Comsewogue School Voters Guide 2010

VOTING

9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Comsewogue High School.

THE BUDGET

The district is proposing a budget of $76,710,963 for the 2010-11 school year, a 1.95 percent increase over the current $75,240,410 budget. The local tax levy would rise 3.65 percent, from $42,601,910 this year to $44,158,464 next year.

School taxes on the average house assessed at $3,000 would be $5,940 - a 3.66 percent increase over the current $5,730.

Teachers' contracts call for a 3.2 percent increase in salaries and a 2.5 percent step increase, but the district is negotiating for concessions.

The proposed budget calls for eliminating 12 teacher positions and one support person, as well as cutting summer school and the alternative school.

District website:

comsewogue.k12.ny.us

THE CANDIDATES

Incumbents Joseph Cumella and Stephen Ruddy are running against challengers Francisca Alabau-Blatter and Robert DeStefano for two seats with three-year terms.

Francisca Alabau-Blatter

BACKGROUND: Alabau-Blatter, 42, a Spanish teacher in another district, earned a bachelor of science degree in art education at SUNY New Paltz and a master's degree in computer graphics at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. She and her husband, Craig Blatter, have three children who attend a district elementary school. Alabau-Blatter has lived in the district for 15 years.

ISSUES: Alabau-Blatter says the "very challenging" budget is the most important issue facing the district. She wants to examine all spending and recommend a "sensitive reduction" of everything that can be cut. She will look especially at senior credit recovery programs, custodial spending, textbooks, teaching supplies and transportation.

Joseph Cumella

BACKGROUND: Cumella, 46, is a senior project manager for the e-commerce systems division at a bakery company in Bay Shore. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee. He and his wife, Donna, have two children who graduated from the local schools. Cumella has lived in the district for 18 years.

ISSUES: The most pressing matter, Cumella said, is the unprecedented loss of state aid. He blames "an educational establishment in Albany oblivious to reality" for years of unfunded mandates and spending increases. He says a "massive" property tax hike isn't viable, and it won't be a solution, either. Cumella says district officials "need to question each and every expense," consider collaborative purchasing and shared services with other districts, cut administrative expenses and "eliminate underutilized programs."

Robert K. DeStefano

BACKGROUND: A senior product manager for a global communications company, DeStefano, 31, has spent his life in Comsewogue and is a graduate of the high school and New York University, where he earned a double bachelor's degree in marketing and management. He earned an MBA at Long Island University. He and his wife, Corinne, have a 1-year-old child.

ISSUES: The biggest challenge, DeStefano says, is raising academic performance in a time of tight budgets. He suggests improved communication between teachers and parents so that classroom lessons are reinforced at home. He wants teachers to share lessons through e-mail or online sites, so that parents can reinforce lessons from school. Such collaboration, he says, allows "academic progress, enhanced communication between teachers and parents, and great benefits to students."

Stephen P. Ruddy

BACKGROUND: Ruddy, 47, is a computer programmer for a Deer Park company that supplies direct marketing services. He has a degree in computer operations from the Grumman Data Systems Institute in Woodbury. He and his wife, Donna, have three children attending district schools. Ruddy has lived in the district for 16 years.

ISSUES: Ruddy said he's proud that the district has increased scores on Regents and other statewide tests and graduation rates. He wants to build on those gains while keeping a budget "that is still sensitive to the taxpayers' financial situation." With children in all three levels in the district next year, he said, he can "identify with all areas of the educational system that can be improved."