There are seven candidates for the Newburgh School District Board of Education on the ballot for the May 21, 2013 Budget Vote and Election. Here they are in the order they will be on the ballot:

As I've done in past years, I'm happy to post candidate letters or links to candidate info websites.

I believe the Mid Hudson Times is working on an article for next week. They make the effort to get some information to the public about the candidates every year. It is excellent of them to do that.

Running for the Board of Education has a few minimal requirements (district resident, not an employee) and you will need to collect 100 signatures on a petition. The District Clerk, Mr. McCoy, can provide you with a packet of information with all the details. According to the NECSD 2013-14 budget page: "Petition forms are to be returned to the District Clerk by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. For additional information, please call Matthew McCoy, District Clerk at 563-3503."

This year's budget vote and election are on May 21, 2013. For your reference, here are the results of the voting for the past five years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

What is a Board member supposed to do? Here are two suggested references:

1) New York State Education Law 2503 states the powers and duties of boards of education.

2) There is a brochure titled "Raising the Bar: A School Board Primer on Student Achievement" which is available as a pdf from the ERIC website. "This guide provides ways in which school board members can lead their school systems to higher levels of student achievement. The text attempts to help board members by equipping them with comprehensive information about the various components of student achievement."

That PDF is temporarily unavailable from ERIC. Here is a copy of Raising the Bar: A School Board Primer... (3.8mb pdf).

The Newburgh School District Budget passes: 1709 yes; 788 no.
BOE members to be: Lawson 1322; Howard 1153; Resch 1138.
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all of the candidates who ran.

Please do vote today. Remember you can vote yes, no, or not vote on two budget proposals: the Newburgh School District budget (228.5M) and the Newburgh Free Library budget (4M). You can also vote for 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the eight BOE candidates running, or you can write in candidates. The polls are open until 9 PM.

A preliminary vote count is likely to be available soon after the polls close. I'll post results to twitter and here.

There was an NAACP sponsored Meet the Candidates event last night at 131 Broadway. Seven of the eight candidates attended.

Here is video of the event.

It was very good for the NAACP to organize this event and for the candidates to make themselves available. There is to be a second Meet the Candidates at the Newburgh Town Hall on Route 300 tonight from 7-9 p.m.

I have heard via Facebook that there is a "meet the candidates" event tonight. I received this May 9, so presumably this event is today. Can someone confirm the time/date/location of this?

The Newburgh Ministry is hosting a Meet the Candidates night tomorrow from 6 - 8 at 131 Broadway, Newburgh, NY. Not sure exactly who is signed on to appear but we believe 6 of the 8 candidates will be there -- Motley, Martinez, Resch, Vessely, Lawson and Howard.

In addition, in the May 9 Mid Hudson Times, Jessica McAleese mentions an event to be held on Friday:

The Newburgh/Highland Falls branch of the NAACP will be hosting a Candidate's Night Forum on Friday, May 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Newburgh Town Hall.

The election of three BOE members and vote on the budget is May 15, 2012. Here are the candidates for Newburgh School District Board of Education:

• Philip F. Howard
• David K. Kenan
• Edward Lawson
• Lissette Martinez
• Aric C. Meyer
• Eric Motley
• Pamela R. Resch
• Nathan F. Vesely

Here's an article about Howard, Kenan, and Lawson.
There's a facebook page for Motley, Meyer, and Martinez.

The preliminary, unofficial results of the Newburgh School District vote are in.

The NECSD and Library budgets pass, but with a very substantial (greater than 33%) no vote,

The winning Board of Education candidates:

• Fucheck 1335
• Woodhull 860
• Levinstein 856

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all of the candidates who ran. Here is a scan of the unofficial canvass.

Please do vote today. Remember you can vote yes, no, or not vote on two budget proposals: one for the Newburgh School District budget (219M) and one for the Newburgh Free Library budget (4M). You can also vote for 0, 1, 2, or 3 candidates from among the nine running, or you can write in candidates for the Newburgh School District Board of Education. The polls are open until 9 PM.

If you must know the election results as soon as possible, check the newburghedinfo twitter page. If you know your way around twitter you can subscribe via sms and all that.

I've set up a 2011 BOE Candidate Info page which has the information sent by candidates so far. If other candidates have bio data, a letter, or a website they would like to publicize do send it along to newburghedinfo@gmail.com. I believe the latest issue of the Mid Hudson Times will have an article with candidate information as well.

[Update: the MHT article is available online.]

The elections for the Newburgh School District Board of Education are only about two weeks away. The CSEA and NTA interviewed candidates last week. The election is on Tuesday, May 17 and is for three BOE member positions.

Our candidates are:

Stephen Bedetti (ran in 2010)
Dawn Fucheck (current BOE President)
Mark Levinstein (ran in 2010)
Robert McLymore Sr. (ran in 2008)
William Morgan (Central Compact Vice Chairperson)
Eric Motley (ran in 2010)
Edward Poppiti (current BOE Vice President)
William Swart (former NECSD administrator)
Tom Woodhull (former BOE member, ran in 2010)

There hasn't been an official announcement of the candidates, as far as I know. I'm happy to make any necessary corrections--post a comment or email newburghedinfo@gmail.com.

5.8.10 Grace Bowles, Mark Levinstein, and Runston Lewis introduce themselves

5.8.10 Judith McAfee, Eric Motley, Sue Prokosch, and Tom Woodhull introduce themselves

For additional videos from the Meet the Candidates event, visit the Newburgh Lyceum YouTube Channel or start at the Newburgh Lyceum Blog.(The other videos are full-motion, not just stills.)

The May 12-18, 2010 edition of the Mid Hudson Times has several items of interest to Newburgh School District election watchers.

Page 3: Jessica McAleese, "Three vacancies, eight candidates for Newburgh school board", pictures and paragraphs on all eight candidates. [UPDATE] You can read the article here.

Page 9: Tom Fitzgerald, "Chances Are, You Won't Vote on Tuesday".

Page 9: Letters in support of candidates as well as letters by candidates Judith McAfee and Sue Prokosch.

On Saturday, May 8, 2010, the Newburgh Lyceum group and Mothers and Others for a Better Newburgh co-sponsored a "Meet the Board of Education Candidates" event.

Seven of the eight Newburgh School District Board of Education candidates were able to attend. The many excellent questions submitted here at newburghedinfo were among those forwarded as input.

Video coverage of the event is posted at the Newburgh Lyceum blog. The video quality at the beginning of the event is not so good. However, the audio is fine throughout.

All of the candidates are to be commended for taking the time and initiative to answer questions publicly. And thank you to Newburgh Lyceum and Mother and Others for sponsoring this event.

Each of the candidates expressed a sincere desire to work for improvements in the district. On May 18 you will get to decide who gets the chance.

There is going to be a "Meet the Candidates" event next Saturday. Please suggest questions to the sponsors via email to newburghlyceum@gmail.com, or suggest a question in a comment here, and I will see that they are forwarded.

From: Newburgh Lyceum
Subject: Meet the Newburgh Board of Education Candidates - Saturday May 8

*Meet the Newburgh Board of Education Candidates - Saturday May 8*

The Newburgh Lyceum and Mothers and Others for a Better Newburgh invite you to "Meet the Candidates" on May 8, 2010. The school board election and budget vote will be May 18.

When: 10 a.m. - 12 noon, Saturday May 8

Where: Board of Education Auditorium (on the top floor of the Newburgh Free Library.)

This is your chance to learn about the candidates. The event will begin with a few formal questions to the candidates, with additional time afterward for the public and the candidates to meet informally.

If you have a question you would like the candidates to answer, please email it to the Newburgh Lyceum at newburghlyceum@gmail.com by May 3. If you are a candidate and would like to participate, please email or call (845) 391-0125.

*****

The Newburgh Lyceum is a forum for citizens concerned about the quality of life in Newburgh to share ideas and work work together to create positive change. Membership is open to all.

Mothers & Others for a Better Newburgh, Mo'Betta, seeks to improve the quality of life for residents of the city of Newburgh by 1) providing greater oversight of its government officials and municipal processes and 2) generating workable plans of action designed to resolve the city's impediments to progress and strengthen the city's sense of community and family friendliness.

Giving credit where it's due. There is actually some good information over on the Newburgh School District site.

The full "line item" budget proposal for 2009-2010 (23 page pdf). If you actually go to the trouble of reading this, please do post a comment if you have any interesting observations!

"Three part" budget summary.

Sample of the ballot you will be voting on tomorrow. You can find the correct spelling of the candidate's names here.

Over on the official Newburgh School District Web Site there is a post which claims to "present information on the 4 candidates".

You might imagine that some Newburgh School District official would take such basic steps to insure fairness as to write nearly the same number of words for each candidate and present the candidates in alphabetical order. You might also imagine that some basic fact checking would be done--things like verifying educational claims, or spelling the names of the candidates correctly. But that would just be your imagination, just your imagination...

Thanks to the Mid Hudson Times, there is at least a little information about the Newburgh School District's Board of Education candidates available. There was also a "Meet the candidates" event sponsored by the Parents of Color Advisory Committee last week. Unfortunately I did not learn of it until after the event.

Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, May 13, 2009, page 5

Four seek three school seats
By Jessica McAleese

This year, there are four candidates running in an election to fill three vacant seats on the Newburgh Enlarged City School District Board of Education. Newcomers Nathan Vesely and John Giudice will appear on the ballot along with incumbents Pamela Resch and Runston T. Lewis.

The annual school budget vote and school board election will take place on Tuesday, May 19.

Runston T. Lewis

Lifelong Newburgh resident and veteran school board member Runston T. Lewis had several reasons for running in his first election 19 years ago.

"At the time there were no minorities on the board and I felt that we needed more representation," he said.

Lewis, who currently serves as the school board president, also felt he had a lot to offer the children of the district.

"I'm proud of the progress that has been made but we still have a ways to go," he said.

Now seeking his eighth term, Lewis said that his primary goals are to repair the board's damaged relationships with labor unions and address the high dropout rates among Newburgh students.

If re-elected, Lewis said he is also looking forward to continuing to implement the district's reconfiguration plan to create a grade 9-12 high school and expanding ideas when it comes to alernative education.

"If we don't figure out how to teach these so called 'at risk' kids, they will wind up on the street or in prison," he said. "We have an obligation to provide them with a quality education and give them every opportunity to succeed."

Pamela Resch

Although Pamela Resch says she has seen some significant progress during her six years on the school board, she says there is always room for improvement.

"We've made some tremendous strides in the past few years," said Resch, a New Windsor resident. "There have been a lot of changes that I'm proud to say I've been a part of and I'd like the opportunity to continue to see it all through."

Resch, a mother of four, is seeking re-election to what would be her third term on the school board. She said she became involved in education when her first child began kindergarten and it didn't take long for her to decide to run for a spot on the Board of Education.

"I've always been a real grassroots parent," she said. "I had a passion for education and at the time there was quite a bit of turmoil on the board and a lot of people were encouraging me to run."

The most challenging part of her involvement so far, Resch said, is balancing the needs of the students with a responsibility to the taxpayers.

"It's our job to look out for everyone's interests but for me, the kids always come first. They always have and they always will."

John Giudice

If elected to the Newburgh Enlarged Cit School District Board of Education, John Giudice says he has one major goal he would like to see accomplished: to change the way school districts are funded.

"I want to try to stabilize school taxes and take the burden off of homeowners," he said. "It's just not fair the way things are done."

While he admits it may not happen overnight, Giudice vows that if elected, he would be sure to put pressure on the state to seriously consider the matter.

"I strongly believe in enforcing a dress code and that is something I will bring up to the board," said Giudice, whose two daughters graduated from Newburgh Free Academy. "I would also like to see more security in the schools to address the gang problems."

A former Newburgh city council member and a mayoral candidate and currently a city water department employee, Giudice feels he has a lot to contribute to the district's school board.

"I am a good listener and I can be vocal when I need to be," he said. "I think that's very important."

Nathan Vesely

Nathan Vesely, a lifelong resident of the City of Newburgh, has been attending the district's Board of Education meetings regulary and he says he doesn't like what he sees.

"I think we need a little bit of a change," said vesely, citing staff cuts as a major area of concern. "Something has to be done about all these layoffs."

A retired maintenance employee, Vesely first ran for a seat on the school boad last year. He lost the election but that didn't stop him from throwing his hat in the ring once more.

Vesely, who has served on the district's health and safety committee and facilities planning committee, said his primary goals are to maintain the conditions of the school buildings and ensure financial responsibility. As a former district employee, he says he is very familiar with the school's buildings and staff and he feels that is something that would help make him a valuable contribution to the board.

"I got along with everybody," he said.

On Page 29 of the print edition of the Mid Hudson Times on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 there appeared this short article:

Newburgh BOE candidates

It was announced last week that newcomers John Giudice, Pamela Resch, and Nathan Vesely will run against incumbent (and school board prsident) Runston Lewis to fill three vacancies on the Newburgh Enlarged city School District Board of Education.

The annual school board election and school budget vote will take place on Tuesday, May 19.

Pamela Resch is a current member of the Newburgh Schools BOE, so it's unclear in what sense the three are newcomers. If the three are running together it would be interesting to know what issue unites them. Also, where was this announced?

The Mid Hudson Times provides something in the way of coverage of the Newburgh School District Board of Education Election. Please see the article Six candidates seek three Newburgh school board seats by Jessica McAleese. Photographs and very brief comments by the candidates are included.