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A LETTER FROM PAUL STEINBERG
To the Editor:
On Tuesday, there will be an election for school board members. Four candidates are running, and all of them would be decent choices for the position. All of them have had children who have attended the Croton schools. Two of the candidates currently work with immigrant students, one works with children impacted by mental health issues, and the fourth candidate is a first generation college graduate. Three of them work at not-for-profit institutions and the other candidate has extensive background in tech companies.
It speaks well of our community that we have such qualified parents willing to devote their time to what is often a thankless but necessary task. All four of them deserve our appreciation.
Our school district is named “Croton-Harmon” and that can lead us to forget that the district encompasses a much larger area than the village boundary. It is easy to make the mistake of viewing school matters through the lens of village politics. While this may be good for some of us, it does a disservice to the many parents who are not tied in to the village political machine and it also does a disservice to all of us who value a diversity of viewpoints. That is particularly true when considering the impact of the village agenda regarding housing development. Regardless of the merits of the various proposed developments and zoning variances, there will be significant impact on the school district.
I suggest that is one good reason to consider Allison Samuels and Leslie Pollak. Because they are independent of the village politicians, they can provide a viewpoint without feeling pressured to do what is convenient for the people who run the village; they are able to speak without worrying about village politics. In addition to that, both of them have an area of specialty important to the issues facing our school board.
One of the key issues for primary and secondary school educators today is how to engage students in learning: both technology and culture have changed since we were in school. Pedagogy has become an area of intense research. Allison is a professor at a college with one of the most diverse student bodies in the country, and her primary area of expertise is curriculum development and pedagogy. With her undergraduate degree in Theater and an MBA, Allison brings a well-rounded perspective concerning the importance of curricular and co-curricular activities.
A key concern for parents is the mental health of today’s students. The data is disturbing, and the question of cause and what to do is another issue facing school boards. In her work at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Westchester, Leslie works to educate students on how to deal with mental health issues. She also believes that strong academic standards can be compatible with serving a diverse student population. As our community strives to become more welcoming and inclusive, it is refreshing to see a candidate who sees compassion as an essential component of academic excellence.
As readers of this newspaper know, I am not a fan of our school superintendent and have been critical of him on both his vision and his operational decisions. If I believed any of the candidates running on May 20 were awful, I would say so. We are fortunate to have a selection of excellent candidates, and for me the deciding factors in choosing Allison and Leslie came down to having trustees who are free from political pressure and who are experts in critical challenges facing the school district. Allison and Leslie’s independent judgment, informed by their professional expertise, will serve the students and the taxpayers of the Croton-Harmon school district well.
--Paul Steinberg, Croton-on-Hudson
On Tuesday, there will be an election for school board members. Four candidates are running, and all of them would be decent choices for the position. All of them have had children who have attended the Croton schools. Two of the candidates currently work with immigrant students, one works with children impacted by mental health issues, and the fourth candidate is a first generation college graduate. Three of them work at not-for-profit institutions and the other candidate has extensive background in tech companies.
It speaks well of our community that we have such qualified parents willing to devote their time to what is often a thankless but necessary task. All four of them deserve our appreciation.
Our school district is named “Croton-Harmon” and that can lead us to forget that the district encompasses a much larger area than the village boundary. It is easy to make the mistake of viewing school matters through the lens of village politics. While this may be good for some of us, it does a disservice to the many parents who are not tied in to the village political machine and it also does a disservice to all of us who value a diversity of viewpoints. That is particularly true when considering the impact of the village agenda regarding housing development. Regardless of the merits of the various proposed developments and zoning variances, there will be significant impact on the school district.
I suggest that is one good reason to consider Allison Samuels and Leslie Pollak. Because they are independent of the village politicians, they can provide a viewpoint without feeling pressured to do what is convenient for the people who run the village; they are able to speak without worrying about village politics. In addition to that, both of them have an area of specialty important to the issues facing our school board.
One of the key issues for primary and secondary school educators today is how to engage students in learning: both technology and culture have changed since we were in school. Pedagogy has become an area of intense research. Allison is a professor at a college with one of the most diverse student bodies in the country, and her primary area of expertise is curriculum development and pedagogy. With her undergraduate degree in Theater and an MBA, Allison brings a well-rounded perspective concerning the importance of curricular and co-curricular activities.
A key concern for parents is the mental health of today’s students. The data is disturbing, and the question of cause and what to do is another issue facing school boards. In her work at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Westchester, Leslie works to educate students on how to deal with mental health issues. She also believes that strong academic standards can be compatible with serving a diverse student population. As our community strives to become more welcoming and inclusive, it is refreshing to see a candidate who sees compassion as an essential component of academic excellence.
As readers of this newspaper know, I am not a fan of our school superintendent and have been critical of him on both his vision and his operational decisions. If I believed any of the candidates running on May 20 were awful, I would say so. We are fortunate to have a selection of excellent candidates, and for me the deciding factors in choosing Allison and Leslie came down to having trustees who are free from political pressure and who are experts in critical challenges facing the school district. Allison and Leslie’s independent judgment, informed by their professional expertise, will serve the students and the taxpayers of the Croton-Harmon school district well.
--Paul Steinberg, Croton-on-Hudson
I agree with the writer. Not really crazy about the school district and our daughter didn't attend but we do make it a point of voting and for anyone not under the Croton village political influence,
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