Douglas Duncan: Why You Should Elect Me to the School Board

Editor's note: Patch has offered all three candidates (, and ) for the one contested Sachem Board of Education seat the opportunity to tell residents in their own words why they are the best choice. The following was submitted by the incumbent Douglas Duncan. A full voters guide to Tuesday's budget vote and board election will appear on Patch Monday evening.

Dear Residents,

I have had the honor and the privilege of serving on the Sachem Board of Education for the past six years. I first ran my freshman year of college and won, and then was humbled to be voted in by the community for a second term on the board, and I now ask you to send me back for a third term.

For the past six years, we have been able to keep offering the students of Sachem an excellent education while still being sensitive to the taxpayers. During my time on the board, Sachem has had one of the lowest average tax increases on Long Island, highlighted by three consecutive years of 0 percent tax increases. Despite a drastic cut in state aid last year and a large jump in retirement system contributions, we have been able to continue to offer the students all of the opportunities people have come to expect from Sachem both inside and outside the classroom.

We have been able to do this mainly because of our budgeting practices and cash management practices that have been implemented over the past six years. We were able to build our reserves to a level that not only earned Sachem a AA+ credit rating but also allowed for us to keep programing while putting out a responsible budget to the taxpayers when we took our drastic cut in state aid last year.

During my six years, I have supported many creative cost savings measures, as well as projects that have reaped major benefits to the district at no cost to the taxpayer. I fervently supported the Excel Capital Projects Bond, which allowed us to do millions of dollars of needed capital improvements around the district, at no cost to the taxpayer. I also supported the Performance Bond that is now close to completion. This project allowed us to upgrade much of our energy infrastructure throughout the district and make the district much more energy efficient. This project is saving the district over 20 percent a year on energy costs, and this was done at absolutely no cost to the taxpayers.

Starting in September, we will be bringing the cosmetology program in-house instead of sending the students to BOCES. This move will result in a $150,000 a year savings for the district. We are also bringing the district wide fiber-optic work in-house which will save the district $300,000 annually. Last year we bought several mini-buses that allowed us to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation costs by operating the buses ourselves. We have also during my tenure, reduced the number of teaching positions by over 30 through attrition, saving the district hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. These are just a few of the creative cost savings measures that I have supported while on the board.

This election comes down to who you want to represent you. Mr. Vinci has never once taken the time to vote in a school budget/board vote since moving to the district. At Meet the Candidates , he stated that he was in favor of the budget and was fully supporting it, now he has changed positions and is now against the budget, which is it? He also stated that whether the budget passes or fails Sachem should move to half-day kindergarten. Additionally he stated that he “had no problem” with unfunded state mandates.

Mr. Siegel seems happy to tout that he pushed for money for new playgrounds at all of the elementary schools, yet what he does not say is that he voted against adopting the Excel Bond and sending it to the community for a vote. This was how the playgrounds that Mr. Siegel touts as having gotten were funded. He states that we should go to zero based budgeting and find the “real” costs of budget items. Yet, while a member of the board supported the same cash management and budgeting practice that he now wants to do away with. This is what helped us bring in three consecutive years of 0 percent budgets that Mr. Siegel also touts so highly.

Both candidates cannot seem to make up their mind as to what they think on the issues as they both continue to change their positions for what I can only imagine is the desire to get more votes.

These are serious times with serious problems and we need serious people to solve them. What we don’t need is someone looking for their 15 minutes of fame or someone whose only purpose in running is because they have an ax to grind. I bring the experience, knowledge, passion and most importantly the personal character needed to help guide this district through the rough water ahead.

Please vote tomorrow to re-elect me and send me back for three more years.