Meet the School Board Candidate: Gabrielle Mason, Dobbs Ferry

On May 17, Gabrielle Mason and six other Dobbs Ferry residents will run for two contested seats on the district's board of education. "I am grateful for the opportunity to share views," Mason said. "I believe can help our community to collaborate more productively in the service of our children and with respect to our struggling taxpayers, regardless of the election's outcome."

Patch caught up with Mason to learn more about her thoughts on issues facing the Dobbs Ferry public schools:

Patch: How long have you lived in Dobbs Ferry? Do you have—or have you had—children who went to DF schools?

Together with my family, I feel lucky to have found a home in Dobbs Ferry over seven years ago.  I have one child in third grade at Springhurst Elementary School and am further invested as many former students from my “Music Together” classes are now moving through—or will soon enter— the Dobbs Ferry schools. Though informed by my experience as a highly-involved parent, I feel strongly that the Board of Education is a place for rising above “my” to focus on “our.” 

Patch: What experience—personal or professional—do you have that makes you a strong candidate to serve on the Dobbs Ferry Board of Education?

I am running for the school board because I care deeply about—and believe I can be an excellent advocate for—the future of all Dobbs Ferry children. Look at my resume—and around our schools—and you’ll see that I’m not one for sitting on the sidelines: I’m an eager learner and hands-on volunteer leader.  I feel compelled to roll up my sleeves, think creatively and work collaboratively to find solutions… if a necessary structure doesn’t exist, I help create it; if the apparatus exists, I will gladly join the team to strengthen it.

Volunteer leadership highlights in the Dobbs Ferry Schools:

Cofounder/Co-director of Trailguides, a parent support network for Dobbs Ferry children with special needs

PTSA Executive Board Chair for Special Education

PTSA Nominating Committee

PTSA Volunteer Award for Outstanding Contributions & Continued Advocacy for Dobbs Ferry Children

Parent member for CSE/CPSE (supports informed parent collaboration with school staff)

Publishing Room Volunteer

Parent representative for district-wide interview committees

Leading collaborative parent/school effort for targeted legislative advocacy to address state-mandated fiscal/educational obstacles

I have a varied career history with a common thread: hard work and diligently-developed expertise in service of arts and education, which I firmly believe improve our world.  I have worked as a writer, project manager, public relations/marketing/development professional for a variety of nonprofits, including: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York Philharmonic, Boston University School for the Arts, and many more.  I spent over a decade working as a professional performing artist (actor/singer/dancer/choreographer). For the last five years, I have taught the research-based “Music Together” program (music and movement for children birth-five together with adult caregivers) in parent-child classes throughout lower Westchester and in White Plains Headstart Preschools. Though certainly not glamorous or high-paying, I find tremendous fulfillment having a direct, positive effect on the lives of children and families. 

Patch: What issues facing the district do you feel most strongly about?

I am deeply concerned about all issues that affect our district’s ability to nurture, challenge and inspire every student to reach his or her highest potential and about upholding fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers struggling to fill in the gaps for a state funding structure and national priorities that are broken at the core. It is this deep concern that compels me to run for the Board of Education. 

I do not hope to serve for any particular interest or agenda, but instead to continuously improve what we have and to distribute it as equitably as possible across our entire student body… this is always a complex task and there is no magic bullet for success. 

If there is a fundamental priority that will guide my service, it is this: Effective Educational Advocacy for All.  The BOE is collectively responsible for oversight of student achievement and experience; for what is taught—depth and breadth of curriculum and extracurricular activities to engage and motivate each child; for how it is taught— educational philosophy, staffing and implementation to teach all our children well and to prepare them intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically for productive, fulfilling futures. Providing an appropriate, quality education for each and every child in our district must be paramount.  

Patch: What is your tentative plan to address these issues if elected?

• Fix What’s Broken, Improve What Works

Guided by the educational experts we have put in place, we must focus constructively on implementation, support and assessment of research-based, data-driven, child-centered programming that is cost-effective and works for all our children… the complex, labor-intensive work of public education to nurture, challenge and inspire each of our 1450 students to reach their full potential. 

• Effective Educational Advocacy for All

Facilitating successful incorporation of new educational leaders.

Recruiting, developing, evaluating and retaining the most effective teachers.

Ensuring appropriate class sizes, supports and effectively differentiated instruction to meet all learner’s needs.

Providing depth and breadth of curriculum and extracurricular activities to “fire up” all our kids.

Working for testing to serve its primary function: to drive instruction.  

Successful planning and implementation for the new Common Core Standards and APPR (Annual  Personnel Performance Review)—making these massive state-mandated overhauls work to strengthen, rather than combat, effective programming and management of personnel. 

• Productive Collaboration

We must continue to rise above our differences to better enable all stakeholders to collaborate productively on common goals: ensuring optimum student achievement and experience with utmost fiscal responsibility.  This applies to every element of our school functioning, most notably:

Essential BOE/Superintendent alignment and partnership in fulfilling the district’s mission.

Effective contract negotiations.

Increasing positive involvement of individual parents and our vital parent organizations.

Partnering with other districts and organizations to improve efficacy in advocating for increased federal/state funding and decreased federal- and state-mandated fiscal/educational obstacles. 

• Strategic Use of Resources
• Fiscal Responsibility to Struggling Taxpayers

Continuing top budgeting efficiency, long-range planning and cost-effective management.

Pursuing all additional sources of revenue: grant funding, corporate, community.

Expanding shared services, cooperative programming and creative partnerships inside  and outside our village.

• Targeted Legislative Action for Local Control

Pairing district-specific knowledge with taxpayer political power to create targeted legislative action that address the approx. 75% of our budget currently outside direct district control.

• Strengthening Functional, Factual, Two-Way Communication

Exploring improved communications strategies, such as the Key Communicator Network.

Fully engaging our PTSA as the primary parent voice and connector.