Two new members elected to T-burg school board

Megan Williams and Dana Robson received the most votes in the recent Trumansburg Board of Education election and will fill the two empty seats. The pair beat out a third candidate, Daniel Trippett, as well as a write-in that got 7.5% of all votes — former Board President Scott Sherwood.

Williams has lived in the district for 11 years and has children in fourth and sixth grade. She works from home as the executive secretary for the Welsh North American Association not-for-profit and as the editor of Ninnau, the Welsh North American newspaper. She said the flexibility of her schedule and her experience will help in her new role.

“I’m used to working with volunteers,” Williams said. “At my job, everyone is a volunteer, so I think it gives me a good perspective of listening to different opinions and having to work collaboratively.”

Williams has also spent hundreds of hours on the other side; she’s worked as a volunteer in many capacities in town. She’s been involved with the elementary PTO, the Trumansburg Education Foundation and the elementary school’s Shared Decision-Making Committee and was recently asked to serve on a districtwide committee focused on developing a five-year strategic plan.

Williams said her involvement all centers around the desire for a sense of community, which she has found in T-burg. This made COVID-19 especially hard for her and her family.

“At the end of the year, the elementary teachers came around on a bus to say goodbye to the kids,” Williams said. “It brings tears to my eyes. It made us realize how important school really is — yes, academics, but everything. School is more than that for our kids, and that was the biggest takeaway for me when it was gone all of a sudden.”

Williams said she felt very fortunate that the district prioritized in-person learning since the beginning of the pandemic.

While Williams has attended many Board meetings, she knows it will still be a lot of work to learn the ropes, something she is excited about.

“It’s not about me or my role,” Williams said. “It’s about the community as a whole and being there to represent everybody.”

The other new Board member, Robson, has lived in the district for 10 years and has two children — a high school freshman and a college freshman. She works as the school psychologist at Lansing High School and said that her professional experience offers her a unique outlook on running a district.

“I do think I can lend my perspective to the social and emotional pieces of what’s happening,” Robson said. “I hope to contribute to normalizing cultural sensitivity and inclusion.”

Robson said that she has been very influenced by young people over the last few years and how they have creatively circumvented isolation, prioritized new interests, protested in the streets, organized fundraisers and asked challenging questions.

“The fact that kids led their families to protests was inspiring,” Robson said. “They were even standing with BLM signs before protests began. Kids in the middle school also fundraised to get social justice messaging on the sides of TCAT buses.”

Robson praised teachers who responded quickly to cultural events this year by revamping their curriculums to include readings on racism and social justice. She noted that two high school teachers even proposed an equity credit to the Board that would allow students to take courses in social justice.

When it came to last year’s debate over whether the school should have a BLM sign on the property, Robson said she felt the Board leadership was not in sync with the community, students and teachers.

“I feel like that conversation got the Board stuck,” Robson said. “It was immediately charged and divisive when, in fact, there really is no debate. Culturally responsive education and social-emotional learning is dictated by New York state, so I think that, moving forward, it’s a board’s responsibility to support the implementation of these mandates.”

Robson said that she’s passionate about these topics because of her love for the Trumansburg community. She and her family moved to New York from California and lived in a few places before settling down in T-burg where they found their home.

“It really is a unique setup with the district buildings being on one campus and with close proximity to the village,” Robson said. “The connection with teachers, the centralized location of the district, the friend groups we have met through the school, showing up in those places where people say ‘Hi’ to you and know your name — it all creates a sense of belonging for us.”

Robson believes in the power of a public school district to enhance and enrich the lives of young people, faculty and the greater community. She hopes to give back to the community that has become her home.

The next virtual Board of Education meeting is scheduled for June 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. Both Williams and Robson begin their terms July 1.