Two Candidates, Two Open Seats For May 20 School Board Election

With Board President Jim Culyer stepping down after 12 years of service, Rye citizens have just two choices for the two open seats in May 20’s School Board election. Incumbent Ed Fox and newcomer Young Kim are the candidates. Here are some excerpts from their recent interview with The Rye Record. The complete interview is available at www.RyeRecord.com.

The Rye Record: What do you think the role of a Board member should be?

Ed Fox: Under New York law, the Board of Education has broad responsibility for “the superintendence, management and control of the educational affairs of the district” and must approve all aspects of the District’s operations, including all curriculum, textbooks, personnel, contracts, budgets and tax levies. The Board operates only by a majority of its members, however, so individual Board members have no ability or authority to affect the operations of the District.

Young Kim: The Board is responsible for the education of the children of Rye. The Board establishes the objectives to be attained by the school district and hires the superintendent to manage the affairs of the District.

As a Board member I will look to develop ways of improving communication between the Board and the public. Citizens need information, but may not have time to attend meetings. We need to communicate better with the citizens of Rye. We live in an electronic age. We need user-friendly information. I would like to see a quick synopsis of the meeting on the topics that would be of most interest to citizens go out in a timely fashion.

RR: The City of Rye has expressed concern about pedestrian safety around the Rye High and Middle Schools. The Traffic and Safety Commission says a safe drop-off zone is inside the school parking lot and that they should take place on school property. What’s your view?

YK: I believe the safest drop-off zone is one where pedestrian and car paths don’t intersect. That was the intent, I believe, behind restricting cars from the middle school parking lot after 7:30 a.m. After 7:30, there are so many students streaming through the parking lot that having cars travel through the lot makes for some very close calls. This restriction has had the unintended consequence of backing up traffic on Boston Post Road. I am glad that the school district and the city are working actively together to find a solution to the problems associated with the morning drop-off. And the problem, let’s be clear, is not simply one of traffic, but one of pedestrian safety.

In April, the city’s traffic consultant presented the City and the Board with two options to improve traffic flow around the middle and high schools. The Board has recently scheduled a work session for May 27 to further discuss this issue. The road diet on Boston Post Road (reducing four lanes to two lanes) has been completed. Progress is being made.

The safety of our children is a community problem and we need everyone – the city, the school district, and Rye citizens to be part of the solution. We can change car patterns by altering the infrastructure. We can change pedestrian patterns by altering pathways and landscaping. And we need the community’s help in changing driver behavior to drive more slowly, obey the traffic laws and stop using hand-held cell phones while driving. We also need to establish programs to encourage students to walk or bike to school. With enrollment growing, we simply must find ways to reduce the number of cars at the middle and high school.

EF: Student safety must be our paramount concern. The District has commissioned its architect to study pedestrian and traffic safety within the High School/Middle School campus. The District’s architect and school administrators are now meeting with the City’s traffic engineers and City officials to find the best solution to the traffic and safety problems we face at the Middle School/High School. My hope is that an appropriate solution to address these issues can be devised by the District’s and the City’s respective professionals in the near future so that a solution can be implemented in time for the start of school in September

RR: Do you think term limits are a good idea for Board of Education seats? Why or why not?

EF: The eligibility requirements for Board members are prescribed by State law and do not include a local option for term limits. Our voters have shown a willingness to limit members’ terms when they deem it appropriate. Moreover, a majority of our Board members are in their first term and no sitting member has served more than two terms (other than Jim Culyer, who has not served more than two consecutive terms). Consequently, I do not see a present need for term limits for the Board of Education.

YK: I don’t think that term limits are necessary for Board of Education seats. With two candidates running for two seats this year, I think we need to do all we can to encourage more people to consider serving on the Board of Education.

RR: According to the current contract (2004-07), teacher compensation is rising 7-8 percent a year. Since compensation represents 80 percent of the school budget, do you think such increases should be lowered?

YK: The goal of a contract should be to create an agreement that is fair to both sides. The Board has publicly stated that it is their goal to slow the growth of the budget. Given the current state of the economy, I agree that this is a necessary goal. We have a phenomenal faculty in the Rye City School District and Rye parents highly value the teachers here. No one is saying otherwise. But, with teacher compensation making up 78% of the budget, it is impossible to control budget escalation without looking at the contract with the teachers. This is the economic reality of these times and not meant to diminish the high regard with which we hold our teachers.

The expired contract had annual increases made up of a cost-of-living component of 3.5% on top of an average annual “step” increase of 4.6%. That totals 8.1% a year for the majority of teachers. Can this be sustained by Rye taxpayers, a large number of whom work in the heavily hit financial services industry? 

EF: As both a Board member and a parent, I greatly value the contribution our teachers make to the education of our children and want our teachers to have a fair contract. As a taxpayer, however, I also know the difficulty members of the community face keeping up with ever increasing budgets and taxes.
The District’s collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) with the Rye Teachers Association (“RTA”) contains a salary schedule which provides for automatic salary increases (known as “steps”) for each of a teacher’s first 15 years of teaching. After 15 years, teachers no longer receive step increases, but they do receive longevity pay at certain intervals. This combination of automatic step increases and longevity pay increases the District’s salary obligations to the RTA account by approximately 4.6% annually, even with no cost of living adjustment. If the 3.5% cost of living adjustment the RTA’s lead negotiator has publicly called for is added to the automatic step and longevity increases already required by the CBA, the District would face an 8.1% increase in our salary account, as well as concomitant increases in Teachers’ Retirement System and FICA (social security) contributions. In addition, the District’s health insurance premium costs are also increasing at double-digit rates and teachers presently contribute only 8% of the cost of those premiums. If we are going to reduce the rate of growth in our budget, one of the things the District must do is reduce the rate of growth of salaries and benefits and increase employee contributions towards health insurance premiums. All teacher salaries would continue to increase, but at a slower rate than at present.

Incidentally, under New York law, the District’s CBA with the RTA, which expired June 30, 2007, remains in effect until a new agreement is reached. The District cannot impose any changes to the agreement and the teachers continue to work under that agreement and receive the salary and benefits provided for in the agreement. Consequently, the approximately 180 teachers who are “on step” continue to receive their automatic step increases and the approximately 100 teachers who are “off step” continue to receive longevity pay at the intervals provided in the agreement.

RR: Comparable school districts (Scarsdale for instance) have recently put Mandarin Chinese on the table. This particular language is also one that was brought up last year by the RCSD Board of Education when deciding what language to add in the elementary schools. Should Mandarin Chinese be implemented in Rye? Why?

EF: I was a proponent of teaching Mandarin in the elementary schools but the Administration favored Spanish because of the greater availability of qualified Spanish teachers and greater perceived opportunities for students to use their new Spanish language skills outside the classroom.
I continue to advocate adding Mandarin as an additional foreign language at the Middle School/High School and also favor allowing Middle School students to begin studying a second foreign language in Seventh Grade.

YK: China is unquestionably a dominant force in the global economy. The Administration is seeking federal grants as a way of adding Chinese to the curriculum without cost to the taxpayer. But finances aren’t the only obstacle. The large worldwide population of Chinese speakers does not correlate to a large pool of candidates that have the qualifications New York State requires of its teachers. That is a big hurdle facing a public school looking to add Mandarin Chinese to their curriculum. I think it would be appropriate to consider Mandarin at the middle school and high school level and keep Spanish at the elementary school level. The Spanish language program Rye started this year is an excellent one. If you didn’t get a chance to see the presentation made by the teachers this fall, I’m sure the DVD could be borrowed from the District. It shows a vibrant curriculum, captivating teachers and excited students.

RR: While the county and city have worked to keep tax increases at 3 or 4 percent a year, the District’s taxes have been rising at almost double that amount or more every year. With the economy flat, property values down, and our area being especially hard hit by the financial crisis, do you think school taxes need to be inflation plus enrollment?

YK: Our schools in Rye are dynamic and engaging place to be. Our students are stimulated and challenged by a very diverse curriculum that is always being evaluated to ensure that it is meeting the needs of the students. A new Theater Arts program has been developed and is being offered at the high school next year. A forensic science course is being offered in collaboration with Syracuse University. Foreign Language was just added at the elementary school level last year and the middle school exploratory program and daily foreign language has had resounding success. These are all recent changes to the curriculum and ones that enhance the education of our children.

These decisions are not made in a vacuum, however. I believe that in recent years the Board has been very sensitive to the issue of rising taxes. In last year’s budget cycle, for example, the Board modified the Administration’s planned roll out of elementary foreign language in order to reduce the cost to taxpayers. And while college admission is on the forefront of many parents’ minds, the proposed additional guidance counselor has been deferred until demand truly necessitates it next year. Contractual agreements and state mandates alone add over 4% to the budget. Despite this fact, the Board has managed to present the public with a modest growth in budget and still offer new initiatives. These actions speak to the Board’s concerns to keep taxes reasonable for Rye citizens and I believe a formal ceiling limiting taxes is not necessary.

EF: The District’s proposed budget and tax increases for fiscal year 2008-2009 are lower than inflation plus enrollment!
For 2008-2009, the District projects an enrollment increase of approximately 2.2%. Add this increase to an inflation rate running at 4% from March, 2007 to March, 2008 and we would expect to have a budget increase of 6.2%. Our proposed budget increase, however, is 5.09%, with an expected tax increase of 5.6%
Everybody seems to forget the huge impact that enrollment increases have on our budgets. In the last 10 years, District enrollment has grown from 2,243 students in 1997-98 to 3,056 students in 2007-08, a 36% increase. If the City had had 36% more trash to collect, 36% more fires to put out and 36% more crimes to solve over the last 10 years, I doubt its annual budget growth would be limited to 3-4%. Moreover, the City has had the benefit of real estate transfer taxes and other revenue sources which the District does not receive to help ease property tax increases.

RR: What one book have you promised yourself to read at some point in your life?

EF: So many books, so little time. I think I would like to reread the syllabus for Contemporary Civilization, a required year long course for every Columbia College student.

YK: Remember the Budget Vote on May 20. Okay, that’s not really a book. I’d like to read Light on Life by B.K.S. Iyengar, a master yogi. I could not contemplate being on the Board without keeping up with my yoga practice.