Q&A with Rye School Board Candidates: Katy Keohane Glassberg

On May 21, Rye residents will cast their votes on the proposed $76.6 million Rye City School District 2013-2014 budget and will elect two school board members. Three are vying for two open seats on the Board of Education. Board member Kendall Egan is not running again and Nicole Weber and Robert Zahm are running for her seat. Incumbent Katy Keohane Glassberg's term is up this year and she is running for re-election. 

Rye Patch asked this each of this year's candidates the following questions. Read candidate Katy Keohane Glassberg's answers below.

All candidates submitted their answers by May 1 and none saw each other's responses before submitting their own. For voting information click here. 

1. Why are you running for Rye school board?

 I am running for re-election to the Board of Education because I offer the experience, leadership and continuity that will be crucial as we work together to maintain our excellent educational program and navigate the challenges ahead.  As a School Board member for the last three years and as Vice President of the Board this year, I've worked hard to preserve the priorities of our community – rigorous academics, talented faculty and diverse learning opportunities for our children here in Rye and beyond - all in the most cost effective way possible.  Some of the challenges ahead include working with the whole community to identify viable strategies to weather difficult economic times while continuing to support student achievement, negotiating agreements with five bargaining units, growing our culture of caring, selecting an Assistant Superintendent for Business to continue the kind of prudent fiscal management Rye has benefitted from, and the need for continued advocacy to seek relief from unfunded state mandates.    

2. Why should district residents re-elect you to the school board?

During my term, I’ve helped lead the District through a period of enormous transition: a successful Superintendent search and community approval of a bond to accommodate enrollment growth. I’ve chaired Policy, Facilities and Health & Safety Committees and served on the Tax Cap Task Force, Curriculum Council, K-12 Science Committee, Management Council, Civility Initiative Drafting Committee and have been Liaison to the City on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.

As a Board, our goal is continuous improvement.  I have supported expanding curricular offerings including Mandarin and STEM classes in universal 8th grade algebra, action physics and robotics.  I advocate in regular meetings with our state legislators and through the NY State School Boards Association about the effects unfunded mandates have on high-performing districts like Rye, while at the same time ensuring that we are meeting all obligations to align Rye’s curriculum to the Common Core and meet State requirements for teacher evaluation. I have supported the judicious use of reserves and worked hard to ensure that we delivered responsible budgets.

I believe residents in Rye recognize my dedication and commitment to our schools.  I have been an active volunteer in our schools for over a decade, beginning as a Class Parent in my son’s classroom at Milton and ultimately serving in just about every PTO capacity including PTO President before being elected to the Board of Education in 2010.  As a Board member, I’ve worked to preserve Rye’s excellent educational program while exercising fiscal discipline.  I’ve had the pleasure of making some exciting decisions and the strength to make some very difficult decisions.  I work to gather input from all parts of our community and build consensus around viable solutions.  I have helped build budgets responsive to concerns of both parents and taxpayers.

3. Do you or have you had children who attend the Rye schools?

My husband, Richy and I moved to Rye 17 years ago because it is a wonderful place to raise a family.  Yes, we have two sons who have been in the Rye schools since they began in kindergarten at Milton.  Our oldest is now a sophomore at Rye High School and our younger son is in 7th grade at Rye Middle School.  They both attended Rye Presbyterian Nursery School, too. 

4. What experience-- either personal or professional-- do you have that makes you a strong candidate to serve on the Rye Board of Education?

 Certainly my training and experience as an attorney have been and will continue to be very useful in Board service, in guiding policy decisions, dealing with personnel and negotiation related matters and in the analytical approach I use to consider any issue that arises.  In addition, in my current, hands-on experience as Board Vice President, I work closely with Laura Slack, our Board President, and Dr. Alvarez, Rye’s new Superintendent, whom I helped to select, to provide leadership and direction for the District.  I have strong working relationships with faculty, administrators and staff forged over the last 11 years as a parent, volunteer, PTO President and member of the many Board committees on which I have served.    

5. What do you consider the three top concerns in the district?

1. New York’s tax levy cap that limits growth of our school budget without relief from costly state mandates;

2. Unprecedented growth in pension and health care costs which are passed on to local school districts and over which local school districts have no control; and

3. The importance of maintaining the excellent educational program even in light of these economic challenges. 

6. What is your tentative plan to address these issues?

We must continue the work undertaken this budget season to consider ways to do what we do more efficiently.  We must continue the work of the Board’s Tax Cap Task Force, made up of two Board officers, the Board President and myself, two administrators, two faculty members and two community members.  The Tax Cap Task Force is charged with generating new and creative ideas to help reduce costs and raise revenues for the school district.  We must continue to advocate to the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, the Chancellor of the Regents and our state legislators about the specific detrimental financial effects unfunded state mandates have on high performing school districts like Rye. We must also work to provide our community with the information they need to allow them to make well-informed choices and to join in on the advocacy efforts as well, if they are so inclined. 

7. How do you think the mandated 2-percent tax cap will impact the future of education?

We are fortunate in Rye to have had a Superintendent, Business Official and Boards that have exercised prudent fiscal management.  With reserves available to be deployed judiciously by the Board, Rye is in a position to weather, for a longer period of time, the stormy economic waters that so many New York public school districts face now.  The interesting thing is, we have always had a cap of sorts on what the school district is permitted to spend because the voters in Rye come to the polls each May to say yes or no to the proposed budget.  They act as the local cap, determining what is an acceptable level of spending.  As a result of the mandated cap, I think we will all be engaged in more frequent and more detailed discussions of our educational priorities as a community.       

8. What is your opinion of the proposed 2013-2014 budget and the impact of the cap on the tax levy?

Clearly, I fully support the Superintendent’s proposed 2013-2014 budget, as I am one of the seven Board of Education members who unanimously voted to adopt it. The budget is within the allowable tax levy cap and preserves the educational priorities at each level: class size at the elementary level; team structure at the middle school level, and rich, diverse academic offerings at the high school level.  This is the formula for the strong educational foundation that has helped so many Rye students reach the goal of securing admission to the best possible college for each of them and has resulted in Rye High School’s phenomenal ranking, most recently in U.S. News and World Report.  The budget is publicly available for anyone who would like to take a look at it.  I urge everyone to go to the District web site to see it.  

9. What organizations/groups do you belong to?

I am currently a member of the New York State School Boards Association, the National School Board Association, the Boston University Alumni Association, and the Brooklyn Law School Alumni Association.  I have been a member of the New York State Bar Association, the California Bar Association, and The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Over the years, my family and I have been members and/or supporters of The Rye Free Reading Room, Rye Little League, Rye Youth Soccer, Rye Youth Lacrosse, Rye Recreation, Milton School PTO, Rye Middle School PTO, Rye High School PTO, The MS/HS Caring Committee, Rye Youth Council, The Rye Arts Center, The Nature Center, the Rye Y and the Clay Art Center in Port Chester.  My husband sits on the board of Breastcancer.org and together we are big supporters of that organization.  I also have a nice tennis group and occasionally make it to my knitting group.      

 10. Is there anything we haven't asked you about that you would like the public to know about you or your candidacy?

I appreciate all the ways that people in Rye find to contribute to our community.  Volunteering in our schools and specifically, serving on the School Board is the way I have found to make the most effective use of my skills, training and experience to contribute. I would appreciate the support of our community so that I may continue to serve.