Meet the Candidates Night: Mary Jo Masciello is the Only Option for Those That Care About Our Schools

Last night was Meet the Candidates Night for the May 20 Commack School District Board of Education Trustee Election.  For those that were not able to attend, the format is that all five candidates (Mary Jo Masciello, Dan Fusco for one seat and Janine DiGiralomo, Catherine Kurten and George Marine for the other) each received three minutes for an opening statement. Then the moderator asked questions submitted by the audience and each candidate received one minute to answer, starting with a different candidate for each question.  At the end, each candidate received three minutes for a closing statement.  The event lasted two hours and I have to commend all of the candidates for their participation.  Having gone through the process last year, and despite the fact I speak publicly quite often, it is still nerve wracking to get up on a stage and answer questions for two hours, even to a half-empty auditorium. 

Unfortunately, the moderation this year left a little something to be desired.  Personally, I submitted five questions (which included several submitted to me by community members that could not attend), none of which were asked.  For example, I would have liked to hear the candidates speak about how they feel they could effectively interact with fellow board members on issues where they have opposing views.  Instead, they candidates answered several non-controversial questions like “are you in favor of the restoration of assistant coaches?” (not surprisingly, all five were).  I also submitted questions specifically concerning the educational programs in the district that were not asked.  Instead the only specific question on education that was asked pertained to Common Core.  While this is certainly an important issue in our District, I would have liked to hear the candidates speak specifically about what they like and don’t like about the educational programs offered in this District. 

If You Care About Our Children and Their Education, Vote for Mary Jo Masciello

And that brings me to Dan Fusco, who once again showed that his sole focus is the District’s fiscal issues that he does not understand, while paying lip service to education.  In his opening statement, Mr. Fusco actually said that our School District’s goal should be getting Commack to number one in the “rankings.”  What does that even mean?  What “rankings” do we want to be number one in?  The School District’s goal should be providing the best educational opportunity for its students so that they can go on to live the lives that they want for themselves, not artificially changing our programming to satisfy some arbitrary ranking system.  In fact, later on, when answering a question about how you define the success of a school district, Mr. Fusco struggled to give a concrete answer.  Well if you can’t answer that question, then why should we be concerned about rankings?  The lack of thought that went into that opening comment is startling.  We should strive to have a high graduation rate (which we do – 99% of Commack students receive at least a Regents diploma).  We should strive to have our students attend college (which they do – 98.41% of Commack graduates attend college; 81.08% attend a 4-year college).  We should strive to increase acceptances to the most competitive colleges in the Country (which we have – acceptances at “very competitive” colleges has increased from 577 to 825 since 2009 and from 595 to 920 at “competitive” colleges in that same time frame).  That’s what’s been accomplished with Mary Jo Masciello on the Board.  Now we should elect Dan Fusco over her so we can obtain some arbitrary ranking at the expense of our students’ education?  No thanks. 

Even more shocking, Mr. Fusco continues to make his misguided claim that the School District had a $10 million budget surplus last year (which I showed in this blog post was really approximately $3.6 million or 2.21% of last year’s budget, well within the range deemed acceptable by the Comptroller).  He said, if elected, he’ll “look forward to investigating” that number.  Now I was present at one of the Budget Workshops this year where Mr. Fusco threw around that $10 million number.  I personally witnessed Laura Newman, our excellent Assistant Superintendent for Business, go up to Mr. Fusco with her binder and offer to show him why the number was not $10 million and why he was misreading the Audit Report.  She further offered to meet with him another time to go over it in more detail.  He clearly did not take Mrs. Newman up on her offer because he mentioned “$10 million” several times last night.  So he didn’t take the time to educate himself before he ran, but we should elect Mr. Fusco, and then let him get up to speed?  No thanks. 

Mr. Fusco continued his ignorance when a question about Marion Carll Farm was asked.  Despite his numerous claims that he wants the School District to save money for education, he said that he “tried to help the School District out” when he attempted to intervene in the farm lawsuit (with Mr. Tampellini) and “fulfill the wishes of Mrs. Carll…”  Well the District had to spend a significant amount of money in legal fees to oppose that motion, which was completely improper and ultimately denied (you can read the decision here).  As the Court found, “[t]o allow intervention in this case would permit any resident or taxpayer to intervene in an action in which the resident disagreed with the legal strategy of a school district or municipality.”  So not only did the District already waste money on legal fees as a direct result of Mr. Fusco’s and Mr. Tampellini’s improper actions, but we should divert money away from education to “fulfill the wishes of Mrs. Carll.”  This is an issue that Mrs. Masciello has dealt with longer than anyone else and she understands that while the farm is a piece of Commack history, our children and their education must come first.  Dan Fusco wants to use our tax dollars to fulfill Mrs. Carll’s wishes?  No thanks. 

Mr. Fusco also does not understand the role of a Board Trustee, wrongly claiming that board members are somehow prohibited for advocating for the District and our children at the State level, something that he would leave to Dr. James.  As Mrs. Masciello correctly stated “we are here to advocate.”  Mr. Fusco also continues to pretend that the issue of high property taxes is an issue that is isolated to Commack.  The fact that property taxes are used to fund school districts is problem all over Long Island.  Any good school district on the Island has an issue with high property taxes.  While we obviously want our School District to operate in a fiscally responsible manner with the taxpayers in mind, the real place to address that issue is Albany and to stop acting like this a problem that is unique to Commack.  So we should elect Mr. Fusco who does not even know that a board members’ role is to be an effective advocate for our District and our children, and cannot comprehend that high property taxes is a Long Island and not a Commack problem?  No thanks. 

I wish that my question about Board cooperation had been asked because based on my experiences with Mr. Fusco, partly described above, I do not believe that he has the ability to consider someone else’s different option at all, let alone in a respectful way.  Contrast that with Mrs. Masciello, who acknowledged, after further reflection, that the Board email policy – read for the first time at the last Board Meeting – was flawed and needed to be changed.  We need people on the Board that are willing to consider and reconsider their positions to come to the decisions that are best for our children and our community.  Instead, Mr. Fusco makes snap decisions based on incorrect information and is unwilling to even listen to a contrary position, best evidenced by his failure to take Mrs. Newman up on her offer to meet.  Put someone like that as one of five Trustees that will determine the future of our children’s education?  No thanks.

All five candidates stated their objection to the implementation of Common Core.  Mrs. Masciello has tremendous experience in this area and smartly stated that one of the main problems with Common Core is that its developers never approached actual educators when they put the program together.  All five candidates also supported the budget, but Mr. Fusco again stated his misguided budget surplus estimate, but then made the most telling statement of the night:

                    "I still can’t grasp the concept."

That’s right Mr. Fusco.  You can’t grasp the concept.  Certainly because you haven’t tried, and perhaps because you are incapable.  We as a community cannot afford to put you on the Board and see if you can figure it out once you get there.  You are the bull in the proverbial china shop, but the china shop is our School District and the china is our children.  We can’t afford to let you break even one. 

That’s why on May 20, 2014, when the citizens of Commack step into that voting booth to vote for the person that will be the best advocate for our children – the person that has overseen the tremendous increase in the quality of our School District, increased graduation rates and college attendance – the citizens of Commack should pull that lever for Mary Jo Masciello. 

The Race for Peter Wunsch’s Seat

I thought all three candidates for Mr. Wunsch’s seat did an admirable job last night.  Prior to Meet the Candidates night, I had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with George Marine, the only candidate that I did not previously know personally.  I found Mr. Marine to be a very likeable fellow.  After talking to him, I believe that he does have the best interests of our children at heart.  While I do not agree with all of his positions, I did find him willing to have a polite and rational discussion about the issues. 

Personally, in this race, I am voting for Janine DiGiralomo.  Unlike the other race where I strongly believe in Mrs. Masciello and strongly oppose Mr. Fusco, this vote is solely about Mrs. DiGiralomo.  As President of PTA Counsel, she has the experience, both with educational issues and advocacy, to be an effective Board member.  In addition, I believe that her personality is best suited to deal with the Board as it is currently made up.  I strongly believe that she will consider our children and their education first in all of her actions, and that is why I am voting for her.

That being said, I also believe that Mrs. Kurten and Mr. Marine will consider our children first at all times.  Should one of them win, I look forward to discussing how we can maintain and improve our School District with them over the next three years. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, I urge all Commack citizens that care about our children to go and participate in the process, get into that voting booth and pull the levers to vote YES on the Budget and for Mary Jo Masciello.  In addition, I personally believe that Janine DiGiralomo is the best choice in the race for Peter Wunsch’s seat.  

As usual, I will not respond to the anonymous and immature comments that will likely get posted below.