East Ramapo Activists Seek School Board Candidates

EAST RAMAPO, NY — The school board and budget vote will take place on May 16, and parents and community members who support the public schools are getting to work.

Last year, one of the four women candidates backed by the public school community won a seat on the board. But the East Ramapo school board annulled the election of Sabrina Charles-Pierre — the only black woman on the board dominated by orthodox Jews, and who ran unopposed in school district elections in May for the remaining two years of a vacated seat — because she had not been sworn in within 30 days as required by state law. They said it was an oversight.

This year Strong East Ramapo will be working hard to get the vote out to pass the budget. Power of Ten will work to identify and assist candidates for the school board positions, according to Steve White.

Power of 10 asks people interested in becoming candidates to fill in this google form.

There are two upcoming events:

1) Strong East Ramapo will hold a Volunteer Kickoff event this Thursday, at Finkelstein Library at 7 p.m. They need help to get out the vote for this year’s school budget vote on May 16. Please let them know you are going by RSVPing here: www.strongeastramapo.org/action

2) Power of Ten will be helping to introduce those interested in running for school board to the community at a forum on Feb. 16 at 7 PM at the Martin Luther King Center, 110 Bethune Blvd in Spring Valley. The purpose of the forum is to discuss the issues concerning the quality education in our district, and to give those who would like to run for school board in 2016 an opportunity to present themselves to the community.

Better school boards lead to better student performance, according to the New York State School Boards Association.

Generally, NYSSBA says, school board candidates must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old, qualified voters in the school district and able to read and write. They must be residents of their districts continuously for one year (as little as 30 days or as long as three years in some city school districts) before the election. They cannot be employed by the board on which they will serve or live in the same household with a family member who is also a member of the same school board.

NYSSBA says an effective board member is:

• Effective Communicator: Can describe what he or she wants and describe what others want; a good listener
• Consensus Builder: Capable of working toward decisions that all can support and willing to compromise to achieve goals
• Community Participant: Enjoys meeting a variety of people, can identify the community’s key communicators and reaches out to the community
• Decision Maker: Is comfortable making decisions and can support group decision-making
• Information Processor: Can organize priorities and schedules to handle large amounts of verbal and written information
• Leader: Willing to take risks, be supportive of board colleagues, district staff and community
• Team Player: Helps promote the board’s vision and goals

• April 17 Candidates' petitions must be filed for central, union free and common school districts
• May 16 Budget Vote & Election Day