Mr. Black has lived in Mount Kisco with his family for a little more than five years. They previously lived in New Rochelle. Mr. Black, whose family moved around quite a bit during his childhood, graduated from White Plains High School.

Mr. Black was a student at SUNY New Paltz, where he graduated cum laude in 1991 with a with a bachelor of arts degree in communications. He also attended Boston College, where he worked toward a master of arts degree in sociology.

Mr. Black works as the manager of editorial operations for the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing firm in New York City.

"1 know that the school board is going to require a significant time commitment and, fortunately, my schedule is such that it allows me a lot of flexibility," Mr. Black said. He noted that he is able to work at least a couple of days per week at home..

"I know that I will be able to make the time commitment that the board requires, both in terms of regular and committee meetings," he said.

Prior to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr. Black was the business editor for Internet World magazine. Prior to that he was communications director for the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

He has also been senior editor of Ticker magazine, a monthly trade magazine for stockbrokers and financial planners; managing editor for Why magazine, a quarterly publication; and communications manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

Mr. Black also volunteers his editorial skills to Angelwish, a non-profit organization that helps to grant wishes to children living with HIV/AIDS through a network of children's hospitals across the country.

"Throughout my career, my work has focused on service-oriented journalism," Mr. Black said.

Asked why he was running for the school board, he responded, "Because my kids will be in the school system and because my wife and I have fallen in love with this town. We really like what the community has to offer us as a family and to our children through the schools. And we've met other families in the community that we think very highly of," he said.

"The school board is where the rubber meets the road. Given that fact, if I have an interest in knowing what the future of my children's education is going to look like, the best way for me to take an active part in that process is at the board level," he said.

Asked if he had any complaints about the school district or the schools, Mr. Black replied, "1 don't know that I have any complaints. Ultimately, all of this discussion comes down to one thing.

"Why am I doing this? Why should anybody want to do this? It's the kids in our community," said Mr. Black. "That's why. They're the bottom line. And if it's not about them, then somebody is doing it for the wrong reason," he said.

"For me, my children are now coming of age where they are going to be a product of this school system. Are they going to be able to reap the benefits that I think this . system should offer them? I certainly hope so. I want to be a part of that. I want to make sure that takes place," he said.

Mr. Black mentioned his concern about federal `No Child Left Behind' legislation and the requirement that students do well on standardized tests.

"Obviously, there is an importance to making sure that our children are meeting the basic standards, if not exceeding them," he said. "But at the same time, I guess my concern would be, if we are teaching them to tests, are we leaving something else out," he said.

Mr. Santora and his wife, Beatrice, have four children, all four of whom will be in Bedford Central schools in September.

Andrew is 15 and will be going into 10th grade at Fox Lane High School. Stephanie is 13 and will be going into eighth grade at Fox Lane Middle School. Christopher is 8 and will be going into fourth grade at Mount Kisco Elementary School. And Nicholas is five and will be starting kindergarten at Mount Kisco Elementary.

The Santoras have lived in Mount Kisco for 17 years. Mr. Santora is a computer consultant who has recently returned to school to obtain a teaching certificate from the State of New York to teach high school science, biology and technology. He is attending Long Island University and SUNY at Purchase.

He graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree in microbiology. He earned a master of science degree in computer science from lona College in 1986. He also has 30 out of 60 credits toward a master's degree in business administration at Long Island University and is a doctoral candidate in the College of Metaphysical Studies of Florida.

Asked why he was running, Mr. Santora said, "I just have a desire to serve. I've been in town for a long time and I love the schools and I love academia. I consider myself a lifelong learner.

"I'm not championing any particular cause or agenda. I'm just a parent who wants to serve," he said.

When asked about the traditional battle lines between parents of school children in the district and retired people who tend to be "empty nesters," Mr. Santora acknowledged that he had heard of the division.

"The majority of people who I have had the pleasure to speak with almost inevitably bring up the budget as the first issue of concern to them," he said. "And I know that there is no easy answer to that.

"The teachers union is very powerful. By the time the Bedford Central School District goes to vote on the budget, it's really only on the items that are outside of what has already been agreed upon in terms of salaries and benefits." That package, he noted, made up well over half the budget.

"I'm going to be a teacher some day. I'm in the process of a career change. I believe that teachers work hard and that they should get everything that they deserve. But I also know that they do it in 180 working days, and not 250 like their corporate counterparts.

"Of course, their benefits package is second to none. And that is also not in keeping with the corporate side of things," he said.

Mr. Santora stated that he had been working in the corporate world for 21 years and that most corporate employees pay "a sizable portion of their income toward their benefits package."

He said, "I also know that there are a lot of people in the towns that we represent who are retired people on fixed income. This year's budget went up 10 percent. That's a tremendous amount. I feel for them. I do.

"I don't know what the easy solution for that is. I think I will be trying to speak with the other board members and trying to think outside the' box a little bit," he said.

Mr. Santora was forthright in acknowledging that he, himself, benefited from the generous health benefits that are accorded to teachers and administrators in the Bedford Central School District because his wife holds a part-time position as a staff development administrator for the school district.

"We are on her benefits, and they are excellent," he said.

He noted that keeping class sizes down, was an important issue in the district.

"My first eight years in elementary school were in a parochial school where there were no less than 35 kids in my class every year," he said. "So I'm from a different background, although I attended Port Chester High School later on," he said.

Mr. Santora played football for the Port Chester Rams, was all-league a couple of times and an all-county honorable mention. He has both coached and sponsored Mount Kisco Little League baseball teams, as well as 13- and 14-year-old recreation department league teams.

"A goal of mine would be to teach in the. area, perhaps for this district, then to coach football on the side again," he said.

Mr. Black stated that he was hoping to coach for his daughter Josie's soccer team for the first time this year.

Mrs. Elion Wollin of Bedford Village is the founder of Elion Associates, an executive search firm specializing in senior executive recruitment in public relations and corporate communications.

She grew up in Bedford and attended Bedford Village Elementary and Fox Lane Middle School before graduating from Fox Lane High School in 1975.

Her mother, Ann Elion, taught at the middle school for 23 years as a math teacher. Her mother and father, Hank Elion, still own a home in Bedford Village, and she has a brother, Ken, who still lives here.

She also has a sister, Elaine Elion, Ph.D., who is an associate professor in the department of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School.

"I describe her as the dumb one in the family," Mrs. Elion Wollin said jokingly.

After she graduated from Fox Lane, Mrs. Elion Wollin went to Mount Holyoke College, where she had a double major in history and geography. After graduation, she went into executive recruitment in Manhattan and lived there for six years before she married Marc Wollin. Mr. Wollin writes the weekly humor column "Glancing Askance" for The Record-Review and the Wollins were among the original investors who helped start the newspaper in 1995.

The Wollins lived in Eastchester for six years before moving to Bedford 12 years ago. They have a son, Matthew, 16, who is a 10th grader at Fox Lane High School, and a son Dave, 13, who is a seventh grader at the middle school.

"Half of my life I have lived in Bedford Village," Mrs. Elion Wollin said. "I'm a real townie. Since I've been back in Bedford, I've been very involved and engaged in school district activities."

Currently, she is one of three community members on the district-wide construction steering committee for the $67-million construction bond issue that was approved by the voters last year.

She had previously served on the Citizens Facilities Advisory Committee during its two-year formulation of the bond proposal.

"I became very comfortable with the information and dealt pretty extensively., with the Geddes Partnership, the architectural firm which is designing the plan, as well as the construction manager, the Andron Construction Corp.," Mrs. Elion Wollin said. "I have also been on other district committees so that I have more than a reasonable familiarity with how Bedford Central, which is a fairly complex district, operates."

She said that she knows most of the school administrators, but added, "Hopefully, you will describe me as objective and independent, because I'm not afraid to ask the question,

`_Why?,,,

Mrs. Elion Wollin is currently a parent member of the Fox Lane High School Compact for Learning building team. And about five years ago, she was one of an extensive group that was called the Vision, Mission and Goals Committee and ultimately wrote the mission statement that was adopted by the school board.

She had previously served as a parent representative on the Bedford Village Elementary School Compact for Learning building team and was a member of the selection committee that helped select the previous assistant superintendent for curriculum, David Abbey.

In volunteer service to the community, Mrs. Elion Wollin is the Monday driver for the Bedford Village route of Meals on Wheels, delivering meals to senior citizens in the hamlet.

"My children help me if they are home from school. It's been our family community service for a couple of years now," she said. "Even my husband, Marc, has done it.

"I think the fact that I deliver meals has made me realize that there is a wide range of socio-economic levels in our, school district," she said. "I deliver meals to people who can barely survive. We have to take those people into account, even recognizing the STAR program and things like that," she said. (The STAR program is a state-sponsored property tax abatement program for seniors.)

"When I think of all of the people I knew when I was growing up here, how many seniors have had to relocate because it was just too expensive to stay.

"I am clearly committed to public education at a responsible cost to the community," she said. "But I think that if there were simple solutions, they would have been identified a long time ago."

Commenting that, "It's just my nature to be as informed as possible," Mrs. Elion Wollin said that she had met with current school board members and school administrators, and had called all of the principals of the seven school buildings to ask for a meeting with them.

"It's just so that I have more background information, in addition to what I already know, which I think is probably above what the average community member might know," she said.

She said, "It's hard to imagine, but one half of my life has been spent engaged, involved and working on behalf of the Bedford Central School District in many different capacities - once as a student, now as a parent, taxpayer, volunteer, and community member.

"I represent no one special interest group, but many," she said. "Maybe I won't do well in politics because I'm very candid, but the reality is that I hope not to ever be labeled. I may vote one way on one issue and a different way on another. Each issue is different.

"My seventh grader asked the most perceptive question when I was debating with my family and myself about whether I wanted to do this, because I believe it is going to take up an inordinate amount of time.

"My son said, `Let's be honest, Mom. I'm a kid in school and I couldn't care less who the administration is. It's what will you do for me?'

"I said, hopefully, make your learning experience as positive as possible. That's the ultimate issue. We do the best we can for our children to be successful learners and adults, while balancing the needs of our community," she said.

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