Schools

Blind Brook School Board Candidates Debate Hot-Button Issues

Wendy Adler, Dick Hubert and Sheri Zarkower debated topics during a League of Women Voters forum Tuesday.

More than 100 people gathered at Blind Brook High School to hear the three candidates for the Board of Education debate a host of topics during a League of Women Voters candidates' forum Tuesday.

Wendy Adler, Dick Hubert and Sheri Zarkower, candidates for one seat on the Blind Brook-Rye Union Free Board of Education, each gave their view on issues ranging from budget cuts and teachers' contracts to merged school districts and government transparency.

Adler, a former journalist and corporate attorney, said she was running as an independent candidate who would represent the entire community rather than a particular constituency, while Hubert argued that the school district can educate Blind Brook students in a fiscally responsible manner that doesn't impose a huge burden on local taxpayers.

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Zarkower, the school board's current vice president who is running as an incumbent, said that voters should re-elect her because of her ability to "separate the best interest of the child from often unpopular rhetoric and principles in a way that doesn't affect the financial health of district."

During the nearly hour and a half forum, moderator Noreen Fisher asked the candidates a series of questions about hot-button topics, many of which focused on the school budget.

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All of the candidates said they supported the $39.3 million budget the Board of Education adopted in April, which includes a 0.98 percent tax levy increase and slight concessions from the teachers' union.

However, Adler said some elements of the budget—such as the board agreeing to the teachers' union proposal to waive the right to welfare insurance allowances in exchange for keeping certain staff positions—were shortsighted and would not save the district significant money in the long-term.

Hubert echoed a similar sentiment, saying that the district needs to employ a fiscal strategy that can be sustained in the future. He said increasing burdens caused by state mandates such as the teachers' pension system will put more pressure on next year's budget. Fairly renegotiating teachers' contracts next year is one way the district can begin to move in the right direction, he said.

"It's about time that they join the rest of us and come down to the reality," Hubert said in regards to teachers' salaries. "We need a better attitude on the part of everybody to make the sacrifice and it shouldn't just come from the taxpayers."

Merit-based pay was a frequent theme throughout the forum, with Zarkower arguing in favor of the system as a way to fairly compensate teachers while at the same time managing increased financial costs in the district.

She said a move toward merit-based contracts would be good because it would make "everybody a stakeholder in the community."

All three candidates were also asked about the possibility of merging with another school district. Blind Brook is bordered by school districts in Harrison and Port Chester. With ongoing conversations about consolidating government services, the topic has become increasingly relevant.

All three candidates said they were in favor of merging services, but not entire school districts. They also advocated shared programs that would unite school districts around certain events or activities, such as the joint Martin Luther King Day celebration this year between Port Chester and Blind Brook schools.

The forum was not without controversy, however.

Zarkower and Adler engaged in some political jabs. Zarkower, who has a child with juvenile diabetes who attends school in the district, took offense to Adler's alleged questioning of Zarkower's reason for supporting special education services in the district that were facing budget cuts.

Zarkower said that her child is in a protected class in the district and would not have been affected by the budget cuts to special education.

"I'm sorry that my child ended up on another candidate's platform," Zarkower said. "I ask that moving forward this doesn't continue."

Adler refuted Zarkower's claim, saying that neither she nor anyone involved in her campaign would ever make that suggestion.

In her closing statements, Adler said she had taken the high road during the campaign. Though she didn't name Zarkower directly, Adler said one of her opponents' campaigns had urged her to drop her election bid and had begun "spreading fear, rumors and false allegations" in an effort to get her to lose the election.

After Adler had repeatedly said throughout the forum that she would infuse the Board of Education  with new energy, Zarkower made a veiled reference about Adler in her closing remarks, saying that her opponent could have been more involved in efforts to improve the school district.

"No energy was offered throughout the [budget] process," she said. "Words without actions are just words."

Hubert, who has drawn the ire of the Board of Education for his frequent criticisms, watched as his opponents debated one another.

"I hope you can see that a debate is going on here and I'm not part of that debate," he said with a hint of humor.

Adler, Hubert and Zarkower have only two weeks left to spread their message to voters. The winner will serve a three-year term on the Board of Education.

The Blind Brook Board of Education election will be held on May 18. Polls open at 7 a.m. at Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School on North Ridge Street.


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