Julie Allongue for Greenburgh Central School Board

 My name is Julie Allongue, and I am running for a seat on our Greenburgh Central School District Board of Education. 

I am a proud mom of an RJ Bailey School student and am serving the RJ Bailey community as PTA President in my second term. I seek the board trustee position because I believe it will take our town to launch our children into the futures they dream of and desire with the best tools we can provide. I feel an urgency to make this belief a reality, and we need more than talk to continue progress. I hope my choice and actions will serve as an example to our students of civic contribution and community engagement. 

With a career in product management, I bring experience in making tough decisions, balancing priorities with budgets, and managing goals and profit and loss statements—additionally, the ability to communicate and collaborate across fields of expertise. Lastly, the Allongue household is bilingual, and I have a brother who has battled hearing and speech impairment since childhood. Due to this, I respect the value of meaningful and accurate communication.

I will roll my sleeves to work for our Greenburgh Central students and community. Join me as you vote for me and in supporting our students with your vote on May 17th. 

School Board Trustee Schooled

 In a highly anticipated move, disgraced School Board member Terry Williams was officially removed from his position as School Board Trustee after a long, drawn out hearing by the district. Mr. Williams had spent 18 years as a School Board member but was removed by a vote of this current operating Board at its last official meeting before the newly elected Board members begin their three-year tenure. 

The hearing charges against Mr. Williams were brought about after numerous actions on his part forced the School Board into a position where they could no longer ignore what had previously been regarded as simply bad or boorish behavior. The hearing begin nearly two months ago, but Mr. William’s signature style of procrastination and logorrhea was never-ending. While he was certainly entitled to a defense, his actions seemed indefensible to many, as he stammered and stumbled through numerous missteps.

Mr Williams informed the Hearing Officer, Elena Cacavas, that he would represent himself while Special Counsel, Mark Mulholland, represented the School District.  Numerous times during the hearing (which is all posted on the School District’s YouTube channel for viewing) Judge Cacavas would stop Mr. Williams for his  violation of procedure or law, explaining that she was giving him a wide berth since he was not an attorney. In fact, numerous times during the hearing Mr. Mulholland would interrupt to suggest to the judge that Mr. Williams was actually hurting himself or not following courtroom procedure in lieu of simply objecting.  

Interestingly, during the hearing, while listening to a part of a Board meeting where Mr. Williams was present and Ms. Carey was participating via Zoom, an exchange took place between Trustee Carey and Trustee Williams at about the 20-minute mark. At that point, when Ms. Carey told Mr. Williams to "stop being childish” Mr. Williams made his typically caustic and rude comments which was enough for the judge to request the technician assigned to the hearing to replay the recording two additional times! At another point Mr. Williams even argued with the judge, who had already told him outright not to argue with her! 

 At the Board meeting of June 29 when outgoing Board President Antoinette Darden-Cintron asked for a motion to adjourn to Executive Session to deliberate the recommendation to remove Mr. Williams from his position, as recommended by Judge Cacavas, Mr. Williams objected, requesting to have the discussion in public. After the back and forth tug of war between Mr. Williams and Ms. Darden-Cintron which we have sadly come to expect, the motion was made, seconded and carried that they adjourn – which they did. Upon their return, Ms. Darden-Cintron called the meeting to order and publicly read the resolution they had just discussed in Executive Session. The charges made against Mr Williams were that he: (1) thwarted the Board’s search for a new Superintendent; (2) revealed confidential Executive Board session communications, (3) disclosed confidential student information and (4) disrupted school board meetings: 

“These findings and recommendations are based on an established pattern of intentionally antagonistic and inappropriate behavior, as well as the multiple intentional acts of impropriety by Mr. Williams, which have damaged the reputation and functioning of the board to the substantial detriment of the district it serves.” 

After Ms Darden-Cintron read the resolution, Mr Williams asked for a discussion. He hefted a stack of paper that appeared to be the size of two phone books onto the dais and complained about wasted taxpayer funds for this hearing, although he was unapologetic about trying to push through a bond that would have cost the district over $200 million dollars the year prior to the pandemic! While he was complaining, (he was also out of order since his comments were not related to the motion on the floor) Ms. Darden-Cintron called for a vote. The final tally was 5 in favor of removal,  one against (Williams) and one abstention (Warner). It’s difficult to fathom why Warner would abstain from voting. Could it have been related to an earlier incident, witnessed by many people, in the school parking lot when Mr. Williams backed his car out of a space nearly hitting Mr. Warner? Curiously, when this incident was brought up in the hearing Mr. Warner had a modified recollection of the actual occurrence. Whether he perjured himself or not, is up for debate. 

Mr. Williams’ comments also verbally attacked newcomer Trustee Tanya Dragic, who had made numerous campaign promises detailing what she would do to help improve the actions of the Board, the District overall and most importantly the education of our children. These are certainly laudable goals that Dr. Dragic has not lost sight of, nor have others on the Board. The Board has been unable to work on any of their intended projects since there has always been too much drama mass-produced by Mr. Williams at almost every meeting. He has nearly single-handedly thwarted the Board from making any real progress. (He got some help from Supt. Chase in that regard). Hopefully, now that he has been removed and she released from the District’s employ, they can begin “righting” the District and the education for our students. Dr. Dragic said she is relieved that this drama is over and she looks forward to doing the job she and the others have always wanted to do. 

Mr. Williams was always vocal about wanting a legacy of a consolidated campus and tried several times to achieve this, but failed. We applaud Mr. Williams for his time as a volunteer Board member and for giving so much time to the District. Unfortunately, after 18 years, it’s time to let others take over. The recent election accomplished the needed change of leadership, ensuring that had this decision from the hearing not been rendered, Mr. Williams would no longer be a Trustee. 

Had Mr. Williams resigned when the charges against him were made, the district would not have needed to spend the money on the hearing. But with all of the missteps, poorly spent monies and misguided actions the previous Board made (such as the former Superintendent grandstanding with the media to force the Mansion to be evacuated, having offices constructed in the Woodlands High School for staff and herself, and consciously allowing our existing school buildings to degrade to make a better argument for consolidation) the money spent on the hearing is a drop in the proverbial bucket!

A long career has come to an end for Mr. Williams and we wish him well. Board President Antoinette Darden-Cintron was not re-elected in this last election and is stepping down, as is Ms. Carey who chose not to run again. We also thank them for their years of service to the District and hope they will remain engaged with the District. 

We have high hopes that more parents and community members without children in the schools will get involved with the District and participate by not only paying taxes and sending their kids to school, but also participating with school events whether their kids are in them or not. We hope that before we start other new language initiatives, such as our Mandarin Language curriculum, that we can improve the test score grades for Math and English from the current 35% to something much higher. We hope that before an International Baccalaureate  program happens, the teachers are properly prepared to teach it and can do it justice. We need the basics of the "3R’s- Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic " to be mastered before we start programs we cannot sustain. We need test scores to improve to the point that people looking to move to Greenburgh are not looking at alternative schools for their kids. 

That’s how we’ll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

Moving The Greenburgh School District Forward

The School Board trustee elections and the School Budget vote have been completed, and a new Superintendent hired despite the sabotaging of an offer made to another candidate, it’s time for the School District’s Board of Education to get down to business. 

To do this, all “sides” must be able to bury their campaign animosities and work as one, even as the distractions of the current Board are still in the forefront. Specifically, the hearing to remove 18-year School Board Trustee Terry Williams, who coincidentally, lost in this past election. Obviously, the writing is on his wall since the public has seen through his antics and decided, “No more.” 

As they say in those infomercials on TV, “But wait there’s more...”

 

During the campaigning portion of the elections, a group known as the Friends of Greenburgh (FOGs) campaigned to maintain the status quo. Specifically, they continued seeking campus consolidation even after that proposed construction bond had been defeated by a nearly two-to-one vote. They also continued fight to extend the expiring contract of Superintendent Chase, despite the serious flaws in her performance. An unofficial (yet apparent) icon for the FOGS was School Board Trustee Terry Williams, who has been entrenched as a School Board trustee for 18 years! He exemplifies a valid reason for term limits! 

Currently, Mr Williams is the focus of a hearing to have him removed from the School Board for failing to adhere to the School Board rules and regulations as well as NY State Department of Education’s laws for School Board members. Specifically, it’s alleged that he, in addition to ongoing disrespect of otherBoard members and possible assault, disclosed privileged information from an Executive Session meeting about an employee to that employee!

 

As the School Board awaited a plan from the Superintendent to get students back into the schools, that became almost impossible. What kind of motivation to get the kids back into the classroom would the soon-to-be-terminated Superintendent have when she knows that she's going to lose her job? So, as time dragged on, so did the submission of a return-to-classroom plan. Most people don't realize that a “return to school” plan must be developed by the Superintendent and then submitted to the School Board for approval, followed by implementation. 

Leading up to the elections, the FOGs continued to push their “status quo” agenda by attempting to disparage the current Board members, utilizing a series of negative attacks on various social media channels. The one thing that the FOGs did get correct was about the drive and determination by Dr Tanya Dragic, one of the latest Board members who was elected along with Ashley Pineda two years ago. Dr Dragic made many claims during her campaign about what she intended to do to try to improve the Board’s operation, the student’s grades, condition of the District’s schools and optimizing the budget wherever and whenever possible. Mr Pineda has not been as vociferous as Ms Dragic and seemingly not as assiduous or as open in attempting to improve this Board. Perhaps his is simply a different style, but we hope that he is as committed in making improvements. Hopefully he agrees with what the Board has been striving for under the leadership of President Antoinette Darden-Cintron. 

This Board continues to struggle at Board Work sessions, Executive sessions and Regular Public sessions. This struggle is largely due to an amalgamation of issues maintained by Mr Williams, the Superintendent, and to a lesser degree David Warner who had aligned himself with Mr Williams. Their splintered agenda has prevented the current Board from moving the bar forward and improving the education of our District’s children. The Greenburgh school district has floundered with poor choices for Superintendents for so long, it would be a Herculean task to get our schools back on track even without having outside and inside forces that are counter-productive to improving our buildings and the instruction for our children. 

We all know that this otherwise problematic mix has been exacerbated by the pandemic which effectively shut down our kids learning for more than a year. Parents, as well as doing their own jobs while forced to work from home, had to oversee schooling their children. Other parents even had to quit their jobs to stay home with their children as they were unable to work from home. It’s safe to say that teachers will no longer need to discuss why little Johnny is doing poorly in school during parent-teacher nights. They now know first hand how their child behaves and performs in school. 

But wait, there’s more.

A recent FaceBook-looking post appeared to come from the School Board entitled, “GCSD BOE Whats [sic] Going On,” with a sub-headline, “You Never Know What You [sic] Got Until Its [sic] Gone.” In this post, posted anonymously, the writer states that they just watched the appointment of Superintendent Chase to the Westbury Union Free School District and it was nothing short of a coronation. Her Greenburgh “accomplishments” were touted and all the school board members voted in favor to hire her. Apparently, they were not dismayed by our 35% Math and English scores on state assessments, the failed International Baccalaureate program, the failed Mandarin program, or the exodus of students from our public schools to private and parochial schools. 

The post is so similar to the complaints voiced repeatedly by Mr. Williams through the years, one can’t help but believe that he penned this piece. The writer touts the numerous references to these supposedly heralded programs as stated by Mr. Warner at this same Westbury School Board meeting. Huh? Mr. Warner is certainly within his legal right to speak on behalf of anyone although we believe his attendance and remarks at the Westbury Board meeting was an ethically poor choice.  He is still a GCSD Board member and, as such, he should have kept his opinions to himself.

The writer also refers to first-time Board member Tanya Dragic as the “puppet master” of the Board. Such a ridiculous statement belittles the other 5 hardworking and independent thinking Board members. (Did we not say before that he is charged with being disrespectful to fellow Board members?) What Ms Dragic did was question the actions taken regarding the consolidation bond effort and to fight the dream upon which Mr Williams has staked his entire 18 year school board tenure. Regardless of whether you consider Mr Williams a visionary or loose cannon, the public voted down the consolidation bond with a nearly two-to-one margin once the true facts and monetary figures were divulged. The public, who are the TRUE Friends of Greenburgh, made the requisite effort to provide the due diligence that neither the Board nor the FOG's bothered to do. So while the writer on FB states that, “(the bond) came closer to passing with more interest and support than the previous three bonds floated...” it was still once again resoundingly defeated. Instead of acknowledging the will of the community and moving on, certain community and Board members and the Superintendent choose to insist that the bond was defeated because they did a poor job of selling it to us. What really happened is that they underestimated the intelligence of the taxpaying public who have been passing school budgets each year in a show of support of our schools. 

The writer then moves on to malign newly elected Trustee Kiana Washington by making false claims that she had been fired as a school administrator. This simply is not true. The rest of the diatribe that the writer rambles on about could be capped as the season finale of the TV show Fringe. 

Now that Mr Williams will be departing and three new Trustees will join the School Board, let’s hope they will all work together, along with our newly appointed Superintendent, for the betterment of the education of our children, the betterment of our school buildings , and the betterment of our School Board and District.  We pay a tremendous amount of money for the education of our children. Let’s make it pay off. It’s how we’ll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

3 Educators Announce Candidacy For Greenburgh School Board

Existing School Board Needs Improvement
The beleaguered Greenburgh School Board of Education is rife with issues – mostly stemming from years of the status quo by people unwilling or unable to comprehend change. While slowly improving under the latest and deeply involved newer Board members, The Board needs additional trustees who are clear, decisive and open minded thinkers.

Leadership Takes Hold
Under the leadership of current Board President Antoinette Darden-Cintron, who is running for another term, we've finally seen the Board make progress. She has aligned with two new candidates who are also educators, Kiana Washington and Eric Bitterman. These three experienced educators are the only candidates who are totally invested in our children’s education and ultimately their futures. They recognize what needs to be done to improve our schools: repair our existing buildings, provide a quality education for our children, keep the costs down in the District and plan for the District’s future both in the short and long term.

Lying Through Omission
For every step the current Board has taken forward there have been opposing forces who sabotaged the Board. The sabotage and resistance from Superintendent Chase and Trustee Terry Williams (an 18-year Board member) has prevented the current Board from swiftly addressing the needed building repairs and curriculum reviews to improve our student achievement. Their combined goal, supported by Trustee David Warner, appears to be to continue to foist the school consolidation onto the public by not being truthful with the taxpayers about the true costs associated with this grandiose plan that was ultimately rejected by the voters. Thankfully, the taxpaying public saw through their slick presentations and smoke and mirrors.

Candidates Focus

These three candidates are experienced educators running for the Greenburgh school board. Together, they have combined expertise spanning grades pre-K through 12. Their shared vision is to provide a robust educational experience that prepares all GCSD students for a life of learning and success.

Read more about these three solid candidates at:

https://educators4boe.org

List of the candidates: 
Eric Bitterman* - Former New Rochelle and current Scarsdale teacher
Antoinette Darden-Cintron** - Dean in NYC School System, Guidance Counselor
Kiana Washington - Ass’t. Principal NYC School System
Jamaal Thomas - n/a
Sarah Lazzari - n/a
Christine (Chris) Valin - n/a
Terry Williams***

* Former GCSD7 Board trustee 

** Incumbent (1 term)

*** 18-Yr incumbent, under review for violation of policies

GCSD: Past Due

It’s tough to run a school district that burns through teachers and Superintendents faster than a McDonalds serving Big Macs, but Greenburgh needs a change - and fast! We continually witness failures of the district, spearheaded by Superintendent Chase and long time School Board members such as Terry Williams. Their costly agenda of campus consolidation and higher taxes offered nothing that could deliver an improved education for our children. Three of the seven Board of Education members have been Trustees for many, many years. The longest serving member is Terry Williams who is again running for re-election. The next longest is David Warner who was reelected to another 3 year term last year. The third long-serving trustee, Cora Carey, is last but not seeking re-election.

The district has gone through several Superintendents in a row who have had either legal or ethical issues or both. They have all failed the district and our students. Without orchestrating a solid and/or improved education, the ever-diminishing test results of the students highlights their failures.

The District’s website states that it’s vision is, “By 2021, we will be a world-class school district” and defines “World-Class” as a district that works, “To help our students compete and function as citizens in a global society, our efforts should include global elements, such as a world languages program and the Advanced Learning Program, and we should refine and expand existing initiatives such as our International Baccalaureate program.” Although this sounds impressive, it’s just a hollow statement. Just as impressive as this hollow statement is the failure of these oft-touted programs and their inability to take hold. How is this possible? We’ve been told by both students and parents that the IB program teachers were unprepared or unable to teach the required coursework–so they didn’t. In addition to this deficiency, the school was unable to offer college prep courses such as Physics and students were told to instead take two Chemistry classes.

English Language Arts has faltered despite knowing that immersion in English is a proven, successful standard adopted throughout the world for over a century - just not in Greenburgh! Similarly, math scores continue to tank, yet the Superintendent continues to insist that Greenburgh is a world class district! Incredibly, no child is ever left behind in the Greenburgh Schools. Each year they move up the grade ladder until they finally collect their high school degrees and graduate. This practice needs to end, no matter how catchy the “No Child Left Behind” jargon, or how convenient it is to graduate all of the students. Many staff have been intimidated and therefore go along with these practices, not wishing to fall out of favor with the administration which would jeopardize their livelihood. Could this be why we experience a high turnover of teachers in our schools?

There is a high turnover of mostly new teachers in our schools. We’re told that a toxic administrative culture and a lack of investment with the teachers are the primary reasons. Most schools and districts provide mentoring programs for new and young teachers so that they can better assimilate into the schools and develop into better teachers. Why hadn’t Superintendent Chase promoted this basic program? She had no problem promoting the sale of existing buildings and building new ones. But, buildings don't teach students, teachers do!

What of the Greenburgh Central School District's Board of Education under the leadership of President Antoinette Darden-Cintron? The reality of her leadership is that she has increased transparency and the responsiveness of the Board, something that has been a long-time struggle to attain. Now, when you send correspondence to the Board (emails in particular), you receive a response either the same day or the following day. I've even received phone calls from President Cintron-Darden! Kudos to her! Months ago, the School Board did not vote to renew the Superintendent's contract, in effect, terminating her employment as of June 30th of this year. 

Once the Superintendent learned (from Trustee Terry Williams?- if so that would be a violation of confidentiality rules) her contract would not be renewed she began shrewdly dragging her feet, thwarting efforts to return the students to full-time in-school classes. She has cleverly dodged questions about returning to classrooms full-time by saying she was following recommendations from the CDC, not the NYS Department of Education. We understand she’s upset and perhaps even want to get even: she'll be losing roughly $300,000 per year in salary and benefits. But there's no need to feel sorry for her: we’ve lheard she has been hired by another district.

It’s been said that education is the elixir of success. While there is certainly enough blame to go around, we must also blame ourselves. We forgot what our grandparents and parents expected our schools to offer us when we were children. Our children deserve a well-rounded education that will enable them to think for themselves, earn a living and be productive in the “real” world. Not only have we dropped the ball, but we have been lackadaisical about correcting the undesireable circumstances we’ve seen unfold over the years.

Parents and taxpayers must make it known to the Greenburgh School Board of Education that they have failed to earn our trust. President Cintron-Darden has worked hard to change that with the current Board. Terry Williams and David Warner have fought her tooth and nail. In fact, the Board is currently holding hearings to remove Terry Williams from his position due to his repeated violations of numerous Board rules and laws. If he fails to successfully defend himself against the charges, he will be removed. If he is victorious at the hearing and retains his position, he should be voted out of office by the taxpayers at the May 18th election. He’s dragging out the hearing, however, and the result may not be known before the May 18th election. Even if he wins his case, the unprecedented attempt of removal indicates that he has failed his responsibilities as a Trustee. We, the people, must make sure that he is not re-elected.

It is time we force the entire Board to step up their game and it’s time for us to do the same. Let’s stop lip-syncing the phrase, “For the children!” We cannot look to or imagine the future if we’re too focused on ideas of the past. It’s time we make a significant change and remove the long time trustees who have wallowed in their own self-grandeur and archaic functionality.

We need new ideas, new blood and new people to propel our children into the future, to repair and maintain our buildings and to become a school district that attracts people instead of repelling them. That’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh School District!

School Board Terminates Superintendent Contract, Looks To Do More

The last five years in the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) have been extremely tumultuous under the failed leadership of Superintendent Tahira Chase. She was hired to replace her boss, Superintendent Ronald O Ross, after charges of racism, harassment and abuse forced his termination. It appears that Trustee Terry Williams intervened to help Superintendent Chase be recommended to the professional search firm hired by the Board. There may have been others participating as well. Superintendent Chase then pulled her ex-mentor out of retirement and hired him as our as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. All this set the stage for five years of “lipstick on a pig” programs and numerous sideshows, such as the Mansion “emergency” evacuation in August of 2019. Meanwhile, our buildings continued to crumble and our kids’ performance on standardized tests continued to be sub-standard.

 

Let us not forget that it was this Superintendent who also led a failed Consolidation Bond effort. The “Roadshow” to sell $200 million of debt to build new school buildings was publicly spearheaded by Superintendent Chase, Assistant Superintendent for Business Mary O’Neill, and Trustee Terry Williams. The resounding 2-to-1 defeat of the Consolidation Bond in 2019 awakened the stakeholder sleeping giant to send three very clear messages. First, running our school buildings into the ground and then asking for the largest bond in the history of Westchester County to build new ones is unacceptable. Second, student achievement should take precedence over new buildings and is a condition for stakeholder bond approvals. Third, the residents of GCSD are not interested in developing a brand or legacy for the Superintendent and a few long-serving Trustees!

 

The Board of Education election in 2019 brought two newcomers to the Board, Ashley Pineda and Tanya Dragic, finally ousting Lloyd Newman after 18 years on the Board. We are still “served” by Terry Williams who is in his 15^th year, and David Warner who is in his 13^th year on the Board. So much for term limits! However, it seems that the new faces were enough to bring about some change. The current Board President, Antoinette Darden-Cintron, recently sent out a message from the District stating, “The Superintendent's contract expires on June 30, 2021. The Board has determined not to extend that agreement or negotiate a successor agreement and we have begun the process of seeking a new Superintendent of Schools.” (See below document for the entire text). We applaud the Board for taking this action. We also applaud the Board’s hiring of Dr. Corey Reynolds as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum earlier this year. We believe that a new, professional and dedicated leadership is a first step to helping our kids learn.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF SUPERINTENDENT CHASE’S PERFORMANCE:

 

The 2020/21 school budget:

The development of the 2020-2021 budget demonstrated that Superintendent Chase, supported by Terry Williams, remained deaf to the needs of the community, while trying to please a small group of supporters, such as the Friends of Greenburgh (FOG). The first draft of that budget started with an increase of over 4% from the previous year! Repeated pleas to curb the budget due to the economic devastation of COVID19 were ignored until a few days before the Board of Education had to vote to accept a budget. It was the behind-the-scenes intervention of certain community members with the Administration that brought the increase down to 1.3%. When asked about her personal salary increase in the budget, Superintendent Chase responded that it was “contractual”.  Same for the Assistant Superintendent for Business. Teachers, however, were asked to forego their contractual increases in order to save money for the district. What hypocrisy!

 

Wasteful Spending

In August of 2019, Superintendent Chase blindsided the Board at the beginning of their summer retreat by saying that the Mansion was unsafe and required immediate evacuation. The Board was not given ample time to react properly to this announcement. The Early Childhood Program (ECP) was promptly relocated to the Lee F Jackson school. The staff however, remained there for another month until the Superintendent’s new office suite was constructed in Woodlands MHS. The cost to move the administration from the mansion was over $250,000. Almost a year later, we learned from the condition report a month later that the mansion did not need a complete evacuation. Now the superintendent is trying again to manipulate a condemnation of this building by playing up the findings of an essentially benign air-quality report. Her shenanigans are a slap in the Board’s face and an affront to taxpayers. 

 

Where are the COVID 19 savings?

Everyone knows that the school year was truncated in March because of the COVID19 pandemic. What happened to unutilized funds for student transportation, after school programs, summer school and special programs from mid-March through August? Some transportation money, but not all, went for food distribution for eligible, needy students.  In addition, the district spent money for technology to support on-line instruction and for cleaning and disinfection, but where is the accounting for the money that was spent as well as the savings?

 

What about academic programs?

Multiple educational programs, such as iReady, Eureka Math, Science Fusion and Naviance have been purchased and then abandoned, wasting taxpayer dollars. Students did not have access to an advanced Physics Program during the 2019-2020 school year, and our very first cohort of IB kids was instructed to retake Chemistry! This glaring deficiency makes a mockery of our calling GCSD, “a world class school district” and undermines the alleged excellence conferred by participation in the International Baccalaureate program. 

 

Public allegations were anonymously raised in Fall 2019 regarding attendance problems and falsified grades of high school students. Results of the subsequent investigation have been withheld from the community. The excuse we're always told is, "This is a personnel issue and cannot be discussed publicly." Perhaps, but an outside agency was contracted to do this investigation for nearly $100,000 of our money. The taxpayers footing the bill have a right to know the results of an investigation that they paid for!

 

What about behavioral problems?

Are the schools, especially Woodlands MHS, a safe learning environment? Concerns have been raised by the community and parents about the lack of student discipline in the high school, including videotaped fights and violence against teachers. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of DASA reporting (Dignity for All Students) to the NYS Dept. of Education by the aforementioned anonymous allegations. There is no evidence that these concerns have been investigated and addressed.  

 

Teacher hiring, retention and morale 

During 2018/19, concerns were raised about the Early Childhood Program being a hostile work environment but the Director of that program remains in her position to this day. Highly qualified teachers are resigning from the district rather than enduring a hostile work environment. A large number of teaching staff have been mysteriously placed on “home assignment”, generating both staffing and supervision issues and fiscal concerns.

 

What’s our future?

The Board of Education must change! Those Trustees who have been in their positions for years are a big part of the problem. School Board elections will be coming around soon. It's time to clean house and elect more new blood, bringing in fresh thinking and fresh ideas to the Board. That’s how we'll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

GCSD Announcement: 

School Administrators Arrogance Ignore Taxpayer Pleas

Numerous taxpayers have reached out to the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) Board to implore them to adjust the budget to accommodate the recent financial shortfalls every level of government and the private sector are subjected to. Recently, the Governor issued an Executive order on May 1st specific to election changes.  

School Board/Budget elections have been rescheduled for June 9, 2020 and will be held via mail with return postage included. Each School District will send a postcard notice which details the date of the election, date of the budget hearing, definition of a qualified voter, and an absentee ballot.  Other voting changes for this years elections have also been put in place. 

The GCSD Board published their proposed budget on their website for 2020-21. There are actually two documents, a 2-page summary document and 27-page full/detailed document that show how the $70,274,612 budget for 2020-21 will be spent. The previous year’s budget expenditures was $70,752,506. In total, the decrease between the two budgets is a measly $477,894 or a negative .675%, not even a half a million dollars! So we'll be generous and say it's -.68%!

With only a minus .68% decrease, it’s logical that it would be easy to cut more. But this administration maintains a privileged mentality and apparently wants no part of helping the taxpayer. While the GCSD apparently doesn’t feel the pain the residents do, other municipalities have already adjusted for shortfalls that may impact them with local, state and federal reductions. In fact, most governmental administrations are dipping into reserve funds as well as tightening the “budget belts.”

Another point of contention with this budget is that they are asking teachers to freeze their salaries while Dr Chase and Mary O’Neil get their $2,300 and $2,800 raises respectively. They should be embarrassed to accept this. Recently, Mr Feiner threw out an uncorroborated figure out there, as he often does without validation, that 23% of Greenburgh residents have lost their jobs due to the Covid19 pandemic. Let the administrators take pay cuts before the teachers. 

Finally, the School Board has been holding pseudo-live Zoom meetings. In actuality, what they are doing is holding a Zoom meeting amongst themselves and then someone with a video camera and live feed is filming and broadcasting the meeting. Not only is this ridiculous and cumbersome, it assures the Board a modicum amount of insulation from the public by keeping them at bay. What they should be doing is allowing people to sign up to the Zoom meeting that they are in and let the Host mute them. If they have any questions, they can submit them utilizing the chat feature in Zoom.

The GCSD held a Consolidation Bond vote over a year ago when money was not as tight as it’s going to be now. They threw away a lot of money on slick brochures and mailings (and probably more) to try to pull off the bond. That bond was defeated by a two-to-one margin which spoke volumes. This Board hears, yet they didn’t listen. They claimed the budget was shot down because they did a poor job presenting it. That is true. They did a bad job and they lied in an attempt to convince the public that it was something it wasn’t. 

The public knows more than they let on and still doesn’t trust the administration or the Board for that matter. A negative .68% reduction is about what an austerity budget might be which would mean no sports or busing. We are way beyond needing an austerity budget. They’re still not listening. It’s time for some new thinking on the Board and the administration. It’s the only way to get A Better Greenburgh School District.

Note: This article was written prior to the May 11th Board meeting and may be updated.

Lies and Misdirection Continue From GCSD

Our Greenburgh Central School District just can’t seem to help itself. Between misdirection with maintenance of our schools, unnecessary evacuations of the mansion, investigations of Superintendent Chase, the firing of the old engineering firm and the hiring of a new one, promised dates missed for reports, attempted consolidation, a 3.96% tax increase to the 2020-21 budget, the Coronavirus cancellation of school and a waste of $300k to evacuate the Mansion, it’ll be a miracle if the public ever sees our dysfunctional school district function properly and actually educate our kids. Let’s dive in.

Consolidation

We’ve written about this extensively. About a year ago the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) Administration put forth a bond referendum in order to consolidate the multiple Greenburgh schools onto one campus. Effectually, they wanted to jettison the Highview School (Central Park Avenue behind Presser Park/Webb Field) and the RJ Bailey School on Hillside Avenue. The administration went to extremes to prove how dilapidated these structures were. Admittedly, there was some lack of maintenance and neglect with these buildings because we were told the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected in order to not lay off teachers. 

When we began to dig into the numbers, based on the facts and figures we were fed, the numbers simply didn’t add up. We learned that we were being lied to by the administration when we pressed them to explain what the bond principle plus the interest would be. They continued to maintain it was only $114 million dollars even though the NYS Board of Education information showed the interest to be almost as great as the principle. The real figure would have exceeded $200 million dollars! The school administration planned to sell the two schools to offset the loan amount. They gave an inflated approximation of what each school should fetch in the open market. A commercial real estate broker even said at a meeting that these buildings, at best, might fetch up to $3 million dollars each – a far cry from the $10-12 million we were being told they were worth.

Maintenance

We’ve already mentioned the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected to not lay off teachers. Perhaps we can give them the benefit of the doubt for trying to save jobs? However, money was always included in the budget for maintenance and repairs – just not enough for the serious work that needed to be done. Responsibility for the failure to accomplish the necessary repairs falls right into the lap of the long time Board of Education members specifically and the Board as a whole. Was their goal to allow the schools to degrade to such a point that they became uninhabitable? Yes, we know it was.

The community Bond referendum meetings were preceded with slick mailers and superfluous information from the District to all of the Unincorporated resident taxpayers. The first two meetings brought out many residents. There were also a large number of administration members and teachers with their children present who spoke in support of the consolidation. Then taxpayers starting asking hardball questions. When Superintendent Chase was unable to provide them good answers, she reverted back to, “Don’t we want the best for our kids?” Of course we do. That’s why we pay Dr. Chase a $250k salary plus benefits. While not an issue until now, many of us are now being hamstrung by the Coronavirus. Many residents have lost their jobs and are now faced with paying annual federal and state income, Town, fire AND school taxes. Thankfully they are not dealing with the huge tax increase that would have resulted from passing the bond!

Budget and Tax Increase

It’s becoming apparent that trying to sustain the $73 million expense to educate fewer than 1,600 K-12 students is becoming more and more unrealistic. The budget that was presented on February 27th called for a budget increase of 3.96% ($2,801,301). Funding this amount calls for a 4.25% tax increase. So, while Mr Feiner is bragging about having no tax increase this year for the Town residents, that success will be eliminated by the School budget if this proposed budget should pass. During these fiscally uncertain times, it’s imperative that the School Board reduce this year’s budget (through attrition and perhaps a hiring freeze), repair our buildings and make sure there is NO tax increase for residents. After all, with students scoring 35% in both English and Math skills, something is beyond amiss in the GCSD. 

The Sky Is Falling

After a 3-month summer hiatus and literally days before school was scheduled to start in September, Dr Chase ambushed us with the news that the Mansion was uninhabitable. She called for the immediate evacuation of the facility which houses the administration, maintenance, three Early Childhood Programs and a Special Needs classroom. The ECP and special needs classes were relocated to the Jackson School. A month later the administration employees were moved out. Not moved out were the maintenance people. Why would they be allowed to continue to work there if the building was unsafe? 

The School Board appeared to sit on their hands until January, finally bringing in a company to do an evaluation of the building (another expense). While we were told the damage was caused by roof leakage, no provisions were made to seal those areas with tarps or anything else. The Board finally hired BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers (BBS) to evaluate the Mansion and the groundskeeper’s residence. At the last Board meeting we learned the building was not in danger of collapse and with $869,000 of repairs, it would be safe to return. It turns out while moving the kids in order to be safe could be appropriate, moving everyone else for the cost of $300,000 was not. That money, which could have been used for maintenance and repairs, is gone. After wasting all that money, time and effort building a new suite for Superintendent Chase in the Woodlands High School can she and her staff actually be going back to the Mansion to work?

Where We Are Now

The Mansion will require $869,000 for repairs not including the roof. The roof will cost about $1.5 million. However, $1.3 million dollars had been set aside and already authorized to be expended for those repairs. We’d like to know what is causing the holdup? By the way, $1.3 million plus $300,000 dollars equals $1.6 million dollars. The $300,000 spent to move out of the mansion would have made up the necessary shortfall to repair the roof.

Currently there’s talk that after spending close to $300k to move everyone from the Mansion to the other schools on the Warburg Campus they didn’t actually all need to move. There’s also talk that the Administrative staff and Superintendent will move back into the Mansion as there was no risk of collapse as we had been told by Superintendent Chase. These are the kinds of actions and frankly lies that make the public distrust the Superintendent, the Administration and the Board. The kids in the classrooms will remain where they are currently located and Principle Matt Smith will get his office back from Dr Chase. Where was the Board during this knee-jerk reaction and why weren’t they controlling the narrative instead of the Superintendent? She works for them!

The Board is also required by law to hold public hearings for the budget. How and what will transpire with the budget approval process? Will hearing dates be allowed to change to accommodate its public hearing requirement and vote?

Another issue were the online accusations made against Superintendent Chase and Principal Smith. Several months ago, unidentified persons writing under the email monikers of Watchdog For Greenburgh, Greenburgh Free Press, and several others wrote to a group of residents and ABG alleging questionable or illegal activity by the Superintendent and Principal, (referencing several topics that we will not post as we could not verify or corroborate them). Our understanding is that an investigation took place by the School Board utilizing an outside agency that will not be shared because they are a “personnel matters”. Convenient.

With Coronavirus blanketing our neighborhoods, schools everywhere are closed. Budgets may not be voted upon or passed for various reasons and contingency budgets may need to be adopted. Our guess is that schools may not reopen this year. If they do, it will not be for the entire in-school season. Should this prediction come to fruition, repair work for the mansion should begin as soon as possible as it could take several months and the repairs can be done through the summer. If that’s not possible, repair what can be repaired and get these buildings back in good operational shape.

We’ll see you at the budget hearings – eventually.

An Open Letter To The Greenburgh Central School Board

Hello Ms. Darden-Cintron and fellow Board members,

I am writing to express my concerns with the proposed budget and increases.  With the fiscal stress and insecurity many are experiencing due to this unforeseen Coronavirus, it is imperative that the entire Board (and the Administration that answers to you), begin reducing it’s budget to ensure that all of our kid's education, while truncated in these unique times, continues.

The district should implement cutting the swollen budget by scaling down through attrition. It’s becoming apparent that trying to sustain the $73 million expense to educate fewer than 1,600 K-12 students is unrealistic, unprofitable and financially impossible. Like so many businesses and even the Greenburgh Town Board, the district should hold interactive Zoom meetings. (If not Zoom, then Skype or GoToMeeting, etc). 

The budget that was presented on February 27th called for a budget increase of 3.96% ($2,801,301).  Funding this amount calls for a 4.25% tax increase. This Board has proven time and again that it does not respect the mandates and wishes of the community, doing as it pleases. The Board seems to be proving that again with this proposed budget.

The Board needs to come to the realization that there's plenty of non-essential spending that can be eliminated or postponed, and thereby reduce the impact to our communities. This is the perfect time to perform a line by line review of expenses to see what can be cut. I found it astonishing that the Administrative staff was relocated to the High School on the whim of the Superintendent for a cost of $300k (approx), yet could not find this same money for needed repairs. This district had opportunities to work on the mansion, but preferred to allow its buildings to degrade. It’s time for this Board and administration to get back on track!

Now that many Greenburgh residents are being pushed out of work and are facing an April tax bill, this Board needs to take positive action and prove to the citizenry that you are able to put our money to optimum use. You should reverse any plans to exacerbate the difficulties we are currently facing by eliminating any budget increases!

I implore you to do the right thing and we will continue to support you and your efforts when you do.

School Board Swamp Needs To Be Drained

As ABG got more and more entrenched with the School bond debacle, we learned that certain members of the school board may be secretly working to re-introduce all or part of the consolidation bond. This time, the illusion and the scene were cast when Dr Chase made “headlines” by claiming the school district’s engineers deemed the building was not safe for occupancy. And yet, she allowed her staff to remain at risk as they continued working in the building, thus either ignoring the directive that it was uninhabitable or proving that this declaration was a hoax perpetrated two days before school started for effect! Why had the entire summer passed without adequately addressing some of these issues?

We’ve recently learned from our sources that all is not well with many operational considerations. Recently several teachers who were instructed to report to the Mansion for staff training voiced a concern for their safety. (We purposely are not giving much info as to not cause these teachers any additional stress). 

So the question remains, why are people still occupying the Mansion if it is unsafe? And how unsafe is it really? Is the engineering firm that furnished the report on the building condition the same company that would be contracted to oversee the repairs? Can you say conflict of interest? Or how about collusion? We can continue but you get the idea. Is the Consolidation Bond issue that Dr Chase, Trustees Terry Williams, Lloyd Newland and David Warner all favored still a game plan for them as their legacy? The legacy should be about education, and improved metrics for the students. The Board should have learned something when the bond was overwhelmingly defeated – and not only that they poorly communicated with the taxpaying public. Are they trying to better understand what the taxpayers, including those with children in the school, were trying to tell them by voting against the bond.? Fix the existing schools, don’t sell them or move them!

A hypothetical question was raised at a recent neighborhood meeting we attended. The question was, “What is the first thing(s) that needs to be done to start improving the school buildings?” The answer was resounding, “Fix the roofs at each of the schools.” It was also asked, “Why wouldn’t they just do that anyway?” The answer was stunning: “Because it wouldn’t allow them to continue with their narrative that the schools are falling apart and need to be jettisoned while new buildings were constructed at Warburg.” The crowd was in disbelief. 

Here’s a couple of questions raised for which we need answers to from the Board. First, Why did the staff remain in the mansion for roughly a month if the conditions were as dire as Dr Chase insisted? Second, has the Board considered having the building evaluated by an engineering or architectural firm that is a disinterested party with nothing to gain by championing a campus consolidation? Third, has the Board already moved to initiate roof repairs? Fourth, once roof repairs are made what will be the next round of repairs and will they be made in stages of seriousness? Fifth, what is the next bond offering going to cover? Will it be for major, minor, all or some repairs? Most well run districts float bonds every couple of years so that major maintenance, such as roofing, can be done in a timely and scheduled manor. Why does our Board insist on ignoring necessary periodic maintenance bonds? Trustee Williams insisted during the Consolidation Bond presentation that the taxpayers in the past had always defeated the bonds. Why do you think that happened?

This Board, (except for its two newly elected members) and this Superintendent have not given the public the confidence that they need to be assured that the right decisions are being made for our property where we send our children to learn. The fantasy that was purported during the Consolidation Bond forums was that the children would learn better in brand new buildings, with state of the art smart boards, lights and other peripherals. What was also mentioned was that we have great teachers. Great teachers can teach under a tree if they are truly great. We’re not saying they should all adjourn to the great outdoors to teach. But instead of worrying about speaking Mandarin or having a press booth on the football field, let’s worry about teaching and learning in a productive environment. Fix the roofs. That’s a start – it needs to begin somewhere. It’s the first step to make A Better Greenburgh School District.

Meeting Unites Community

A meeting arranged by Civic Leader Patricia Weems took place inside the RJ Bailey School as she had hoped. You’ll recall that getting the proper paperwork in order had threatened to force the meeting to be held outdoors, which fortunately did not happen. There were about 30 to 40 people in attendance, including numerous community group leaders. The mood was somber but positive.

The evening’s discussion was moderated at Ms Weem’s request by Bishop Dr Wilbert Preston of the Christ Temple in White Plains. After a opening statement by Bishop Preston, to which he humorously lamented that as a preacher, he had to remember he’s not in church and to control his preaching. He introduced himself and some of the people in attendance: Patricia Weems; Solomon Schechter School’s Director, Michael Kay and Principal, Eric Bassin, a Woodlands graduate and GCSD Trustee David Warner, to name a few.

Once Ms Weems was given the microphone, she opened the discussion explaining she and others  were dismayed over what had transpired with a student from the RJ Bailey School at a recent Purim event at the Solomon Schechter School on W Hartsdale Avenue. While she had been somewhat vague, she stated unequivocally that this was not about anything the children had done. She also mentioned that the Greenburgh Schools Superintendent told her this trip was routinely signed off on and that there was no active participation from the Bailey principal.

Someone in the audience asked for an explanation of what had actually happened? Ms Weems explained that an RJ Bailey student participating at the Purim event had gone to a face-painting “booth” and requested his face be painted by a Solomon Schechter 11th grader as the Marvel (Spiderman) character, Venom. After painting the 4th grader’s face black, he finished by painting his lips red. Again, Ms Weems stressed this was not about what the child had done but questioned where were the adults supposedly supervising this? And, that it was insulting to all. When the youngster got back to Bailey, a teacher pointed out that this was wrong.

Solomon Schechter Director Kay requested the microphone and proceeded to explain the Purim event to the audience and that they have been doing this every year. While he admitted that with the number of students there, both visiting and their own, and the amount of booths they have set up for this event, it was difficult to monitor all of the booths. He said they realize in retrospect that they need to do a better job of monitoring the event and plan to do so in the future.

Director Kay also gave an example that had a child asked to have a yellow star painted on their face that they would have found that distasteful and unacceptable and intervene as they would be particularly sensitive to that. He admitted that after this event that they need to do a better job of chaperoning this. It was his hope that this event could be used to not only be a learning moment for them, but moving forward he was hoping to invite the administrations of the various area schools to their location and begin a dialog that allows everyone to get to know each other better. He was happy to offer the Solomon Schechter School for this initial meeting.

Recently re-elected Greenburgh Central School District Trustee David Warner was in attendance. He commented that no one initially saw the mistake and that everyone recognized the youngster as Venom, the character, and it was only after a teacher pointed it out did they realize what was wrong. To his credit, he said they would address this as the Board and looked forward to working with others to make sure this never happens again. With two new Board members, Tanya Dragic and Ashley Pineda to help him, we hope to see more inter-school interaction.

The meeting started out on a negative note but ended with a positive outcome. Others in the audience pointed out different groups in Greenburgh that deal with different issues such as Armed Services Veteran’s suicides, Holocaust and Human Rights and others. The point here is that Ms Weems opened a dialog with some of the people that should be able to continue moving the equation forward and make some long-lasting progress. It will only help to make A Better Greenburgh.

Breaking News on Greenburgh School Votes

While the counts are preliminary and we don't have finalt numbers yet, we have the preliminary counts and results of the School Board and Budget votes.

Garnering the first place finish for School Board Trustee was Tanya Dragic with 820 votes. Coming in second place was David Warner with 629 votes followed by Ashley Pineda with 614.

The School Budget passed by 806 to 491 votes. This is roughly a two-to-one vote in favor of the $70,752,506 budget, a 2.9% increase. You'll recall the proposed bond was defeated by a two-to-one vote also.

Congratulations to the winners, a heartfelt thank you to the candidates and those who have served our community. Now let's all join forces and work together.

Vote Budgets and School Board May 21st - Interesting Week -updated

This week promises to be interesting if nothing else. This story has been updated.

First - Racism Alledged

Amid charges of racism, was a field trip by a fourth-grade class from the Bailey School that has been happening every year with the Solomon Schechter School to celebrate Purim. One definition we found online of Purim is: the jolly festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). Purim 2019 begins on Wednesday night, March 20, and continues through Thursday, March 21 (March 22 in Jerusalem). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as recorded in the Megillah (book of Esther).

This year would prove no different as exposure to other religions, schools, and people seem to exemplify multi-culturalism. Here, a 12th grade Schechter student, part of the 12^th grade class hosting the Purim event, face-painted a Bailey 4th grade student as the Marvel character Venom. An online search showed numerous depictions of what the character Venom might look like. The charge is not that the youngster was painted in black-face with red lips by one child to another. Rather, neighborhood activist Patricia Weems maintains that the teachers were derelict in properly supervising the children and that public school kids should not be going to a Jewish school and participating in a religious event. We don’t know if this was billed as a religious event or a festival that obliges the Schechter students to practice their faith while maintaining a carnival-like atmosphere for the younger kids?

Update: We discussed this issue again with Ms Weems and she clarified her position. Apparently there were too few teachers present and not properly supervising the kids. Ms Weems felt the Superintendent, Principal for RJ Bailey and the teacher supervising the event were at fault and should be held responsible. During our discussion, which lasted about an hour, we discussed this being a teachable moment and that we could effect a change with this type of event specifically. She maintained that the school personnel should know better. 

Agree or disagree, there is a meeting  tentatively set for Monday night, the 20^that the RJ Bailey School on Hillside Avenue. Ms Weems requested Mr Feiner’s help. Mr Feiner should stay out of the Greenburgh School District’s business for three reasons: one, he offers no solutions; two, he was convicted of discrimination in the Fortress Bible Church case that we are still paying for; and three, he swept a discrimination complaint against Edye McCarthy under the table several years ago. https://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2014/04/selective-racism-condoned-by-supervisor.html

The Bailey school event will be held outdoors if Ms Weems is unable to secure permits to hold the meeting indoors. 

Second - School Budget & Candidates

School Board elections and school budget elections are taking place this Tuesday, the 21^stat the Woodlands High School. This election cycle is for the $70 million budget, not to be confused with the bond that was previously proposed and shot down in a two-to-one vote by taxpayers, and for three new School Board members. There are two incumbents running whom we believe are no longer performing to expected standards and should be replaced. Tenure, while unspoken but oft-practiced in Greenburgh is not serving the public well. It does, however, effectively make the case for term limits.

Then there is the lack of information coming in a timely fashion from the District. We received a brochure from the school district last week that has cursory information about the budget but does have all of the candidates pictures and bio included. We think this might be helpful to voters. However, we weren’t the only ones dismayed by the late arrival of this information. One reader, whom we'll refer to as Bob, wrote to School District Superintendent Chase and we quote:

“We received a letter from you today, Feb. 6, 2019, regarding the Greenburgh Central School District Public Vote. The date of your letter is January 23, 2019. Your letter outlines a schedule of  Public Meetings regarding the 2019 Capital Project. The schedule dates are:

-Jan.24,Jan.29, Jan.31, Feb. 7

Clearly, the timing of your letter is not appropriately calibrated to sufficiently provide Taxpayers and Community Constituents with appropriate notice to attend these meetings. Your letter is dated the day before the first meeting! And, given realistic mailing times, it would be impossible to expect Taxpayers to receive your letter in a timely way to attend these meetings.

Would strongly suggest that you establish an additional series of these meeting, as well as discuss appropriate lead time planning for these types of communications with whoever is responsible for them. ” To which Dr 

Chase replied:

“Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, our postal system has not been too kind to district mailings. Knowing this, we added additional meeting dates to ensure all community members have the opportunity to participate in at least one meeting. Please open the attachment. I hope you are able to join us for one of the meetings. ” 

Really? The Post Office is at fault? This is akin to my dog ate my homework which would be unacceptable at every level by any teacher in any school. Why does Dr Chase feel this is an acceptable answer? It’s this type of cavalier attitude toward the taxpayers that make what’s being shoveled our way difficult to tolerate. Finally, Bob responded:

“Today, Friday May 17th, we received a newsletter from you and the Greenburgh School District that outlines details about the 2019/2020 School Year Budget and the vote for this budget on this coming Tuesday, May 21st. 

It is unacceptable for constituents to receive information of this importance to our community with virtually no notice to review and comment on the details in advance of a vote. 

This is not the first time that this has happened. In February, we wrote to you about virtually the same issue with respect to the Bond issue. 

I can tell  you from a "preliminary" review of the proposed budget today that we have multiple issues, and suggestions, about the composition of the budget and the positioning of the overall budget. Unfortunately, unless this vote is delayed, it is doubtful that you will  receive the type of feedback and input from Greenburgh constituents that is appropriate. 

I would like to understand why Greenburgh cannot send this vital information to voters / constituents in a more timely way (see below) so that appropriate consideration and diligence and review can be applied to this vital progress before we are asked to vote on one of the most important issues facing our community. 

Thank you, ”

The four other candidates that are running seem to hold more promise for the Greenburgh taxpaying stakeholders and our kids. We have previously written about the ones we feel will perform better for us. Let it also be said that spending taxpayer money is not a big part of our consideration when we chose. Read more about the candidates here: http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2019/05/greenburgh-school-board-forum-offers.html

Third (Could be Part One-b) - More Racism Alledged

We are also sure that Town Clerk Judith Beville will be in attendance. She has contended that she is being pushed out of the Town Clerk’s position by the Town Board. In a recent meeting with Ms Beville, she told us that she is the victim of racism against her by the Board and specifically Town Councilman Francis Sheehan. While we are unable to corroborate her accusations, given the history within the Town administrations from Mr Feiner on down, we believe there could be something to what she is saying. 

We have been critical of Ms Beville in the past as she sits on the Town Board work sessions and monthly meetings. Our criticism is that she constantly interrupts the proceedings with her own comments and opinions. Regardless of the validity, as the Town Clerk she is there to record the session, offer information when asked and work the ridiculous timer to keep residents from participating in their government meetings under three minutes. Since she is no longer on “Team Feiner”, it can only wonder what she did to force Mr Feiner to drop her from the ticket.

Being dropped from the Feiner ticket has happened before. We refer to it as being Sonya’d. For the uninitiated, Sonya Brown was a Town Board member originally supported by Paul Feiner until she stepped away from the Feiner reservation and was shunned while she completed her term and then tossed aside for Ken Jones in the subsequent election. So, no Board member is willing to give up the position simply by doing the right thing or going against Mr Feiner and risk being “Sonya’d”. Icing on the cake if you’re on “Team Feiner”: Mr Feiner pays for all campaign costs for candidates on his ticket with his campaign fund war chest.

Alfreda Williams, the former Town Clerk who was dropped by Mr Feiner for Ms Beville, went on as the hand-picked successor of Lois Bronz for County Legislator. While her effectiveness as County Legislator is unknown, Ms Williams performed adequately as the Town Clerk. Ms Beville touts a number of improvements that she’s initiated during her tenure. She claims many innovations, but while she stakes claim to expanding open government for example, Dial Democracy still doesn’t work (for years) under her control. 

She also claimed that she has hired professional staff. Here’s where it gets a little dicey. She had to hire replacements because several in her office didn’t like working for her and either transferred or quit. That was one of the reasons Francis Sheehan got involved with her staff, ultimately giving someone from her office a different position within the Town administration in order to not lose her skill-set. And while this person remains in the Town’s employ, Ms Beville disclosed the employee’s medical information to the public at a Board meeting. All of the Town Board members and the Town Attorney were telling her to stop because she was violating HIPAA guidelines as well as personnel matters which should not be disclosed to the public.

There are other things happening but let’s kick back and see what shakes out with budgets, the School Board changes and the upcoming year. Next up, November elections. Please get out and vote on Tuesday, May 21st. It will make for A Better Greenburgh.