Schools
6 Vie for 4 Seats on Sag Harbor School Board; $35M Budget on Ballot
Proposed tax levy increase is 3.78 percent.
The Sag Harbor School District has the hottest school board race east of the Shinnecock Canal Tuesday, with three challengers and three incumbents on the ballot and four seats up for grabs.
District voters will also decide on a $35,508,622 budget.
The biggest tax levy increase the district is allowed under the New York State tax cap is 4.06 percent, but the School Board put forth an increase of 3.78 percent. By adhering to the cap, the budget will only need a simple majority of votes to be approved.
Total spending is slated to rise $1,326,366 or 3.88 percent over the current budget.
According to the school district, if the budget is rejected there will be a re-vote on June 18. If the budget fails a second time, the district will be forced onto a contingency budget requiring the spending plan to be reduced $1.2 million.
In the School Board Race, incumbents Chris Tice, Edward Drohan and Susan Kinsella wish to keep their seats. The challengers are Thomas Re, Daniel Hartnett and David Diskin.
There are currently only six seats filled on the seven-member board, since Gregg Schiavoni resigned in March.
Former member Walter Wilcoxen resigned in July 2012 shortly after winning re-election, and Kinsella was appointed to take his place until the 2013 election.
Kinsella served a full term on the board previously, between 2006 and 2009, and now she seeks another full term. She has served on several district committees and on the John Jermain Community Library Committee.
Re, an attorney with a law office in Sag Harbor Village, had also screened to fill Wilcoxen's seat and now decided to run for election. He is a member of the district's long range financial planning committee. Re said he is independent and unaligned — but "totally involved" at the district. "I am a breath of fresh air willing to open the window on Board matters and let the sunshine in," Re said. "I mean action, not talk for the full engagement of the community and the students themselves as well, to help to create a top education for each individual student."
Hartnett served two terms on the School Board, between 2005 and 2011, and is currently a member of the audit committee. The youngest of his four children attends Pierson High School. He is a current board member of Immigration Legal Services of Long Island and he is a musician at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Bridgehampton, and St. Andrew's Church in Sag Harbor. Hartnett has worked in education for 35 years, including 16 on the East End. He is currently the bilingual school social worker in the East Hampton School District, where he has also been a teacher and administrator. "Only when the [Board of Education] develops consensus in a transparent fashion, can the community unite to build a school that prepares our children for the future," Hartnett said,
Diskin is a member of the district's audit committee.
Read more about the candidates and their views at sagharboronline.com.
The two top-vote getters will receive full three-years terms beginning July 1. The candidates who finished in second and third place will be sworn in immediately after the election and their terms will expire June 30, 2015.
In addition to the budget, there will be two propositions on the ballot.
Proposition 2 asks voters to approve bussing for students living between 1 and 15 miles from their school. If Proposition 2 fails, bussing will be eliminated, except for students who live more than 2 miles from the elementary school and 3 miles from the middle/high school.
Proposition 3 asks voters to allow the district to expend $1,113,600 to repair the elementary school roof and the high school gymnasium roof and bleachers. The bulk of the money, $873,600, would come out of the Facilities Renovation Capital Reserve Fund and the remainder would be raised in the 2013-14 budget.
The election and budget vote are May 21 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the Pierson High School gymnasium.
