The four remaining candidates running for three seats on the Port Washington School Board on May 17 squared off at a forum Monday night, presenting what makes them best qualified to serve.
The race features two candidates running to serve for the first time and incumbents school board President Karen Sloan and Trustee Christine Nadolne seeking to serve a second three-year term. All positions are unpaid.
Parent of an eighth grade student at Weber Middle School David Sattinger, who ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat on the school board, said he’s running because he believes he can offer a new perspective to the school board.
“I come from outside of the box and I’m willing to talk up front and honestly about the issues in this community,” Sattinger said at the May 2 open forum the was held at Paul D. Shreiber High School’s cafeteria. “I am not here for any other reason but to make this the best possible school district that we can have and ultimately we have a lot of work to do and the way we can go about it is by openly and honestly discussing issues.”
Sattinger said that sometimes leadership isn’t saying the most popular thing that people want to hear but it’s about involving people to solve the problems.
“I’ve had conversations with virtually every single board member here and we’ve laughed we’ve had discussions and there are going to be times where we are going to need to agree to disagree,” he said. “The biggest problem with politics if that people agree to disagree and then do nothing about it.”
Sloan, said Tuesday she is seeking re-election because she wants to continue with efforts to improve the school district.
“I’m very devoted to the school district and to the students in the school and I’m just loving the direction the school district is taking now and I still want to be a part of it,” Sloan said.
Sloan, who has served on the Board of Education for nine years, including seven as president said she dedicates her time to maintaining quality academic and programs that result in high achievement and meaningful opportunities for children, both in the classroom and in the greater community as an extension of their education.
“I think there are so many positive things here, but there are a lot of things that I wish we could change,” Sloan said. “For instance I think all the testing and the grades and the college being the end game and that being the only focus we’ve lost sight of the way it used to be.”
Christina Nadolne said she’s running for a second three-year term because she wants to continue contributing to the school district and said the ideal school would be to celebrate the students and their best abilities.
“I think we need to have better opportunities for enrichment in the classrooms and outside of the classrooms for all students, whether it be in academics or in art or sports,” Nadolne said.
Emily Beys, who’s running for the first time as school board member, has volunteer experience in serving as HSA Co-President Schreiber High School, HSA co-president Weber Middle School, co-president Port Washington Parents’ Council, Membership Vice President Weber Middle School HSA, Archangel Michael Greek Language Institute School Board Co-President, and Archangel Michael Greek Language Institute PTA co-president.
Beys said she believes one of the school district’s and the community’s biggest challenges are centered around unfunded mandates.
“The school district must follow the law and at the same time serve and excel in serving the needs of its students,” she said.
If elected, Beys said, one of her goals would be to find better ways to communicate and work with state officials to decrease state-mandated expenses and communicate more effectively with the entire community what these mandates are.
“Over the years, I have had numerous conversations with community members who have great ideas about eliminating programs or making changes that simply cannot take place because of the unfunded mandates,” she said. At the forum, The candidates discussed why they believe the district didn’t have a larger opt-out percentage.
Nadolne said her son did not opt-out of the state mandated testing because he didn’t give her a good reason why he shouldn’t take the test.
“Why should my kid take the test? Because he had nothing else better to do, honestly,” Nadolne said. “I asked him and he wanted to opt out and i told him if you give me a good reason why you’d like to opt out i’ll let you opt out and he said he wanted to hang out with his friends and i said that’s not really a good reason. I don’t agree with a lot of the political aspect with that aside i am fine with it, but at the same time honestly he was not going to go and sit and read. I didn’t want him to go and hang out on the streets so that’s my personal reason. I think that opting out is a personal choice just like a lot of other things we have in our life. What parents decide for their kids is their own decision and why they do it is their own decision.”
In contrast to Nadolne, Sattinger said his son opted out of the test this year as well as last year.
“I think we do have a responsibility to speak out and I think if you take a look at Port Washington historically were traditionally pretty clear about following rules and regulations and recommendations of council and I think that’s something that we have to talk about and be focused about,” Sattinger said responding to a question asking why the school district had a low opt out number. “Ultimately we’re charged with providing the kids with the best possible education that they can get and creating an environment for them to do that. Risk taking has got to be a part of the equation of who we are as a vibrant community and as a society and I think we have to embody that as leaders. I think we have to instill that in our children and I think we have to be willing to speak up when something isn’t right we need to take a much harder look at what’s going on with the tests.”
Beys and Sloan said at the forum that they didn’t know the answer as to why the percentage of opt-outs for Port Washington schools is at 30 percent.
“When my children were going through the schools I wasn’t faced with that dilemma of whether or not my children were opting out or not, but I will tell you that I too want to echo what Karen said,” Beys said. “I have seen such a difference in this community and I do believe there have been activists in this community that have been speaking up.”
Beys said she doesn’t know what her choice would’ve been if her kids were current but said that she believes it’s the civic duty to stand up for what is right.
Residents will vote for the 2016-17 budget and board seats on May 17 from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The proposed budget call for $146,639,452 in spending and includes a tax levy increase of 0.80 percent, which is within the state-mandated tax cap.
