Four Newfield BOE seats up for election

The Newfield Board of Education will have four anticipated vacancies in its next election, May 18, and filling those vacancies was at the center of its Feb. 11 meeting.

Members Scott Jackson, Jim Grochocinski and Christina Ward will leave the Board once their terms expire this year. Timothy Paine’s term is also ending this year, but he is seeking reelection.

Under district rules, Board seats will be awarded to the four candidates with the greatest number of votes. The top two candidates will be appointed to seats that will last from July 1, 2021, until June 30, 2024, while the third- and fourth-placing candidates will be appointed to seats that will last from May 18, 2021, until June 30, 2022.

According to the Board’s website, prospective candidates must be at least 18 years old, able to read and write, citizens of the United States and a resident in the district for one year prior to the election. District employees may not serve as members of the Board.

District Clerk Amy Brown announced her intention to send out a newsletter the day after the meeting to inform voters about the vacancies on the Board and to reach out to all families in the community. She said she hopes to use a combination of absentee ballots and in-person ballots for the election.

“In terms of how it’s going to happen, we don’t know, but we certainly want anyone to reach out and find out what being a Board member is like,” Brown said.

Board President Jennifer Pawlewicz said that serving on the Board of Education is a time-consuming and often thankless job and told the departing members she was grateful for their service.

She especially encouraged minorities to run for Board seats, recalling that the Board had received criticism for a lack of minority representation, and asked community members to inform others of the need for Board members.

“I would like to encourage diverse candidates and people of color to run for the Board,” Pawlewicz said. “We could certainly use diverse perspectives, especially in light of everything that’s going on recently, so I hope everyone out there encourages people to run for the school Board.”

Ward said she will not run for her seat in the next election but that she might run again in the future. She agreed with Pawlewicz’s observation that being a Board member was time-consuming, but also said it was an important job and hoped to convince people to run.

“Public education is the foundation of democracy,” Ward said. “So, it feels pretty cool to be a part of that.”

Board gets good and bad budget news

David Shaw, business manager for the Newfield Central School District, gave the Board another report on the budget, giving surprisingly good news about state aid but saying that times were difficult for the district.

Shaw began his report with the good news that the expected 5% cut to state aid for the 2021-22 budget had been retracted.

The rest of Shaw’s budgetary news was less positive. He said that the district received $866,676 for next year’s budget, but that gain is canceled out by a reduction of $111,195 in services aid and $755,481 to school tax relief.

He said that because many districts’ budgets, including Newfield’s, were built around federal aid, they will face a steep drop in funding, known as a “funding cliff,” once it runs out.

Shaw said that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to give another update Feb. 19. As such, Shaw said he expected much of the information he was giving the Board to be subject to change, just like how the expected 5% cut to state aid did not happen.

“Above all else, please know, I’m giving you numbers here, folks,” Shaw said. “And the changes are absolutely coming every single day.”

Shaw said that as the cost of health insurance and other necessary expenses rise and the district’s income stays the same, the district will be forced to cut spending. He said layoffs may be necessary since most of the district’s expenses were in people.

“It’s not a pleasant process for anyone,” Shaw said.

Changing Newfield for the better

The Board discussed the results of the diversity training with Dr. Sharroky Hollie, as well as the best way to use what they had learned to bring about positive change in Newfield.

Interim Superintendent Eric Hartz said he is optimistic about the current status of the district because it has a new administrative team and the Board has made “incredible gains,” but the administration cannot be the only force behind changing the district.

“This can’t be forced from the administration team; it can’t be forced from [the] Board,” Hartz said. “I have already heard amazing things happening in classrooms. The teachers are moving forward. They’re going to [Hollie’s] website. They’re using his resources. I know that we are already moving in a positive direction.”

Hartz said that positive change will only be possible through working together. He said feedback from people in the district about whether policies are working will help the Board.

“You don’t just move the district forward by one single piece of this district,” Hartz said. “There are several moving pieces of the district, and the only way it moves forward is when everyone starts to work together.”

Hartz said changing the district will not take place overnight but will take one to three years and will be a process that never stops.

Tony Hackett, who taught at Newfield schools for 24 years and has two daughters who attended school in Newfield, spoke at the privilege of the floor session. He said he appreciated Hollie’s discussion on disciplinary procedures and said that a one-size-fits-all approach to discipline will not appropriately address the problem.

“You have to kind of meet the kid at where they’re at and where their cultural background is coming from,” Hackett said. “That’s why I don’t think you can come up with a strict, ‘if it’s A, B and C, then we do D.’ I think you’ve got to meet that cultural responsiveness.”

Ward said the results of the training will help increase student engagement, which will in turn help the entire district.

“If we really were to get the ball rolling in this good direction, then everybody wins, not just the students who were behind,” Ward said. “Everyone’s lifted.”

In Brief:

Cell phone tower

On Feb. 11, the Newfield Town Board unanimously passed a negative declaration regarding the proposed cell phone tower on West Danby Road. The declaration signified that the tower would not have any significant impact on the environment under State Environmental Quality Review Act regulations, so there would be no reason not to allow it to proceed.