KINDERHOOK—The Ichabod Crane High School Participatory Government Class hosted a virtual “Meet the Candidates Night” on Monday. Five candidates are running for three open seats on the board. None are incumbents, though one person running has served on the board before. All three open seats are for three-year terms.
Over 50 people attended the forum, held on Zoom May 10. High school seniors in the class created the questions and two students, Emma Brusie and Nicholas Gould, hosted the hour-long event.
Jennifer Allard, Resa Dimino, Regina Rose, Anne Schaefer and Jared Widjeskog will all be on the May 18 school budget and election ballot and all of them answered questions at the forum. There are candidate bios on the district website at www.ichabodcrane.org
At the forum each candidate gave an opening statement and had three minutes to answer questions on topics ranging from what motivated the candidates to run for the board to what challenges the board would face and what the candidates felt school would look like in the fall.
In her opening statement, Ms. Rose said she had served on the board for 11 years in total, and resigned from the board last June for personal reasons. She was a special education teacher in the district, and said that she has two children who graduated from the school and now has two grandchildren attending. Ms. Rose stressed her experience as an asset to the board.
Mr. Widjeskog is a graduate of Ichabod Crane and now has a child in the primary school. He said he moved back to the area so he could send his children to school in the district. He called his education at the school “such a well rounded experience.” He said he has worked in human services with students and adults with special needs and currently is administering programs as a fiscal intermediary.
Ms. Dimino talked about teaching children for the world they are graduating into. She said “the world is changing” and educators need to make sure they are properly preparing students for those changes. in her bio and in her opening statement she talked about working in local and state government, in not-for-profits and in businesses.
Ms. Allard talked about opportunities for students outside of the classroom and getting students back into school following the pandemic. She also mentioned her background in education and talked about her interactions with students as a teacher. Ms. Allard praised the district and said she was grateful that her 4th grader was in school full time this year.
Ms. Schaefer, an artist and collegiate art educator, has twins who are “future Riders” and she talked about being an advocate for the community in the district if elected to the board. Later in the meeting, when asked about teaching “current issues,” she said dialogue is “essential” and that the idea of equility is meeting every student where their needs are.
The annual school budget vote and board member election will be held on Tuesday, May 18, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the High School Gymnasium.
Though all the board terms are three years one term will start on July 1 and two the terms, left by the resignations of Ms. Rose and former board member Jessica Berner, will start right after the election on May 19, or as soon thereafter as the individual may be sworn in.
Also on the ballot is a $43,878,924 proposed school budget for the 2021-22 school year and a $430,333 bus purchasing proposal.