BCS District To Elect Board Members – Candidate Profiles

by Thaddeus Flint
The vote for the Berlin Central School District will be held at the Berlin Elementary School on May 17. On the ballot will be the election of new School Board members.
In the interest of giving residents a better idea of who their new School Board members might be, The Eastwick Press created a candidate profile questionnaire. The following eight questions were sent to each candidate. Their responses, whether they chose to answer any of the questions or not, follow below.
The Questions
First, Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and your position in the community.
What motivates you to want to become a Board member?
What is your opinion of the proposed budget?
What can the School Board do to combat the increasing costs of negotiated benefits?
Governor Cuomo has proposed capping the pay of school superintendents. What are your feelings on this especially in the light of the District currently searching for a new superintendent as well as the probability that the costs of employee benefits on a whole could be greatly increasing in the years to come ?
It has been brought up on several occasions that Berlin might benefit financially by combining itself with a neighboring school district such as New Lebanon for example. What are your thoughts on this?
Recently it has been brought to light that the District might have the most severe drug and alcohol problem of all other districts in the county? Why do you think this is so? What should the District be doing differently to remedy this? How much is the District responsible as opposed to the community and the parents themselves?
What are your feelings on what’s known as the “Footprint” for the District, that is the general building plan for the future of the Berlin School System? Should the Berlin Elementary School building be refurbished or should a new elementary school be built? What were your opinions on the closings of the Stephentown and Grafton Elementary School buildings? Do you feel the District has suffered or gained anything from these closures? What should be done with these closed buildings?
The Answers
Rachel Finney
My family and I have lived in Stephentown for over 25 years. My husband Rick and I have raised our 3 children here and all have attended school in the District. Over the years I have dedicated my time and efforts to our children in the community as a volunteer for Shatford Park Little League, Berlin Centrals Primary Mental Health Program and as a parent advocate on the Committee on Special Education.
My motive to join the Board of Education has no hidden agenda. It is purely my belief that we as a community should enrich our children’s lives with the best possible education while keeping a healthy balance between the budget and the needs of the taxpayers.
We need to look forward and move on as a District with a positive, practical approach and solutions. With the economy as it is, all districts face huge challenges. But we as a community need to stay strong and focused on the issues at hand. We need to give our children, regardless of their learning abilities, the resources to succeed, for they are our communities greatest assets.
Andrew Zlotnick
I’ve been a resident of Petersburgh since 1993 and have a wonderful family, my wife Joan and our children  Andrew, Nicole, Michael and Joshua. We chose to live in the beautiful foothills of the Taconic range back in 1993. I’m 45 years old and an active member of the community. I commute to Albany where I work for the NYS Police as a civilian employee in their Finance Department. In the past I’ve worked construction, as a photographer and as a lab technician in a photo lab. Over the years I’ve coached youth soccer, worked with the Cub and Boy Scouts, Co-Chaired and was a founding member of the TRACs group. I’ve worked with citizen and community groups to effect positive change in our School District and have been an outspoken advocate for change in the District. As an advocate I’ve held community meetings, worked with the local media (a member of CH6’s parent advisory group) and met with both State Senators and Legislators along with representatives for our congressman in Washington, DC. Several years ago, through a grassroots effort, my community group was able to get a sizable State grant for the Berlin School District through then Senator Bruno’s office.
I’ve been motivated to become a BOE candidate after years of trying to work within the system. Some call it a bureaucracy. I dislike that term because I believe that government should work for the people and not just the elected individuals. After sitting through countless BOE meetings I saw that some individuals on the Board no longer listened to the people and some even seemed to have motives that dealt less with the community, students, academics or staff and more about what was best for them. I want to become your next BOE member because I think that we have many objectives to accomplish and the person who is elected to the vacant BOE seat will have to be ready to hit the floor running on May 18th. I am that person because I’ve put in hundreds of hours working with and researching BOE issues. I’ve served on the Long Range Planning Committee as Chair of the Transportation and Facilities sub-group. I’ve worked with the Superintendant’s building renovation project group, and I have participated in parent advisory work groups at the high school.
I believe that the current school budget is imperfect, but it makes strides to address the ballooning costs associated with BOCES and holds the line on taxes without cutting into the student programs. I would vote “Yes” for this budget, but I believe that we still have to address the fundamental cost drivers of wages and benefits vs State and local funding.
The BOE is in a tough position with the current contracts they negotiated. In the past they offered significant increases in salary and didn’t address the spiraling costs for the additional benefits. The BOE needs to look at other ideas to the traditional negotiated contract model. Promising fixed raises based on some unknown funding stream is illogical. Linking the union raises or reductions to the CPI or other similar indexes and/or to State funding may be a more logical and a fair way to address these concerns for all parties. The day of compound automatic raises is most likely over.
I think that capping salaries of Superintendents is just one step to address the out of control compensation packages some superintendents have been awarded in the past. I think that the State can go much further if it chooses, as salary is just one part of the cost of these administrators. I believe that an additional cost containment strategy could be performance based incentives. These incentives could be based on annual goals established by the BOE. The goals would have a matrix that would allow for rewarding successful achievement of said goals and would empower the school district to either continue, re-evaluate or dissolve the contract. All administrative contracts should contain this type of language. Having been involved in the process to hire a new Superintendant I feel that we can find a superior quality individual who meets the BOE criteria, is willing to accept a challenge and can achieve the goals set by the BOE.
Although recently some information on the inappropriate use of illicit drugs by our students seems to be indicating higher use than other areas in Rensselaer County the trend for the Berlin School District over the last two to four years is trending down from the past. That said, our rates of illegal drug use by both our students and young adults are too high. We need more people in the community to understand that drug use hurts and destroys our youth along with our community. The School District cannot be held solely and totally responsible or to resolve this problem by themselves. A cooperative effort by all stakeholders is the only way to solve the drug issues we face in our communities. I would work closely with town, County and local groups (TRACs) to help create an environment that shifts the beliefs and mores in our community to ones that promote a healthy life style and good choices. As a community member I’ve seen the destructive effects that drugs and alcohol have had on our youth. I hope it will not take a tragedy to highlight the need to address these concerns and change attitudes. One fact that may surprise you would be that when questioned a large proportion of youth said that they believe that lax attitudes by adults and the lack of law enforcement is a contributing factor in their decision to use drugs and alcohol. As a member of TRACs (Together Reducing drugs and Alcohol in our Communities) I have been witness to the beginnings of change in attitudes among our youth toward drug and alcohol use. I credit the dogged persistence of these TRACs coalition members with getting trained and getting the word out that illicit drug and alcohol use is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. I would propose a closer link to TRACs and law enforcement as a way to combat youth drug use.
The “Footprint” of our District has been a bone of contention for years. Closing the smaller community schools has done nothing to improve community buy in or improve the delivery of education to our students in my opinion. Whether we should be looking at one plan over another for the District, I believe that this question will soon be answered by the LAC as they will be presenting factual data to address the “Footprint issue” at a future BOE meeting. I will reserve my opinion until I hear and can analyze their report.
Frank J. Zwack
I am a lifelong resident of Stephentown, graduate of the Berlin Central School, Hudson Valley Community College and Union College. Besides being a Board Member of the Berlin School District, I am also a member of the Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department and also a College Board Advisor for Hudson Valley Community College. I am a mechanical engineer and manage a family business in Stephentown employing 50 people.
My motivation in running for another term as a Board Member is quite simple – to provide every student with the best possible opportunities to excel academically, to do so at a cost we can all afford and in a setting that is respectful of our educators and students alike.
Our District is at a budget crossroads. Declining enrollment, reductions in State aid and tax base, increased costs for wages, benefits, energy and equipment are all factors that present significant budgetary challenges. I believe, in order to move our District forward, we need to not only carefully consider salaries and benefits but also what is in the best interests of our students and to fairly balance needs, wishes and resources. We need to be mindful that the Board, teachers, staff, students and the community as a whole share a collective responsibility to arrive at a fair and equitable budget.
There is no doubt that we face many challenges as a District. Some are driven by our declining student enrollment, some driven by our economic climate and some the consequence of past opportunities missed. To move our District forward, we need as a Board and as a community to seek and consider all alternatives, whether operational, administrative or funding and work on building partnerships with our faculty and staff and also adjoining school districts. We need to move beyond the controversies that divide us and focus on the “big picture” of ensuring that our children and the next generation has the educational opportunities they will need to succeed in a continually changing world.
Jim Willis
Hello, my name is Jim Willis. I am running for the Berlin Central School District Board of Education seat being vacated by Elizabeth Miller. I moved to Stephentown with my family in 1978 from Anchorage, Alaska. I attended Berlin Central School District from 3rd grade through 12th grade. I am married and have 7 children who have all attended this District. I have been employed at Pittsfield Lawn & Tractor for the last 15 years as the Parts Manager and Information Technology Manager.
After hearing about the turmoil within the District, I began attending the Board meetings last May in order to educate myself on the state of affairs within the District and have attended every meeting and most “special” meetings since. I was also a member of the Main Leadership Advisory Committee up until my decision to run for the Board of Education. My decision to run for the Board is based purely on community service.
The current economic crisis has required that we look at every expenditure within the budget and see where we can cut costs without affecting educational programs. I think the proposed budget is well thought out and covers both of these areas.
I have been deeply involved with the Superintendent search, attending almost every meeting and have learned that this search is not to be taken lightly. The core of any successful organization is quality leadership. The right candidate for our District will have spent most of his/her professional career learning how to provide the leadership we need to give our children the most educational opportunities with the least impact on the taxpayers.
I have heard that some people think we should merge our district with other districts because it would be economically prudent. After living in this valley for 30+ years, I have watched the local business base slowly wilt and die. Our children need something stable to believe in. Some people don’t think our students have a lot of school spirit, but I am here to tell you, that rumor is NOT TRUE. Stop by any home game at the high school and you will see that the Berlin Mountaineer School Spirit is alive and thriving. I understand that these are hard economic times, but every taxpayer I have spoken to believes this should not be an option.
If you have watched the news recently, you might have heard that prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country. These opiate based painkillers are basically pharmaceutical-grade heroin. Prescribed for the temporary relief of pain, these drugs are being abused at an alarming rate. These “legal” drugs are running rampant in our school system destroying families and lives. Keeping these drugs out of the hands of our children is extremely hard because of the vast quantity there is out in the community. (Remember these are legally obtained prescription drugs that are finding their way out of our medicine cabinets and into the school system). We need to institute an extremely aggressive policy regarding the possession of these drugs on school property coupled with a system set in place to get these students the rehabilitative treatment they need to beat this deadly addiction.
In closing, I was brought up to believe that if you “pay it forward,” the better life you are making not just for you but for everyone around you. People think of the 5 towns that our school encompasses as a “district,” but I disagree with that term. Yes, it is a district, but I like to think of it as our COMMUNITY. Every one of us in our community has been affected by these hard economic times and of all the times to “pay it forward,” I believe NOW is the time.