MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
To the Editor:
My name is Bob Meyer. I was elected to the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education last June. I write this letter not as a board member, but as a parent and private citizen. All board issues I am about to refer to are from public meetings and newspapers.
I started with enthusiasm and hopes of making positive change and soon found it would not be easy. When I wanted to take a tour of one of the schools that I was now responsible for, I was told no and had to fight to be allowed to. That pretty much set the tone. Another board member and I were pushing for a five-year plan in order to get an understanding of where we are going, in order to inform the public of where we were, where we needed to go, and what the long-term costs would be, but this, too, was met with resistance.
The board president wrote letters to the editors on Oct. 3, 2003, saying, "It would be a violation of the Taylor Law because it would be negotiating in public for the board to suggest what salary and benefits might be included in our next contract. In addition it would be reckless to guess and erode the trust of the community." After board president Don Scott wrote about the five-year plan, I spoke to other districts and found that it was not against the law. After long discussions with Mr. Scott and the board, I asked publicly to get a written opinion from our lawyers under their retainer. Donna Walsh, Brent Hailpern, and Don Scott refused to allow the lawyer to do this. So, by a 3 to 2 vote, we did not get this information. We fought and eventually got a modified five-year plan, but there never was a retraction or attempt to set the record straight.
Another example is when another board member and I studied the use of school facilities by the Town of Lewisboro, and asked what were the costs involved. I felt it is a good program, but we needed at least an estimate of its cost. The district administration refused to give us this information, and the board voted 3 to 2 not to make this information available to us.
These are not examples of transparency. This is not communicating properly with the community. These are just some reasons I feel we need change. We need to look at the largest part of the budget, which last year's board considered uncontrollable, even though they were in the process of negotiating our biggest, contract. We need information in order to make informed decisions to lower the budget, not through larger classes, fewer teachers, and NO sports! That's not the solution. The present board must change its attitude!
On May 18 I will vote for Bruce Pavalow, for the budget (Proposition 1), for the buses (Proposition 2), for $500,000 of maintenance items (Proposition 3), against a seven-member board (Proposition 4), against atlarge voting (Proposition 5).
South Salem