Hempstead School Voters Guide 2010

VOTING

7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School.

THE BUDGET

The district is proposing a budget for 2010-11 of $160,684,736, a 1.94 percent increase over the current $157,620,584. The tax levy would rise 3.57 percent, from $63,997,950 to $66,281,344.

A single-family house assessed at $801 would pay $5,630 in school taxes, an increase of 3.57 percent over the current $5,436.

District officials say the proposed budget does not factor in possible increases in teacher salaries, which are subject to negotiations over a contract with the teachers' union.

Under the proposed budget, the district would cut 19 teaching jobs and 22 other staff positions. It would add a bilingual teacher and general education teacher at the elementary level.

The spending plan also includes money to expand a foreign language program to kindergarten and first graders, to launch a robotics program and to hire extra coaches.

District website:

hempsteadschools.org

THE CANDIDATES

Four candidates are competing for two seats with three-year terms: incumbent JoAnn Simmons; Brandon V. Ray, who was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the death of Sharleen Reshard; the Rev. William A. Watson Jr.; and Curtis Watts. The top vote-getter will be seated immediately to serve out the remaining six weeks of Reshard's term.

Brandon V. Ray

BACKGROUND: Ray, 27, a lifelong district resident and a graduate of district schools, was appointed in August to serve out most of Reshard's term. He has a bachelor's degree from Howard University and a master's degree in public administration from Baruch College. He works as an outreach manager for the Urban League of Long Island.

ISSUES: Ray said he is running to give back to his community. "I'm trying to make a difference for 6,000 children in this district," he said. He opposes property tax abatements granted by industrial development agencies, saying they worsen the school tax burden on homeowners. As evidence of his fiscal stewardship, Ray pointed to his role in delivering a budget with the lowest tax levy hike since 2007-08. To address school violence, Ray proposed to implement a federally funded gang resistance program with police in the middle school. Ray favors a campaign to raise money to renovate and reopen two shuttered elementary schools, Prospect and Marguerite Golden Rhodes. Ultimately, he would close down the portable classrooms.

JoAnn Simmons

BACKGROUND: One-term incumbent Simmons, 68, currently serves as the board vice president. She has lived in the district for 48 years and works as an office administrator for Antioch Baptist Church in Hempstead. Simmons has two adult sons who attended district schools.

ISSUES: Simmons called the district's 50 percent graduation rate in 2009 "not acceptable." She pledged to prioritize raising that rate, and test scores on math and language arts, primarily by staffing the district with competent administrators. To that end, Simmons championed the selection of Superintendent Patricia Watkins, a bilingual educator hired last year from a diverse Virginia district. Simmons proposed hiring a second assistant superintendent of curriculum to focus on secondary grades. To improve facilities, she advocates eliminating portable classrooms and reopening the Prospect School, closed in 2003 due to hazardous conditions. Simmons said district security and teaching staff should be trained every two months in managing disruptions.

Rev. William A. Watson Jr.

BACKGROUND: Watson, 63, has lived in Hempstead for 45 years and has three adult children who attended district schools. He ran for trustee last year but lost. Watson is the pastor of St. John's Baptist Church in Westbury and Free Will Baptist Church in Freeport. He's a member of a conference of Baptist pastors in Hempstead and of the Brooklyn-based Eastern Baptist Association. Before entering the clergy he went to trade school, became an auto mechanic and was a business owner; he declined to specify the industry.

ISSUES: Watson said he would seek a greater role for clergy and residents in shaping district policies. He said the board did not involve the community sufficiently in the selection of the superintendent. And he opposed the arrest of high school students after a school fight in March, saying, "Even if their arrest was necessary, I think that there should have been some kind of conference between the parents and the school district first before you bring in law enforcement." On safety, Watson said he'd strengthen screening procedures and invite clergy members to serve as hall monitors. He said his prior business background and management experience enable him to make sound budget decisions.

Curtis Watts

BACKGROUND: Watts, 39, is a lifelong district resident who attended Hempstead High and became a barber through Job Corps. He and his wife, Felisa, have three adult children who went to district schools and a daughter who attended district schools but has been enrolled in a Roosevelt charter school for two years. Watts said his daughter is on a waiting list for a Catholic high school and will attend if accepted. Watts has owned a Hempstead barbershop for 15 years. He's a member of Union Baptist Church's men's ministry.

ISSUES: Watts said he pulled his daughter out of the middle school because of safety worries. "My heart is for Hempstead, but when it comes down to my child, I have to make the proper decision. Hempstead [High] is at an all-time low," he said. "I want to put her in the best position for her to be a lawyer; I just feel that's the best move we could make." To promote safety, he would reassign guards to problem areas and provide more training. Watts said reform efforts must "start from the bottom up." He'd call on men in the community to mentor students. He said school buildings should serve as community centers after hours, to educate parents and host programs on diversity. His aim is to "cut down on violence between Hispanics and African-Americans. . . . We have to begin to learn to live together."