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The School Board Candidates: Jim Huntington

Today we conclude our questions with the second candidate running for the two seats on the Board of Education up for election on May 19th. The Huletts Current submitted the following questions to each candidate running for the school board. I explained to each candidate that I would run their answers as the they submitted them on the Huletts Current.

Could you please tell us about yourself and why you are running for the school board?

The Town of Dresden pays a high percentage of the taxes to finance the school budget (around 50%) while having only approximately 10% of the students in the school district. What specific steps will you advocate that will decrease school taxes?

Residents of Huletts Landing feel their concerns regarding rising taxes are not being heard. Would you be willing to attend a meeting in the summer at Huletts Landing to listen to the concerns of seasonal residents there who pay a proportionally large share of the school budget?

Are you in favor of academic, behavioral and/or attendance probation that will deny students the ability to participate in interscholastic or after-school activities who are failing, exhibit behavioral problems and/or who refuse to attend school regularly?

For the past several years, the Whitehall School District has run budget surpluses that are placed in special reserve accounts after approval by the voters to be spent later with voter approval. Will you vote to return any of these budget surpluses to the taxpayers in the form of reduced taxes if elected? Does this indicate a problem with the budgeting process to be consistently over-budget every year?

Today we present how Mr. Jim Huntington, the current school board president and candidate for the school board, replied to our questions.

Dear Mr. Kapusinski:

I have received your letter dated April 18, 2009. Thank you for your interest in my position as a candidate for the Whitehall Central School Board. I do appreciate your interest in my views as a candidate, however at this time, I feel that as a sitting Board member, I would be overstepping my position to attend a meeting in Huletts without the full consent of my fellow Board members whom I would be representing. As President of the Board, it is my duty to represent the consensus of the board in each area that is questioned. If I stated my opinion, without asking for Board approval, I do not feel that I would be fairly representing the School Board.

Yes, I am a resident of Dresden and I am proud to have lived here all of my life and to have raised my three children here. Now, I am a representative of not only the people of Dresden, but I am a representative for all of the residents of the Whitehall School District. All students, no matter whether they reside in Dresden, Hampton or Whitehall are my concern. I do not favor any one over the other. They are all important to me as they should be.

I am proud of the fact that the Whitehall School Board, the Administration and the entire staff continually consider the needs of our School Community and learning environment. In the present economy, there is a delicate balance in providing for the education for all of our students and the funds needed to sustain the high level of education, which is provided to our students. We, as a Board, strive to meet government mandates in a way that keeps costs as low as possible and at the same time provide a meaningful education that will ensure success to all students.

Mr. Kapusinski, I acknowledge that we share the same concerns in this educational process. That is why I became an involved taxpayer. I, as I’m sure you do, want to provide our children with an education that will help to ensure them a successful and productive future. At the same time, the School Board is acutely aware of the cost burden put upon the taxpayers. These are tough decisions and we certainly try to make decisions that benefit the majority and still stay within New York Department of Education mandates.

As always, the Board of Education meets on the third Monday of every month. We would gladly listen to any concerns and comments whenever they are presented.

Sincerely,

Jim Huntington

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The School Board Candidates: Adam Mickel

This year there are two vacancies on the Board of Education and only two candidates running for these two seats. The Huletts Current submitted the following questions to each candidate running for the school board. I explained to each candidate that I would run their answers as the they submitted them on the Huletts Current.

Could you please tell us about yourself and why you are running for the school board?

The Town of Dresden pays a high percentage of the taxes to finance the school budget (around 50%) while having only approximately 10% of the students in the school district. What specific steps will you advocate that will decrease school taxes?

Residents of Huletts Landing feel their concerns regarding rising taxes are not being heard. Would you be willing to attend a meeting in the summer at Huletts Landing to listen to the concerns of seasonal residents there who pay a proportionally large share of the school budget?

Are you in favor of academic, behavioral and/or attendance probation that will deny students the ability to participate in interscholastic or after-school activities who are failing, exhibit behavioral problems and/or who refuse to attend school regularly?

For the past several years, the Whitehall School District has run budget surpluses that are placed in special reserve accounts after approval by the voters to be spent later with voter approval. Will you vote to return any of these budget surpluses to the taxpayers in the form of reduced taxes if elected? Does this indicate a problem with the budgeting process to be consistently over-budget every year?

Today we present how, Mr. Adam Mickel, candidate for the school board, replied to our questions.


Adam Mickel, pictured on the left, is a candidate in this years election for the school board.

Dear Mr. Kapusinski:

I appreciate your interest in the Whitehall Board of Education Elections this year.

I have attached a statement in lieu of your specific questions. I did this as I do not feel comfortable answering questions of policies that I have yet to be acquainted with. I also did not have an adequate time for verify the percentage and facts you relied on, which I am sure you can appreciate as a journalist and a lawyer. What I have provided you with is a brief overview of my background and experience. I also touched, in general, the topics that you originally asked.

I will leave it up to you if you print my response or not.

Thank you for the opportunity to address your readership.

Adam J. Mickel MS Ed.

(Editor’s Note: I replied to Mr. Mickel that while I would take credit for being a blogger, I am not an attorney.)

My name is Adam Mickel and I am candidate for the Whitehall Central School District Board of Education this May 2009. I was born and raised in Whitehall and have strong family ties to the area. I graduated Whitehall Jr.-Sr. High School in 1994. I went on to Adirondack Community College where I earned my Associates of Science in Criminal Justice. I then furthered my education and attended the College of St. Joseph in Rutland and earned a Bachelors of Arts in Education/Liberal Studies. I finished off my student career at SUNY Plattsburgh earning a Masters of Science in Education. I then taught for four years at the elementary level, and later finished the course work to gain my secondary licensure, and taught social studies in middle and high school for an additional three years. During the summer I also taught Adult Basic Education at Great Meadow Correctional Facility for six consecutive summers. I recently left the education field and became a Vermont Correctional Officer and have had been employed at the Southern State Correctional Facility since March of 2008. On a personal note, my wife, Julie Gosselin-Mickel, and I purchased our first home together in the village. We reside there with our daughters Alexandria Mickel and Elizabeth Gosselin.

With my varied background I feel as though I can accurately understand all facets of the educational system: as a former educator, a parent, a community member, and as a taxpayer. First and foremost is that education is Paramount. Taxes are always a concern to all families, especially in these hard economic times, but we need to balance this with our children’s’ and community’s needs. I feel as those my perspective, and multiple hats I have worn if you will, places me in a position to be an effective board member.

I have attended many different board of education meetings during the course of my career. I would like to see attendance at the board meetings increase. Public participation is a fundamental part of any political entity, and I believe that participation and attendance show a strong support and interest in the school and community. I believe this so strongly that I, as a Participation in Government Teacher, used to require my students to attend school board, as well as town and village board, meetings. It is during this venue that such things as interscholastic eligibility policies and budget discussions can be observed and audience input sought.

I look forward to serving my community and getting back into the educational system in a new capacity. I look forward to working with my fellow board members and the school district.

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The School District Election

The Whitehall School District will have an election Tuesday, May 19th between 12:00 noon and 9:00 p.m. in the large group instruction room in the high-school on Buckley Road:

1.) To adopt next years budget.
2.) To elect two (2) members of the school board.
3.) To vote on three (3) propositions:

a.) The purchase of one school bus for $184,000.
b.) To increase the capital reserve fund from $1,500,000 to $3,500,000 and to transfer an excess $500,000 from this year’s general fund to the capital reserve fund.
c.) To grant the Whitehall library $15,000.

Absentee Ballot applications can be applied for at the office of the Clerk of the District on each of five (5) days prior to the election except Saturday & Sunday.

In an effort to cover all of these topics, I will be focusing on school district issues over the next two weeks.

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The School’s Report Card

The 2007-2008 testing and accountability statistics have been released for all schools in the state, so here is a link to the Whitehall Central School Districts info.

If you look at the Accounting and Overview Report (page 2), you’ll notice that in a 3 year period enrollment has dropped from 860 to 845 students and the average class size has fallen from 20 to 18. If you further look at the demographics by class, you’ll see this trend will most likely continue to drop in the years ahead. The school boards response and planning for this? Ask the voters to approve $500,000 which was over budgeted this year, to be put in reserve accounts to fund future expansion. Unbelievable!

But then again, if you’re a reader of the Huletts Current, you’ve known this for some time…..

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Analysis of the School Contracts

Previously we posted the contracts of the Whitehall School Superintendent and Teachers Union.

Today, we’ll examine the Superintendent’s contract. Note that the yearly salary for this position from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 is $135,000. This is high in comparison to what other school superintendent’s earn. This is the website we looked at for comparison. The salary for the Whitehall Superintendent is clearly above the average based on the figures on that website.

Please keep in mind that most suburban superintendents manage multiple schools. We spoke to an individual from another district who said this position in that district was responsible for 8 schools and paid in the $90,000 range. The Whitehall District only has two schools. Whitehall is a small rural district with falling enrollment. From these observations, it appears that the Whitehall School District has been very generous in what they pay our Superintendent.

You will also note that the contract states; “Upon his retirement from the District in accordance with the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Distict shall provide health insurance and dental insurance coverage under either an individual or family plan (whichever is applicable) in which the District participates at such time for the Superintendent and his spouse for the remainder of their lives. …. The District will pay 100% of the premium cost of the applicable insurance plan through June 30, 2013. After July 1, 2013, the District will pay 75% of the premium cost of the applicable insurance plan….”

It is impossible to calculate what the cost of this benefit will ultimately be for the district because it is of undetermined length. However, the 75% in perpetuity starting July 1, 2013 is an increase over the 50% in perpetuity the district agreed to pay from the previous contract (paragraph 4E of the July 1, 2003 contract). This is a very large increase from one contract to the next and also a very generous retirement benefit.

By reading this contract and by comparing what Whitehall pays its superintendent to what other districts pay their superintendents, we can state that the Whitehall School District has been very generous in how they compensate our Superintendent. Whenever the current superintendent leaves or retires, a number of applicants will clearly want this very lucrative job.

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See the Contracts for Yourself

Here on the Huletts Current for the first time are the contracts that the Whitehall School District has signed with their:

School Superintendent

Teachers Union

A few points:

1.) We are not providing any analysis or opinion at this time, but will be in the near future.

2.) The Superintendent’s contract is 10 pages. (It is 1.44 MB’s)

3.) The Teacher’s contract is 41 pages. (It is 5.33 MB’s)

4.) Everyone needs to look at these and see how our tax dollars are being spent.

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Bits of Everything

D = R or R = D: You Won’t See it Again

While there are never any ties in politics, the NY State Board of Elections website now lists the unofficial results in the 20th congressional election as a dead heat. A decision on how to start counting the absentee ballots will come this week.

Update April 8, 2009
The count has been changing slightly every day so the two candidates are no longer tied.

Bridges to be Replaced in Whitehall this Summer

The Post Star has an article on two bridges that will be replaced in Whitehall this summer with federal stimulus money.

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Small Good News / Big Bad News

According to this article in the Whitehall Times, the Whitehall school district will not increase taxes this coming school year. This was facilitated by the bad economy and Whitehall’s decline as a town which means falling enrollment for the foreseeable future. That’s the good news.

If you read the article though, the school district is still not being responsible with our tax dollars.

“The board will also ask voters to cast their ballots for a proposition to increase the capital project fund balance by $500,000 and raise the funds ceiling from $1.5 million to $3.5 million. “This is money that will be put aside for future capital projects,” said Watson. “The taxpayers would still have to vote on whether or not the money could be used to fund a project or not.”

In other words, instead of cutting the budget more and returning the money to the taxpayers as enrollment drops and Whitehall dies, they want to put the yearly budget overcharges in reserve accounts to fund future improvements … like a new gym. These are the games the Whitehall District has played for years.

Many will remember the $2.5 million dollar project that built a new addition and new tennis courts that was funded from reserve accounts in 2006. The superintendents of many school districts have been called out on this issue by local newspapers, because when they go to spend the money they claim it has no effect on taxes. When in fact, it has had an effect on taxes all along as they overcharge and over budget and put the excess in reserve accounts to pay for future expansion, which in Whitehall’s case, can’t even be justified with their projected enrollment figures. You never see tax cuts for this reason, because any excess gets “banked” only to be spent later.

The board could have simply returned this money to the taxpayers in the form of lower taxes but instead placed a new referendum on the ballot which they hope will pass. This will give them cover to stick their overcharges in reserve accounts for years to come.

Change!

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Wasn’t the Boston Tea Party Fought Over This?


Did you know that the Town of Dresden pays approximately 50% of the Whitehall school district’s budget, has around 5%-10% of the children in the school and yet has no representation on the Whitehall School District Board of Education? Look for yourself. What’s missing? Not one single member on the Board is from Dresden.

When I inquired a few years ago as to why Dresden was not proportionally represented, I was told the Board of Education (with no Dresden members) decided to make all seats at-large.

The problem with this is because Whitehall is so much bigger than Dresden, we will always be out-voted in a straight town by town contest.

This must change though. Two seats are up for election on the Board of Education on Tuesday, May 19th. We’ll have more on this in the weeks ahead.

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Bits of Everything

If This Isn’t Squatting, What Is?

Isn’t there a sci-fi movie plot where there’s a little town out in the middle of no-where and they do things there “differently?” The Wash Blog has a piece on how the Town of Whitehall goes about occupying their office space. There are only a few problems: they don’t own it, they don’t pay rent, and the owner doesn’t want them there.

A Lot of Suffering in the Adirondacks

North Country Public Radio has a poll about the number of people who say they are really suffering in the latest economic downturn.

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Legacy Banks Refuse TARP Funds

We received the following letter from Legacy Banks (which has a branch office in Whitehall), where they state they will not participate in the federal TARP bailout.

“You may have read in the most recent edition of Your Legacy newsletter that we received preliminary approval to participate in the U.S. Treasury Capital Purchase Program (CPP), a component of the Troubled Asset Repurchase Program (TARP). Since the newsletter was printed and distributed, we have made the decision NOT to participate in this Program. Our approval was based on our financial strength and strong capital position, and it is for those same reasons that we have decided to decline federal funds.”

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We Hate To Bring You Bad News…

…but we’ve got some tax increases on the horizon that we can still prevent if we speak up now.

1.) The Whitehall School District is talking about a 6% increase in property taxes for the coming school year. Even though enrollment is falling and with record hikes in education spending the last two years, the district can’t control spending. They’re talking about cutting some positions but they need to probably double the cuts they are considering. Supposedly they are getting federal stimulus funds but they’re continuing down a path to destroy the tax base of the town of Whitehall. The vote on the proposed budget and election of some board seats will be held on Tuesday, May 19th from 12 pm to 9 pm in the large group instruction room. There will be one public meeting on the proposed budget on Monday, May 11th. Why not solicit comments now when the budget is being formulated and not at a shame meeting when they’ve already decided that they’re going to stick it to the taxpayers again? What can we do?

A.) We need to identify committed tax cutters to run for the Board of Education. The current Board is simply not getting it done. Every year enrollment drops and taxes go up 5%-6%.
B.) We need to write letters like the Post Star proposes to the school district. See Post Star editorial.
C.) Know our school board elected officials and let your voice be heard.

2.) The Governor, has not backed down from his proposal to change the way the State of NY pays property taxes on its forest preserve land. Here is a great letter to the editor which explains what he is proposing. If this takes effect in next years budget you’ll see a significant shift in property taxes toward private owners. The Governor’s popularity has fallen to a 30 year low so while he may not get it, at least we do. Hello Rudy or Andrew.

We’re not powerless. Start speaking out.