Each candidate gave an opening statement. That was followed by direct questions to each candidate from the Forum’s moderator. As with any event of this nature, time is always the enemy and limits a candidates answer. It also works to everyone’s advantage as it mandates concise, pointed answers. Mr Thomas seemed most able to be brief but effective. Several audience questions were specific to existing programs that were answered best by Mr Evans – only because he has a more intimate familiarity with policies as the incumbent.
During the exchanges, there were never any personal attacks nor were the candidates critical of each other or their ideas. The four newcomers offer a wide diversity of backgrounds that may all bring something different to the “table”.
Mr Justin Datino, an Assistant to the Scarsdale Village Administrator, with a background in Government Administration focused heavily and pointedly on Transportation costs, acknowledging there are unchangeable fixed costs for personnel, pensions, and operating expenses while saying he is still willing to look at them and see what might be able to done to save the district more.
Ms Rodriguez-Gonzalez, is an educator in the Bronx. She detailed her background as being two-fold. One part of what she does is as a teacher of Health and Physical Education. The second part of what she does is to study informational data to better assist her colleagues in the school improve how they teach to reach students better. ABG apologizes for not having gotten the title of that position. She was asked why her three children attended private schools? She stated it was a personal reason and still explained some of her reasons. ABG found her answer acceptable. One statement ABG did not find acceptable was a comment she made about the position she was seeking, saying, “After all, it is a volunteer position.” While this shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for her, and we found her qualified, we were dismayed to hear that comment.
Mr Sia, who works for the County of Westchester at the Archive & Records office on 9A, made an enlightening comment. He stated as a somewhat recent graduate of Alexander Hamilton High School, he felt ill-prepared for college. He felt his poor experience in high school, and his deficiencies in math, computer knowledge and English made college more difficult for him. He said he would look to help the students be better prepared for their next educational journey after high school.
Mr Thomas, recently retired from the Elmsford Police Department and previously from the insurance industry offered an interesting proposition if he were to be elected. He would invite Governor Cuomo, several elected leaders, local PTA members, School Board members and a few students to lunch trying to help bridge the gap from his small community to the larger state entity. He would also work toward acquiring funds through grants from various sources to help offset the costs of education already saddling our taxpayers. As a retiree, he is willing to go to Albany and/or Washington DC as often as necessary to help the Elmsford School District and community.
The Forum was an enlightening event. It was a meeting chocked full of good questions and good answers. School taxes are the bulk of all taxpayers’ overall tax bill. Given it’s significance, you would think everyone would come out and vote. The public is faced with five choices in this Tuesday’s School Board election. There are no bad choices in this upcoming election. Based on what we heard this afternoon, ABG believes the two strongest contenders are Mr Justin Datino and Mr Theodore (Ted) Thomas. There’s a saying in politics, GOTV: get out the vote. So go. If you haven’t followed the candidates or aren’t sure or just need to be pushed along, vote for these two candidates we just mentioned. Just go vote!
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