Schools Boards’ elections and budget votes set for May 17
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Local Board of Education elections and school budget votes will happen on May 17.
School boards have become lightning rods for cultural and political issues in recent years. Conservative voices have found a platform on local school boards across the country, and issues such as critical race theory, book banning, vaccination policy and gender identity policy are now part of Board of Education discussions.
In the Chatham Central School District, there are four candidates running for four open seats on the CCSD Board of Education. Muriel Faxon and Beth Hover are current board members seeking an additional term, and Fred Hutchinson and Marianne Pierro are on the ballot for the first time.
Even though all four candidates will win seats on the school board, their term lengths will be determined by vote totals. The top two vote getters will serve regular three-year terms, the candidate with the third most votes will serve for a two-year term, and the candidate receiving the lowest vote total will serve a one-year term. The shorter length terms are the result of a planned reduction of School Board members from nine to seven members, as well as the need to fill the remainder of a term due to a member resignation.
Candidate profiles and election information are available on the Chatham Central School District website at https://www.chathamcentralschools.com/page/board-of-education-election
The Ichabod Crane Central School District has seven candidates for three vacant seats. With such a large field of candidates, the Ichabod Crane High School Participatory Government Class has organized a "Meet the Candidates Night" on Monday, May 9 at 6 pm in the High School Auditorium. A live stream of this event will also be available at https://youtu.be/R-qTPrPR4C0
Matthew Nelson and Elizabeth Phillips are current board members seeking another term, and Bill Scheider, Pat Schuler, Jim Antalek, Meghan Lafferty-Brown, and Thomas Driscoll are also in the running. Candidate profiles are available on the Ichabod Crane Central School District website at https://www.ichabodcrane.org/candidate-information/
The New Lebanon Central School District has three open Board of Education seats with three candidates on the ballot. Current board members, Robert Long and John Kalisz are running to retain their current positions, and they are joined on the ballot by Charlene Kane.
The New Lebanon District website doesn’t post candidate profiles. Questions about candidate positions can be referred to the District Secretary at (518) 794-7600.