In the coming years, the Roslyn School District’s administration and Board of Education will have to manage annual budgets of more than $100 million and a capital improvement plan worth about $46 million.
School board Trustee David Dubner said Monday he helped put together the capital plan and the district’s proposed $103 million 2015-16 budget so he should also take responsibility in overseeing how the funds are used.
Dubner is one of four candidates running for three trustee positions on the board of education in the May 19 election, including fellow trustees Adam Haber and David Seinfeld and challenger Mindy Kim. The top three vote-getters will win three-year terms on the board.
“This, at its core, is community service. I do this because I care, I want to serve my community, I think my background prepares me for it, and because frankly, I’m a homeowner and a taxpayer, and I recognize that [to maintain] our home values, whether you have kids in the schools or you’re a senior citizen, you need strong fiscal management,” said Dubner, a Village of East Hills resident who has two children in the Roslyn School District.
“I think my commitment to the school’s community and my background make me strong for this, but this is democracy at work,” he added. “People should feel like anyone that wants to contribute should.”
Dubner, a managing director at Goldman Sachs who holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from American University and a law degree from Fordham University, was appointed to the Board of Education in 2013 following the resignation of former Trustee Dani Kline and was elected to fill the remainder of her term that May.
He said strong fiscal management is his priority on a Board of Education comprised of trustees with diverse professional backgrounds, but added that the board’s goal is one in the same: “Strong schools, strong student achievement, but in a fiscally responsible manner.”
“In the two years I’ve been on the board, we’re had very responsible budgets. We are budgeting closer to actual expenses and are budgeting with the minimal amount of increase that we can affect without cutting program. We are keeping programs stable and innovating programs in the most cost-effective approach that we can,” he said. “I feel a great pride in our budgeting practices and where our budgeting is coming out as far as the rest of the island goes.”
Dubner said an experienced Board of Education will be important as Roslyn’s administration transitions from Dan Brenner as superintendent of schools to Allison Brown, currently the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
Brenner announced in January he would be resigning to accept the same position with the Darien, Conn. school district. The board subsequently selected Gerry Dempsey as interim superintendent of schools and Brown as Benner’s permanent successor.
“In any transition, whether it be in the corporate or private sector, you want to make sure that while you’re looking inward, you don’t skip a beat or get a lapse in innovation,” Dubner said. “I don’t think we will, but the term ‘onwards and upwards,’ despite the transition, is something I’ve very excited for.”
Dubner said he thinks Brown will make “an incredibly strong superintendent” when she takes over the position for the 2016-17 school year.
“She has a background in curriculum and instruction that, as a parent, I think will be a great attribute,” Dubner said of Brown. “She’s incredibly passionate, and having children of her own in the school system, she sees the unique issues parents are concerned about.”
