Candidate for
Member, Board of Education; Byram Hills Central School District

The top three challenges facing our district:

In the years just passed, managing formidable enrollment growth and providing adequate facilities would certainly have been at the top of any list of district challenges. However, now, with enrollment growth slowing to manageable levels, and after the successful completion of two major classroom construction projects and a smaller athletics project, which are predicted to meet space and facility needs for years to come, other issues take center stage.

Perhaps our greatest challenge will be in the area of teacher and staff recruitment and retention. The heart of what we do as a district, involves the skillful interaction between students and staff, whether they are in our classrooms, in our clubs, or on our athletic fields. However, there is a major shortage of qualified teachers, both locally and nationally, most pronounced in the fields of mathematics, science, and foreign language. The shortage of administrators is even more troubling, as older administrators retire and younger educators opt not to enter administrative roles. In recognition of this challenge, as a Board, we have made recruitment and retention of qualified staff an ongoing, central focus of our work. Administrative succession planning, at all levels, has become a key Board goal and the subject of many ongoing discussions. Negotiation of all staff contracts has been given careful consideration as we have tried to create win/win situations that will allow us to continue to attract talented, dedicated educators. To fill vacant positions, we have broadened our staff recruitment program and paid particular attention to outreach to minority candidates. Additionally, the Board has endorsed a new mentoring program to assist new hires, provided enhanced professional development opportunities to all staff, and supported evaluation practices which will help teachers grow and achieve success.

A second major area of challenge will be refining strategies and practices to better meet the needs of individual students across the spectrum of learners. Over the years, there has been increasing recognition that a one-size-fits-all program leaves too many students struggling or frustrated or bored. To address this, this Board has made a significant investment in differentiated instruction - including extensive professional development for teachers - in an attempt to serve diverse learners of all types and abilities, while maintaining high expectations for all. Successful curriculum-wide implementation of differentiated instruction is an enormous effort that requires continual support and monitoring. As we try to refine our program, increased parental feedback can help us understand the strengths and weaknesses of current practices and, because a teacher's understanding of any given student's needs is at least partly linked to class size, frequent review of class size guidelines and the adequacy of support services is crucial. Technology, such as smart boards, can also offer opportunities to reach particular students and actively engage them in the learning process.

And finally, supporting and enhancing programs while containing budget growth, will be a significant challenge. This past year, the Board made meeting this challenge a Board goal and charged our administrators with preparing a budget that would accomplish this. As a result, the proposed 2007-2008 operating budget has the lowest growth since 1998. However, many factors continue to put pressure on the budget: soaring staff benefit costs, prior contractual obligations, unfunded mandates, and continued, though more moderate, enrollment growth. Mindful of the challenge, several years ago, this Board initiated five-year fiscal planning and yearly demographic updates. We have asked our administrators to pay constant attention to the "value added" of initiatives, find opportunities for cost savings, and consider potential phase-in implementation of costly items. And, knowing that budget issues are of great importance, we have enhanced our communications with the community in order to help residents understand the budget and budget planning.

School finances - containing budget growth and reducing costs:

Byram Hills has experienced unprecedented student population growth - 80% over twenty years - necessitating, during my seven years on the Board, two major facilities construction projects and a smaller athletic project. As a result, debt service on construction borrowing has been a major force in budget increases in recent years. Although debt service will continue to be a major cost in our budget, we now have a better opportunity to contain budget growth - and with both classroom projects finishing under budget (the most recent, by @ $1.5 million) we also have the chance to use excess funds to reduce debt service. However, certain factors (some beyond our control) will continue to push expenditures. Although enrollment growth has moderated, we still expect some growth - 1.6% for next year. Several employee benefits - most notably, health and state retirement contributions - continue to far outpace inflation. Negotiated staff contractual obligations, unfunded state and federal mandates, and fuel costs are among other factors that will likely contribute to continued budget growth.

The current Board has made containing budget growth and district costs a Board goal and a priority. I believe that saving money and reducing costs begins with sound financial planning and careful, detailed review of expenditures. I support the Board's initiatives, begun several years ago, of drafting five year financial plans that predict the trajectory of multiple budget items and of receiving regular demographic updates to enable us to better plan for future enrollment and associated costs. This year, our charge to administrators - which I also wholeheartedly support - was direct: examine every item in the budget, build the budget from the bottom up, separate out what we "want" from what we truly "need," carefully prioritize expenses, ensure maximum value for dollars spent, determine places where the budget might be cut without harming program, and hold increases in any budget line to a minimum. After presentation, the administration's 2007-2008 budget was subjected to line by line scrutiny. A prioritized list of possible deletions, prepared by the administration, was also carefully examined, and in future years, this is the kind of list we may look to, to contain growth. Many initiatives that could have benefited students did not make it into this year's operating budget - some items were deferred, some, like smart boards, will be phased in over time to moderate costs, and some were dropped altogether.

I believe our administrators did a good job with their charge - this year's budget increase is the lowest since 1998 - but there are areas I think we could look at more closely in the future. I believe the district could benefit from re-evaluating - and bidding - our consultant contracts on a more frequent basis in order to find providers who can offer equal quality service at lower cost. The district tends to re-contract with previous providers who have served us well - but we may be missing opportunities to hold down or lower costs. In some large cost centers, such as technology purchases, we need better defined methods for evaluating the timing, quantity, and nature of purchases and replacements. I unhesitatingly support our technology initiatives, but, as an example, the introduction of newer technology, such as smart boards, or the construction of full computer labs, may obviate the need for the current computer clusters in our secondary classrooms. To avoid potential waste, we need a review process that allows us to determine if replacement of these units, or other expensive machines, is necessary to support student learning. For those technology purchases that are judged to be a priority (or for some other capital expenses,) the State's new EXCEL grants provide an opportunity to partially offset local costs. Finally, salaries and benefits account for the largest portion of the budget - thus, every contract negotiation represents a significant opportunity. While we need to continue to attract and retain skilled teachers, in the past, we have been successful in negotiating win/win contracts with staff, including agreements to increase employees' share of costs in such problematic areas as health insurance, while changes in other practices have produced savings for the district.

Proposed topics for discussion about the academic program:

Significant changes to the district's academic program, which is a complex interplay of diverse elements and competing priorities, should be made with the utmost care - after thorough analysis, thoughtful deliberation, and with judicious planning. Proposed alterations must assess potentially confounding issues such as school schedules, program costs, student readiness and/or need, alignment with other curricula, teacher availability, and - in a system such as ours, where student/teacher time is already fully utilized - answer what moves "out" when something new moves "in." As a result, curricular change mandates careful listening - to recommendations from administrators who monitor program on a daily basis and who serve as the district's chief educational consultants, as well as to input from various stakeholders.

That said, there are a number of issues I believe we should examine in earnest in an effort to understand whether change would be beneficial. First among these is the issue of elementary foreign language. We know that young children are the most able language learners and, equally, that they will need to function in an increasingly global world. Studies also suggest that acquisition of a second language leads to more flexible, abstract thinking and other mental skills that go well beyond the language sphere. It's an area with great potential for student benefit, but issues such as the scarcity of language teachers, program costs, and scheduling adequate time for instruction, are topics that require in depth discussion.

Another area for proposed discussion centers on middle school arts. We provide an extraordinary music and art program to middle schoolers but the time is disproportionately divided, with music (instrumental, choir, or general) offered on a much more frequent basis than visual arts. We're aware that some students respond more to the visual arts than to music and now, after the construction of new art rooms at H.C.C. it seems appropriate to explore whether middle school students can be offered some elective choice in the arts (i.e., above and beyond the basic general music or general art)- between the visual arts and music - much as they are allowed to choose which foreign language they wish to study.

At the high school we have invested significant staff time and district funds to allow students interested in math and science to have an in depth, three year independent study opportunity through our award-winning Authentic Science Research Program. It's a program that has served math/science students of varying abilities, including those in special education - and it's a program that has changed lives. However, we provide no comparable independent study opportunity for students who are passionate about the humanities. These students are no less deserving of program support; it's a discrepancy I believe we need to address.

Other possible "changes" that come to mind are more a matter of refinement than innovation. Our differentiated instruction initiative, designed to support and challenge learners at all levels, which was begun some years ago, requires continual monitoring and adjustment. We can improve our ability to understand the needs of individual learners and to muster the resources that will help them succeed. Our character education program, which is the focus of a full district wide committee, can be deepened and extended by offering increased volunteer service opportunities to students of all ages, more visible modeling and partnership with staff, and a renewed focus on creating a culture of respect and responsibility. The newly instituted "Cultural Proficiency" program, which addresses diversity in all its forms, is one exciting aspect of this: professional development efforts have helped train numerous administrators and teachers in this model, but now, we must find a way to bring this program and its benefits into classroom, for our students. These are just some of the initiatives for change or refinement that might improve district programs. I hope, with the distraction of construction projects behind us, that we will be able to discuss an increased range of curricular issues in the coming years.