Endorsement Letters for Kirkendall-Rodríguez for School Board

Letter to the Editor:

I write in support of Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez’s candidacy for the Scarsdale School Board.

Currently serving as director of technology and chief information officer for the Greenburgh School District, I have a strong background in public education, from classroom teacher to coordinator of technology policy in the New York State Education Department.

I know Mayra well because we were co-chairs of the Scarsdale Forum’s Education Committee. During our tenure in the Education Committee, we worked on reports related to the Scarsdale school budget, the debate about the Greenacres School renovation, metrics to determine if Scarsdale Schools provide a world-class education, and the need for a long-term financial plan for the Scarsdale School District.

I noticed Mayra’s dedication and tenacity, while being a mom and a wife, and running her own financial consultancy practice. For a moment, I thought it would be challenging for her to keep up with the demands of our committee work. However, she not only kept up with the work but also worked with every member of our committee in a truly democratic approach.

She was instrumental in running a forum at village hall that provided for an engaging talking session between the school board and residents about the Greenacres renovation project. Also, with the assistance of Brice, Mayra’s husband, we were able to successfully run an online and offline live survey for Scarsdale parents talking about what they wanted in a world-class education, helping shape the concept and definition for Scarsdale Schools’ goals.

We also worked together on the board of directors of the Scarsdale Forum, where I witnessed her dedication and leadership working with different forum members on multiple surveys about downtown revitalization and traffic safety. She also supported and contributed to the forum’s newsletter for a while with former Mayor Jon Mark as president of the forum. She was a cheerleader for the Scarsdale Forum repeatedly telling everybody about the mission of the forum as an organization: to research, report and write about key issues in our community to inform our village and Scarsdale school boards.

I believe Mayra works so hard because she comes from a very humble background and appreciates the opportunity to serve our community. She never attended preschool or kindergarten, and when she started first grade in Indiana, she did not even speak a word of English. That was a long time ago; she now speaks six languages and is very active in numerous school and village activities.

Being an immigrant from Peru and living in Scarsdale since 2004, I have seen what can be attained by the power of education in this great country. I am convinced that Mayra is an example of what education can do for all Americans. She believes in the promise that a public education holds for all students and how teaching and learning can prepare our children for life.

I hope that you will join my family and me in voting for her when your ballot arrives in the mail. Be sure you return it to the school district by 5 p.m. on June 9.

CARLOS RAMIREZ

Post Road

Letter to the Editor:

Our “establishment” has become too used to thinking that nonpartisan means viewing differences of opinion as divisive or polarizing. I do not think continual unanimous votes are a healthy sign of a democracy. I commend Jonathan Lewis’ lonely vote against the village budget, well explained and in no way contentious or divisive.

I also commend Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez’s candidacy for school board, while at the same time recognizing that the School Board Nominating Committee seems to have done a good job in selecting candidates from their perspective.

I’ve known Mayra for many years, and she has substantial credentials both in terms of service to our community — leading our more-active-than-in-years-past [Fox Meadow] neighborhood association, along with major contributions to the Scarsdale Forum Education Committee and multicultural education initiatives — and financial risk management. She is an extremely well-educated senior contributor to Forbes Magazine and frequent professional consultant to banks and major government agencies on the economy, with special expertise in risk management.

Mayra is particularly sensitive to the diversity of our village, which sadly our “establishment” too often only relates to from the outside. Let’s celebrate having a choice rather than allege threats from those who are equally committed to the quality of our village and educational excellence. A contested election aims to seek the best representation for all the residents of our village, which an uncompetitively selected nominating committee may not always give.

MICHAEL OTTEN

President and member, Scarsdale School Board 1988-94

Stonehouse Road

Letter to the Editor:

As a Scarsdale resident, property taxpayer and professional economist, I view Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez’s candidacy for a seat on the school board as a rare opportunity to achieve optimal balance between the interests of our taxpayers who foot the bill — those with children in the public schools and those without — and the best educational interests of our children.

While some may find it surprising given her Harvard and U. Penn pedigree, Mayra champions the welfare of those in Scarsdale far from the apex of our highly skewed income distribution — the families at and below what was our $250,000 median income before the pandemic cost so many of us our livelihoods. As a student of municipal finance, Mayra has documented in her Forbes columns her concerns about Scarsdale’s significant unfunded liabilities, declining median incomes and accounting of government finance. With three of her colleagues, she spearheaded the effort to allow Scarsdale residents to pay property taxes in installments in order to alleviate our financial burdens and battled against the school and village property tax increases Scarsdale residents are now facing in the midst of this economic crisis. She cares about those husbands and wives, moms and dads who work hard to afford to live here and those of us who are now retired on fixed incomes. As the sole proprietor of a financial consultancy and the mother of two elementary school children she is one of us.

Mayra’s approach to decision making is data-driven and she is ever-conscious of the need for the cost of any project to be fully justified a priori with a high degree of probability that the benefit anticipated will be realized. She was instrumental in the successful drive to put a halt to the hastily conceived Freightway project for which no cost-benefit analysis had been produced for our residents.

I first met Mayra and her husband Brice when they highlighted quantitative peculiarities in what appeared to be a fraudulent modeling effort to reassess our home values for property tax purposes — having expertise in economic modeling and model risk management myself, and unable to source any model documentation or validation of the model allegedly used, I had to agree with them that people were likely to be hurt unjustly by this assessment. Ultimately, Mayra took our case to court and our residents battled against Quinn Emanuel, an aggressive international firm of trial attorneys hired by the village board. QE is damn good — I have worked for them and opposite them. While we residents could not afford counsel of QE’s stature and ultimately lost this one, Mayra’s efforts on our behalf were much appreciated and an example of her energy and drive to do what’s right for her neighbors.

Mayra’s analytical skills, financial expertise and her abiding conviction that public school education brings out the best in our children make her uniquely qualified to serve on our school board.

ROBERT D. SELVAGGIO, Ph.D.

Rochambeau Road

Letter to the Editor:

I’m writing to support Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez’s candidacy for a seat on the Scarsdale School Board of Education. She is an incredible professional with significant volunteerism in and out of the Scarsdale community. She has two young children and has been living in Fox Meadow for almost nine years and I believe she is well qualified for this position with her extensive involvement around the school system. Her credentials include:

1. Co-chair of Fox Meadow Multicultural Committee for 5 years

2. Organizing the teacher’s appreciation lunch

3. Created and led writing workshops for third through fifth graders at the annual Young Writers’ Workshop

4. Chair and co-chair of Scarsdale Forum’s Education Committee for three years

5. Member of the Education Committee (co-chair for 2 terms) with deep understanding and knowledge of the Scarsdale school budget and educational objectives

6. Assistant to Scarsdale Cub Scouts.

MELANEY CHAN

Sycamore Road

Letter to the Editor:

My wife, Terri, and I as 40-year Scarsdale residents are supporting the election of Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez as a candidate for the Scarsdale Board of Education. We have been longtime supporters of the Scarsdale School system as our two sons went through 12 years of a Scarsdale education. We think Mayra would be an excellent school board member having two elementary school age children and understanding the challenge of teaching young children with distance learning. She has been a significant volunteer in the schools and the Scarsdale community including the co-chair of the Fox Meadow School Multicultural Committee, and Young Writers’ Workshop, the co-chair of the Scarsdale Forum’s Education Committee with understanding of the school budget and educational needs of the district.

Mayra’s professional and educational background is extensive. She is a bank and capital markets risk consultant and trainer with international clients as the owner of MRV Associates. She holds degrees from Harvard/Radcliffe, the Lauder Institute and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and she studied at Hebrew University in Israel. Her analytical abilities would be helpful and important to the board with the economy in recession. Mayra will do her homework on behalf of the Scarsdale taxpayers.

Ballots for the school board election will be mailed Tuesday, May 26, and can be returned immediately with the already stamped envelope. Two candidates will be elected for the two open seats on the current school board. Scarsdale residents can vote for one or two candidates.

We urge you to vote for Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez to become our representative on the Scarsdale Board of Education. Ballots must be received at the board of education on Brewster Road by 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 9 by hand or mailed several days earlier so the ballot is received by the deadline.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 914-646-4054 or by email at proscars@aol.com.

BOB and TERRI HARRISON

Fox Meadow Road

Letter to the Editor:

My family moved to Scarsdale in 2011 and we write to enthusiastically support Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez for a seat on the Scarsdale School Board. We have known Mayra and her family for more than seven years as our elementary school kids met on a weekly basis at the library for the Mother Goose programs. Little did we know that we would have so much in common.

With her extended experience in foreign cultures and languages, Mayra seamlessly connects with foreign-born parents and is a wealth of information as she champions not only many parents-led activities at the Fox Meadow Elementary School, including the Multicultural Committee Fair, but also is so active with the village’s civic activities.

We also happen to be very familiar with the kind of work that Mayra does in risk identification and bank regulations as we both come from an auditing background and work at large financial institutions. We have no doubt that her skills would be very useful at the board of education, especially in this time of economic crisis. We believe that she would be a very good steward of fiscal responsibility and sustainability for Scarsdale and would continue to ask the tough questions. Mayra has always been clear on her perspective and this is refreshing considering the current environment. So join us in voting for her by June 9.

NATHALIE DANIEL

Post Road

Letter to the Editor:

I strongly endorse Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez for Scarsdale Board of Education. Mayra has incredible passion, is brilliant and has tirelessly dedicated her wisdom to Scarsdale. Having two children in the Fox Meadow Elementary School further underscores her vital connection to our community. I have been so impressed with Mayra’s contributions and dedication. We would be lucky to have her in a position to contribute her experience and leadership to our schools.

JILL KRUTICK

Tisdale Road

Letter to the Editor:

I am writing to express my support for Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez as a candidate for the Scarsdale Board of Education. I have known Mayra for more than five years because her trilingual children regularly attend the native Spanish language summer camp, Smart Linguists, that I run in Scarsdale.

Mayra is very passionate about kids having a well-rounded education, including exposure to languages and global experiences. She is a cheerleader for local businesses, especially those that provide language instruction and other services for kids. I have always admired Mayra’s incredible energy and diversity of interests — she is a mother, wife and successful professional, and still makes time to be an active member of the community. I have no doubt that, if elected, all her decisions will be driven by careful analysis and the best educational interests of our children. She will also contribute a unique and useful international perspective to the Scarsdale Board of Education.

PAULA OTERO

Brite Avenue

Letter to the Editor:

I am writing to express my support for Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez as a candidate for the Scarsdale Board of Education. Mayra is so passionate and knowledgeable about our community, and she is always in search of making things better. She has a very kind and caring personality as well. I met her about two years ago when my family and I moved to Scarsdale. Since then, she has always been helpful in pointing me in the right direction. It is so amazing to me that besides her busy life as a wife, mother and a successful professional, she makes time to be an active member in our community.

I am a Fox Meadow elementary school parent. Last year, Mayra reached out to me and encouraged me to volunteer for the Multicultural Country Fair at school. I am so glad I did it, and it was such an amazing and successful event. I loved watching our kids learn about all the countries represented. I appreciate her volunteer involvement in our schools and village, and I believe she is an asset to our community.

NILOUFAR SHARIFI

Chase Road

Letter to the Editor:

My family and I have been living in Greenacres since 2009. I’m writing to support Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez’s candidacy for the Scarsdale Board of Education. I have known Mayra and her family for more than six years. We also worked together on the initiative to begin teaching Mandarin in Scarsdale Middle School.

Mayra is very passionate and will work tirelessly to volunteer her own time for the good of all the students of Scarsdale. Mayra has a great teamwork spirit. I think the school board will be very fortunate to have someone like Mayra who is full of energy and commitment and will do her best to bring a more global educational perspective that will serve our children and community well.

Mayra’s many volunteer activities in our schools and village clearly demonstrate her commitment and I strongly believe she will be a great fit for the Scarsdale Board of Education. She has a conviction for a global public education (which I think is very important), is actively involved with the public, and has the ability to make decisions while leveraging her experiences from the business world. I think these are invaluable as the school board continues in its excellent guardianship of our schools and children’s future in an ever-complex and changing environment.

Mayra has a clear vision for the Scarsdale School District and I am certain she will do her best for the continued excellence of our schools.

WANNA ZHONG

Fenimore Road

Letter to the Editor:

I am writing in support of my good friend Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez as a candidate for the Scarsdale Board of Education.

I am a Scarsdale Greenacres resident and have known Mayra for the past six years, since working together on the Mandarin in the Middle School Initiative. Mayra is a dedicated member of the Scarsdale community, with two young children in Fox Meadow Elementary School. She tirelessly dedicates her time and energy to volunteerism in our schools and our village.

I strongly believe that Mayra would be an exceptional addition to the SBOE and a leading force for our community.

JOANNE D’AGOSTINO

Brewster Road