School Budget and Board Votes in Putnam, Rockland, Westchester

Voters in New York go to the polls May 17 to weigh in on their school district budgets for 2016-17 and to elect new members of their local boards of education.

School trustees serve terms of three to five years and are unpaid.

As school budgets are usually approved annually in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties, school board elections are often the place where the direction of a district is decided.

The board and budget vote is May 17. Find details about each district's proposed budget on your local Patch or from the analysis of Property Tax Report Cards done by the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association.

As for school boards, there are only 15 contested races in 2016:

In Bedford, where school board seats are specified, each of the incumbents is running again and each has a challenger. Michelle Brooks challenges Jennifer Gerken; Pam Harney challenges Suzanne Grant; and Beth Staropoli challenges Michael Solomon.

In Brewster, incumbent Diane O'Brien is running but S. Peter Pastore is not. Newcomers seeking one of the two open seats are Kristin Cacal and Lauren Harper.

In Carmel, incumbents Greg Riley, John Cody and Eric Mittelstadt are seeking re-election and challenger John Curzio wants to unseat one of them.

In Chappaqua, incumbents Warren Messner and Jeffrey Mester face off against challenger Rhonda Kaufman for the two open seats on the school board.

In East Ramapo, a slate of four women is seeking election to the school board. Three are challengers taking on three incumbents and one appointed trustee is seeking re-election. Kim Foskew is challenging Bernard L. Charles, Jr.; Pierre Germain is being challenged by Jean E. Fields; Natashia E. Morales is challenging Yehuda Weissmandl; and Sabrina Charles-Pierre is seeking to finish out the term to which she was appointed after Juan Pablo Ramirez quit after being elected.

Eastchester has five candidates running for four seats: challengers Sally Veltidi and Steven Projansky plus inclumbents Judah Holstein, Cheryl Smith and Mary Messner Martin.

In Hendrick Hudson, only one incumbent, Carol Abraham, is seeking another term. Vying for her seat or the two open seats are challengers Lisa Anderson, William Morris and William Oricchio.

In Lakeland, four people are running for three seats. Three incumbents seek reelection:.Steven Korn, for a sixth term; and Elizabeth Kogler ans Steve Rosen for fourth terms. The challenger is Mike Sancimino.

Mahopac has three seats opening up. Two incumbents seek re-election, Lucy Massafra and Tilde Zimmerman. There are four challengers: and , and challengers , Michael Cazzari, Ondina Colasuonno, Patti DeMatteo and Michael Mongon.

Mamaroneck has three people running for two seats: Rina Beder, Michael Rosenbaum and Sari Winter. The Selection Committee for the Mamaroneck School Board of Education endorsed Beder and Winter.

Mount Pleasant has a 4-way contested race for two seats: Theresa Fowler and Christopher Pinchiaroli seek re-election and Celia Cannata and Vincent Graci are challengers.

New Rochelle has four people running for two five-year terms: Todd Kern, Vincent J. Malfetano and James O'Toole plus incumbent Rachel Relkin.

In Ramapo, there are three seats up and four people running: Theresa DiFalco, Joseph Gravagna, Teresa Monahan and Clarke Osborn.

In South Orangetown, Daniel Lamadrid is pitted against Rosemary Pitruzzella for the open seat on the school board.

Two incumbents are running for another term in Yorktown: Thomas Donatelli and Cheryl Reynolds. Seeking a first term on the board are Reshmi Bose and Andrew Pecunia. With the decision by Board Vice President Karen Corrado not to seek a new term, there are three seats open.