Island Trees School Voters Guide 2010

VOTING

Noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Stokes Elementary School.

THE BUDGET

The district is proposing a 2010-11 budget of $57,020,084, a 1.24 percent increase over the current $56,319,991 budget. The proposed 2010-11 tax levy of $38,456,365 would be 3.5 percent higher than the current $37,156,177 tax levy.

School taxes paid on an average single-family house assessed at $347,600 would rise to $5,742, a 3.91 percent increase from the current $5,526.

The proposed budget includes a 3.5 percent salary increase for teachers, plus a scheduled step increase.

The proposed school budget would reduce the professional staff by 20 positions.

District website:

islandtrees.org

THE CANDIDATES

Barbara Medellin, William Buchanan and George Storm are running for the seat being vacated by Carl Bonsignore. Kristen Daum and Brian Kelty are running for the seat of Peter Ray, who also is not seeking re-election. Terms are three years.

William Buchanan

BACKGROUND: Buchanan, 49, is the lead custodian at an elementary school in another district. He and his wife, Geri, have two children who are attending Island Trees schools. Buchanan attended Nassau Community College and earned credits toward an associate degree. He is an assistant coach for the Island Trees Soccer Club and was a head coach from 2000 to 2008. He ran last year for the school board but lost.

ISSUES: Buchanan said that he is running for a seat that was previously held by a board member for more than 15 years. If elected, he said he would bring "fresh eyes looking at how things are done." Buchanan said, "There has to be a balance between the seniors of the community and the young people who are moving in. Taxes are getting out of control, and neither one can afford to live here." He continued, "We have to watch how we spend the money, where we spend the money and what we spend the money on. . . . I want the children to have everything that they are entitled to, but I also know when you are losing money from the state, then you have to make tough decisions. I'm not anti-teachers, but the community has to come first."

Kristen Daum

BACKGROUND: Daum, 44, is a homemaker. She and her husband, John, have a son attending a district public school. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting and a law degree from Clarkson University in Potsdam. She also has a CPA license. Daum is a member of the Island Trees Parent Teacher Student Association and the organization's treasurer-elect. She is treasurer of the Island Trees Soccer Club. This is her first run for the school board.

ISSUES: Daum said the most important issue facing Island Trees schools is "the loss of state financial aid and how it affects everyone in our community - the students, the taxpayers and the Board of Education's job." Daum said she "obtained my CPA license and worked for big business for 15 years. Having worked with budgets and in the financial world, I will bring . . . a fresh perspective of experience." She said, "I would like the opportunity to work hard towards cutting costs without sacrificing the quality of education that Island Trees has established over the years."

Brian Kelty

BACKGROUND: Kelty, 52, is a retired New York City firefighter. He and his wife, Lisa, have four sons. His youngest attends a Catholic high school. Two are graduates of the district and the fourth was home-schooled. Kelty has an associate degree from Queensborough Community College. He ran for the school board in 2007 and 2009, but lost. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Kelty coached in the Island Trees Little League and Levittown-South Wantagh Little League.

ISSUES: Kelty said that the district faces a large state aid decrease in 2010-11; Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed a cut of nearly $1.1 million. Kelty says he contacts local elected officials regularly to ask for more state aid. Kelty said he would be a dedicated school board member. "I have a better attendance record at board meetings than some board members," he said. He said he also regularly goes to PTA meetings and meetings of the school board's three-member audit committee, which monitors district expenditures.

Barbara Medellin

BACKGROUND: Medellin, 51, works as a teacher's aide for the SCOPE Education Services preschool program, located in the district's Geneva N. Gallow building. She and her husband, John, have three daughters. Two graduated from district schools and the third is attending a district school. Medellin has been a member of the Island Trees PTA and the Parent Teacher Student Association since the mid-1990s. She served as PTA historian in the mid-2000s. This is her first run for the school board.

ISSUES: Medellin said that SCOPE is a nonprofit company that rents space in a district building but is not funded by the Island Trees school budget. She said the district needs to move beyond what she called the "stigma" attached to lead contamination found several years ago in the high school basement. "The district is dealing with it appropriately, but there was so much turmoil we want to start new now and refocus on the kids and their education," she said.

George Storm

BACKGROUND: Storm, 40, is a head custodian in another school district and the president of that district's chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association Local 865. Storm and his wife, Judith, have three children, two of whom are attending district public schools; the third child is an infant. Storm attended Farmingdale State College for a year. He is a first lieutenant in the Levittown Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the Stokes Elementary School PTA. Storm is Island Trees representative for the Selective Service Review Board. This academic year, he coached middle school soccer and baseball in Syosset. This is his first run for the school board.

ISSUES: Storm said he supports the school budget that is being proposed to voters. "The budget needs to pass or we go to contingency, and that's a bad scene," he said. He said a contingency budget would lead to major staff and program reductions, "which is not something anyone wants to see." Storm said he also supports the plan put forth by the school superintendent and school board to "reorganize the district by combining the two elementary schools. One building would have K-2 while the other would have grades 3 and 4, Storm said. He said such a move "would maintain class size and lessen staff reductions."