Pelham School Board Prez Eicher Says Work Schedule Prevents Re-Election Bid

Robert Eicher said burnout isn’t the reason that he decided not to run for the Pelham school board this year.

And he isn’t intimidated by the increasing challenges that public schools across the state are facing in terms of budgeting and staffing.

The reason Eicher gives for not running came down to one word: time.

“My travel schedule at work has become to hectic,” said Eicher, who works as a consultant for Towers Watson. “We have 10 board meetings left and I know that I’m going to miss at least one of them and I might end up having to miss three or four.”

Eicher, who currently serves as the school board president, has two children in the district and two more who are currently enrolled in college after graduating from Pelham Memorial High School. He is finishing up his second term on the school board.

He said his job requirements have changes during the past couple of years and he is now required to do more travelling.

“I enjoyed the people that I’ve worked with on the school board and I thought I had a lot to offer,” Eicher said. “I would like to stay, but it’s becoming impossible for me to balance my work with my responsibilities to the school board.”

A copy of a letter Eicher wrote to announce his decision is available in one of the PDF files to the right of this story.

Pelham school board meeting

The Pelham school board is scheduled to meet tonight at the Pelham Middle School. The public portion of the meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m inside the middle school library.

The board is scheduled to discuss the 2012-2013 school budget during the meeting. A copy of the draft agenda for tonight’s meeting is available in the PDF file to the right of this story.