $1 million will certainly have significant impact on current single family homes priced in that range. Town services could be affected as well as local merchants. So, while on the face of it, this is a zoning change request, it is so much more important and far reaching than that. Regardless of what side you fall on, I am safe in assuming you agree that this needs to be considered carefully, thoughtfully and completely.

This, in a long and roundabout way, leads me back to the decision to sign or not. I have previously established that the petition is not asking us to opine on the zoning change, but rather is asking for the Town to have a super majority needed for passage, that in its present form there is significant financial risk to CCSD taxpayers without any offsetting gain and that this is the most important decision the Town will make in generations.

To me, the next step in the decision is to consider any implications to the district itself by the simple act of a signing a petition. Our attorneys have indicated there is not any legal impediment to signing. This is such a unique and special request that our decision either way here is not establishing a precedent other than the board's willingness to consider this request. Finally, I ask myself if there is good reason to sign or not that can be supported either way. As a fiduciary to the district, is either alternative action, sign or decide not to sign or is punting the decision supportable or appropriate.

I am voting to sign the petition. It appears the district falls within the legal boundaries for this petition, we are directly affected by this decision from a financial standpoint as well as the traffic and other logistics of being across the street from this type of development, and I think it is reasonable to ask that a super majority of the Town Board be needed to make such a significant change. We are establishing no district precedent and as a fiduciary to the district including its students and taxpayers, I think I have to act within reason to further the district's interests or to prevent significant harm to our district taxpayers even if we have never done it this way before. To me, taking no action or voting against signing this petition would be proactively not taking a step that can be taken without harm to the district and that would be protecting the district's taxpayers.

Finally, this decision did not come lightly, but ultimately it comes in support of the people we on the School Board represent, the students and taxpayers of the Chappaqua Central School District.

JSM

Horace Greeley Homecoming Dance

Some residents have talked to me about the recent Homecoming Dance. The general issue was the limited number of tickets. Some also complained about "scalping" going on with the tickets.

First, congratulations to the student council and the administration for the successful incident free event! We are a victim of our own success. There are limits to the number of tickets we can sell to a dance as there are fire code restrictions as well as a protocol to have appropriate coverage or ratios of students to chaperons. For the first time in recent years, we reached a level of sales that would consider the dance as "sold out".

So how do you properly allocate the scarce resource of tickets in the future? Right now it is done through time. First come first served. Many students, wanting to wait until they could confirm plans, waited until the Friday before the dance to try to purchase tickets. I suggested to my children that paying the $10 (their money) early in the week was like buying a cheap call on their Saturday night plans. (Full disclosure: One of my children is on the student council and was required to be there and help setup as well as take a shift working at the dance.)

Following the dance, this week, I suggested to the administration that they consider two changes to the ticket selling protocol for next time. One, when tickets go on sale, make the first day of sales exclusive to seniors, the second day for juniors and seniors, the third day for sophomores, juniors and seniors, and the fourth day for freshman and sophomores only. Then, open ticket purchases up to the entire school.

Second, in order to prevent scalping and the older grades buying tickets in bulk, have every ticket numbered and a name logged with the sale. At the dance, only the person whose name is listed with the ticket number will be allowed to use that ticket.

These are just suggestions. I am sure there are many other good ideas that would make sense. I know the administration is considering many solutions to what is, in my opinion, a good problem; too much student participation.

JSM


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