BERNE — Five candidates — more than have run for years — are seeking two seats on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board in a special election on Feb. 23.

The names, as they will appear on the ballot, are: Ed Ackroyd, Nathan Elble, Matthew Tedeschi, Maryellen Gillis, and Amy Damin.

The two seats are vacant on the five-member board because Vasilios Lefkaditis was elected Knox town supervisor and Earl Barcomb was elected as a Knox councilman.

The top vote-getter will fill out Lefkaditis’s term, which expires on June 30, 2017, and the second-place candidate will fill out Barcomb’s term, which ends on June 30 of this year.

The Parent-Teacher Association is hosting a candidates’ forum the evening before the election.

The Enterprise asked the five candidates about their relevant experience, their reasons for running, and what they wanted to accomplish, and also asked for their views on these six topics:

— Role of a school board member: Candidates were asked who they serve. Certainly, each must balance the needs of many constituencies, but which is the primary one? Particularly if there is a crunch — for example, like now, because of economic tough times and stagnant aid coupled with a tax levy limit — would their primary allegiance be to the students, the taxpayers, the parents, the teachers, or the superintendent?

— Budget: Berne-Knox-Westerlo currently has a $22.3 million budget, having kept the tax levy steady for two years. Enrollment is declining and the district’s commercial tax base is small. For next year, the state is imposing a 0.12-percent tax cap, based on this year’s near-zero Consumer Price Index. The only way school districts can top that is if 60 percent or more of the voters approve the budget.

Candidates were asked if BKW should challenge the tax cap or maintain the status quo and why. They were asked, too, if further cuts had to be made to stay near zero, what should be cut.

Candidates were also asked their views on the best budget process. On Feb. 2, the superintendent and school board president wrote to members of the BKW Budget Advisory Committee to say that the committee is suspended this year; instead, budget material will be presented at school board meetings and at various venues like churches in five places during a community tour. After several residents objected at the Feb. 8 school board meeting to suspending the committee, the board postponed the discussion until after new board members are elected.

Finally, candidates were asked what the school board should do if the budget were voted down. If voters defeat the budget, the board can put up the same budget for a vote, put up a revised budget for a vote, or move to a contingency plan. If the budget were to be voted down again in June, the board would be required to move to a contingent budget, which would require the tax levy not be raised at all from this year.

— Future plans: After recent years of leadership changeover, BKW has a new superintendent, new elementary school principal, new secondary school principal, new assistant principal, and new business official. The school board has authorized spending up to $4,000 on strategic planning and, including a recent public forum, has spent about $1,000 on the process so far.

Candidates were asked, if they had to pick a single thing most important for the future of BKW, what it would be and why.

— State tests and standards: In December, the state’s Board of Regents, which governs public education in New York, following recommendations of the governor’s Common Core Task Force, removed state test scores as part of the teacher evaluation process, suspending their use for four years. The task force also recommended the state develop its own standards.

At the same time, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law, returning powers to states and local districts, and keeps the government from imposing standards like the Common Core. Last spring, when third- through eighth-graders at BKW were tasked with taking required state tests, 38 percent opted out of the English tests and 44 percent out of math tests.

Candidates were asked how BKW should proceed. Should curriculum be aligned with what is on the test? Should teachers be free to pursue creative assignments rather than teaching to the test? Did Common Core standards have value? Would new statewide standards have value? Do the standardized tests have value?

— Bullying: A 12-year-old student who says she has been bullied at school for five years recently tried to kill herself; her parents say doctors have told them it is not safe for her to return to school and have asked the school board to send her to another district. Also, required self-reporting under the state’s Dignity for All Students Act has been inconsistent with BKW reporting zero incidents of harassment three years ago, the first year reporting was required, while parents at the Feb. 8 school board meeting said they had lodged complaints with school administrators that year about their children being harassed.

Candidates were ask if they support sending the student to another district and why or why not. They were also asked what steps, if any, the district should take to reduce harassment and also to report it accurately.

— Contracts: Salaries and benefits make up the largest share of the district budget, about three-quarters of expenses. In light of the rising costs for health care with the simultaneous cuts in aid, candidates were asked if school employees whose contracts are being negotiated should get raises above their step increases or should they get any raises at all.

 

Ed Ackroyd

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Ed Ackroyd believes a school should be run like a business and, as a businessman, he says he has the experience to guide Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

As a Vietnam War veteran, Ackroyd also believes that decisions should be made efficiently, he said, and not dragged out over many meetings.

Ackroyd, 65, served one three-year term on the school board a decade ago and he has served on the Budget Advisory Committee since retiring from the board.

“The school district financially has money but spends it in the wrong places,” said Ackroyd. “I could help them straighten out their budgets.”

Ackroyd, who was a student at BKW, left in 1968 to join the United States Army. He was in combat in Vietnam and is a disabled veteran, he said; he was shot once and has suffered from cancer and heart problems due to Agent Orange, said Ackroyd.

“I’m a great seller of education because of my lack of education,” Ackroyd said.

Ackroyd, who is now retired, ran a business selling large industrial batteries and he holds a patent on a bracket for watering systems in batteries, he said.

He is the father of four children; two of them are BKW graduates.

“I’m not overly political,” said Ackroyd. “I’m direct. If someone asks a question, I give an answer.... I look at a situation, analyze what can be done, make a decision, and go forward instead of having 25 meetings. I learned that in service. If someone is wounded next to you, you can’t hesitate. You have to go forward. It’s the same with business — get it fixed and move forward.”

If elected to the school board, Ackroyd’s primary allegiance would be to the taxpayers, he said. Ackroyd explained, “I’m a business person. The product is the children. You take the economics the best you can to make the best product you can produce. The taxpayers are first with the children as the end result.”

He also said, “There have been six superintendents in five years. That leaves a poor structure. If this was my business and that was my board of directors, I would have fired every one of them,” Ackroyd said, adding, “I might have hired a couple back.”

On the budget, Ackroyd said, it should not go over the tax-levy limit. “You should not challenge it,” he said of the near-zero tax cap. “The money is there; it’s just being spent in the wrong places.”

On the budget process, he said, “When I got the letter of dissolvement of the Budget Advisory Committee and showed it to residents, the vast majority thought, ‘They are out of their minds.’”

“Some years, they listened; some years, they didn’t,” he said of the board’s relationship to its advisory committee. “In the past three or four years, the majority of the board hasn’t listened.”

Last year, Ackroyd said, he got into a “serious argument” with the school board president. He had successfully lobbied the school board to grant a tax exemption to veterans, which he said was at the “low end” of state-sanctioned tax breaks. Ackroyd was hoping to increase the exemption, he said, but had been told it would place a great burden on other taxpayers.

“I wanted to see what the actual costs were. I said the figures she gave us were wrong,” he recalled of the board president.

“She screamed, literally, and said it was not for the Budget Advisory Committee but for the board to decide,” Ackroyd recalled, adding that having three business officials within the last year made it difficult to get answers.

He also said that being subjected to Agent Orange in Vietnam has not only given him heart problems and cancer but could affect his male children and grandchildren When people say a disabled veterans’ deduction would cost others more in taxes, his answer is this: “I’ll trade places with them any day of the week.”

Ackroyd recommends reinstating the Budget Advisory Committee and having the board listen to the committee. He said of other committee members, “Some people left because they were not listened to and felt they were wasting their time.”

If the budget were to be voted down in May, Ackroyd said, “I would seriously look at why it went down.” If the budget were defeated because spending was too high, Ackroyd said, “Lower it for re-vote.”

He also said, “The school needs to look at what the budget is now. Over four or five years, the large influx of administrative staff many people don’t think is needed.”

On the future of BKW, Ackroyd advised, “Set a plan.”

He went on about the new superintendent, Timothy Mundell, “Dr. Mundell has said he wants a five-year plan. That’s fine. I brought that up 10 years ago. They change the plan every year.”

He recommended a one-year plan for “immediate stuff to take care of right now,” and then re-evaluating as time unfolds. “As you change the one-year plan,” he said, “the three-year and five-year plans change, too.”

On required standardized tests, Ackroyd said, “Prepare the children for a broader spectrum than just the tests. Teach them of life; let them pursue wanting to learn, more than just the tests.”

He went on, “The teachers will always say they’re stressed teaching to the test.” He recommended having local residents who have retired from work help out. “Bring them into the school; let them open up the children’s minds about anything — planting gardens, sales, engineering,” he said.

Ackroyd also said board members should lobby legislators in person rather than just through letters as they have in recent years. “I’m a face-to-face person,” said Ackroyd. “I would pursue our senator and assemblyman to come to the school and attend a board meeting.”

He concluded, “The board is there to set policies and look at the future, not to run the school, which has been a problem in the past.”

On bullying, Ackroyd said, “Part of the problem is: Which administrator did they report it to?”

Ackroyd also said he didn’t know enough about sending a bullied student to another district to make a decision. “I only know what I read in the paper,” he said.

At last month’s BKW forum, he said a teacher at his table came up with a great idea: Set up a club for girls in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades so they can come in and talk.

“Everybody’s developing; hormones are crazy,” he said. “Words can be said about physical structure or attire that are hurtful then but carried the rest of your life. If that can be alleviated, it allows your mind to be clear for learning.”

On contracts, Ackroyd said, “I’m not against giving a raise but our cost per child is one of the highest in the area. Coming from a business background, I don’t mind investing the money but I need to see a return.”

Currently, Ackroyd said, BKW spends more than districts of comparable size. “The return is not there,” he said. “Our marks are not showing it.”

 

Nathan Elble

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Nathan Elble graduated from Berne-Knox-Westerlo in 1999 and would like to see the school once again offer the sort of diverse classes that he considered so valuable.

He works as a union electrician and found his way to his career, in part, because of technical classes he took at BKW.

Elble, 35, and his wife, Carli, his high-school sweetheart, have three children — Natalie, who is in third-grade at BKW; twins Charlotte and Eden, both in first grade; and Mason who just turned 2.

“I would like to see more parental and community involvement in the schools,” said Elble who is making his first run for the five-member board.

If he were elected to the school board, Elble said, his chief allegiance would be to the students. Although a school board member has to balance everyone’s needs, he said, “The whole reason we’re here is for the students. The school is for students.”

On the budget, Elble said, “We have to maintain the status quo.” He would not advocate raising taxes or challenging the state-set levy cap.

“We have a lot of working-class people,” Elble said of district residents. “Taxing people a lot pushes them to the very edge.”

The budget process, he said, “should be a multi-pronged approach.” The Budget Advisory Committee alone is not enough, he said, adding, “I didn’t know any people on the budget committee.”

He also said other people may rely on the committee so having both community forums and the committee is the way to go.

In May, if the budget were to be voted down at the polls, Elble said, “I would go with a revised budget. People’s voices need to be heard. We are elected to listen to the people.”

The single thing he’d most like to see in BKW’s future is a restoration of classes that were sacrificed to budget cuts.

“We need a diversity of classes in the high school,” said Elble. “In 2008, cuts were made.”

He went on, “In high school, I took a wide variety of classes — a lot of technical classes, which led to my career.”

On testing, Elble said, “New York State was leading the opt outs...It’s important we have parents saying this...We shouldn’t teach toward state tests. I don’t want my kids to learn about tests instead of knowledge. I’d love to see teachers have leeway.”

Elble also said, “Individual students learn in individual ways. We need to give teachers latitude to teach the best way.”

On paying for a student who has been bullied for years to go to another district, Elble said, “I think our school district owes the student every opportunity for a safe education and to be in a secure environment.”

Since he is not currently on the board, Elble said he is not privy to the details in the case. But, he went on, if it is not possible to be sure she is safe,  “I support sending her.” However, he stressed, “We’ve only heard one side. The school is not in a position to speak.”

Elble also said the school’s policy on harassment “must be followed” and reporting about harassment must be accurately reported to the state.

He surmised that any errors in reporting might have to do with “a lot of turnover at the top.”

Elble went on, “I believe this administration will get policy and practices in line...It’s the school board’s job to see that it’s in place and to see that it’s followed.”

Elble also said, “I was someone bullied in middle school. I struggled with it for a few years.” He added though, “I feel like a better person to have gone through it....I’ve forgiven anyone who did that to me. I don’t hold the school responsible.

“Every school has to deal with bullying. It’s how students sometimes deal with problems in their lives...I do feel like a confident person nowadays.... I got a little help from outside school. I talked it out with my parents. I didn’t want it out there. It happened in the past; I just got over it.”

Elble concluded, “I feel terrible for Miss Dunnells. I hope we can keep her in the district.”

Asked about giving raises above step increases, Elble responded with these questions: “Do we feel like the school is succeeding with our students? Is the attitude of school improving? Is it a fun and safe place to be?”

He went on, “If so, I’m OK with an increase in salaries. Our teachers are some of the best funded in the area. We need to see that improvement with students being successful and beating other school districts on issues that matter.”

He concluded, “I would support raises if it’s within the budget and not increasing taxes.”

 

Amy Damin

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Amy Damin says her 20-year career with the State Assembly would help her in advocating for the Berne-Knox-Westerlo schools.

She and her husband, Peter, both grew up in small towns and moved to Westerlo, she said, because they wanted “to give that opportunity to” their children. They have three: Reece, who is in fourth grade at BKW; Merrick, in second grade; and Cambria who is 2-and-a-half years old.

Damin has been active in the PTA and the local Little League and she has served on the BKW Budget Advisory Committee. She is making her first run for school board.

“I know a lot of parents who grew up here and they tell me how different it is now,” she said. “I want to see the school district live to its full potential.”

In her two decades with the assembly, Damin, 40, has had different roles — as chief of staff for an assembly member; as public affairs coordinator, traveling the state; and in constituent outreach for the assembly’s minority leader.

“I have knowledge of state laws like Common Core and I know about aid and its effect on the district,” said Damin.

She concluded, “I care about the school. I care about the students. I care about the future of BKW.”

If elected to the school board, Damin said her chief allegiance would be to the students. “I think my job as a school board member would be with budget concerns and how to make greater efficiencies.” She would want both to “provide good programs for students and protect the community.”

Damin would not want to go over the state-set levy limit, which would require 60 percent of the vote or more. “If we go over our budget with a fine-tooth comb, there are ways we can save,” she said. She gave as an example partnering with local school districts to share services.

“I was part of the Budget Advisory Committee that allowed us to keep the tax increase at zero,” she said.

As a member of the committee, she said, “I got one of those letters,” saying the committee was suspended. She is pleased the board will wait until after the Feb. 23 election to make a decision on the budget process. “Three members shouldn’t have to make a decision like that,” she said.

“Both is best,” Damin said of holding a town-to-town tour of budget forums along with having a Budget Advisory committee.

The tour alone is not enough, she said. “A former superintendent did go around to the towns. I went to the meeting in Westerlo, which was very poorly attended. Maybe 10 people were there. Relying only on that won’t get the job done for community input.”

Damin concluded, “The Budget Advisory Committee along with meetings would get the word out.”

If voters were to defeat the budget at the polls in May, Damin says the school board should “go back to the table and revise it.” She said, “A contingency budget is not good for a school district. In the long run, a contingency budget costs more.”

“The hardest thing right now,” said Damin of BKW, is dealing with leadership changeovers. “My oldest is only in fourth grade,” she said, and has already had several school principals.

Damin hastened to add, “I’m overjoyed with the new elementary school principal.” She praised her response to parental concerns.

With the change in leadership at all levels in the district, Damin cited a “lack of consistency” and said, “Every time someone comes in, goals get thrown out and we have to start fresh.”

Each superintendent, she said, comes in with new ideas and plans but the plans don’t stay. She went on, “I’m hoping for no more turnover so goals stay and are worked on.”

Damin concluded of her goal for the district’s future, “My biggest hope is consistency…Make a plan and keep to it…Lack of consistency has hurt us greatly.”

On state tests and standards, Damin said, “The conference I work for, one of our highest priorities is that the state rushed too quickly to adopt the Common Core Standards and apply the to evaluate to get the Race to the Top money.” She called that “disastrous.”

Damin went on, “The only districts succeeding with Common Core are the ones wealthy enough to devise curricula tailored to the district. BKW has to rely on the state website. We have to teach to the test. That is a bad idea….If teachers do a good job — and I think they are — students will do well on the test.”

Recently, teachers have had “very little freedom to find creative and exciting ways to get the kids involved,” said Damin. She concluded, “Teaching to Common Core modules hurts the teachers and the kids.”

On bullying, Damin said she knows Mackenzie Dunnells and her mother, Paula Dunnells. “My heart broke,” Damin said when she read about the years of bullying the Dunnells say that Mackenzie has endured. She also noted it “would cost significant money” to send her to another district.

Damin went on, “I think if she doesn’t feel safe to return and the school hasn’t done anything” that might be the best course. Damin said of Paula Dunnells, “She’s so involved and can’t get her voice heard; I don’t know what else she can do.”

On reporting data to the state as required by the Dignity for All Students Act, Damin said, “I know there’s no way there were zero incidents…If they’re not being reported correctly, they need to be. We need to make sure state and federal laws are followed to make sure kids are protected.”

Damin stressed, “It’s no longer an environment of ‘Kids will be kids…We all need to go through this.’ Not in this day and age.”

On contracts, she said, “Our school district had the lowest score — 2 out of 6 — on returns for investment. This is not to say our teachers aren’t doing a fabulous job — I think they are — it’s a shortage of resources. We have to look at costs before we spend”

Although Damin said she isn’t currently well-versed on contracts, she would like to be able to reward “teachers who perform above and beyond.”

 

Maryellen Gillis

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Maryellen Gillis has had a career in education that spans preschool to college; she believes her expertise as both a teacher and administrator could help Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

She has lived in Knox for 35 years and taught at BKW for 18 years before becoming an elementary school principal for a decade in Schoharie.

Her three children — Kristopher Schmitt, Matthew Schmitt, and Sarah Pasquini — graduated from BKW and she believes were well prepared for careers and for life. Gillis, at 58, wants to be sure the good education continues at BKW for her grandchildren and for the children of her former students.

“I’m not a politician; I’m an educator,” she said of making her first run for school board. “My talents are understanding kids, teachers, administrators. I know how a budget works. I’m DASA trained,” she said, referring to the state’s Dignity for All Students Act.

Her career has come full circle as Gillis is now teaching high school health classes, her original intention when she graduated from college. She wanted to end her career in the classroom, she said.

“Being an administrator is an all-consuming job with demanding hours,” Gillis said. And, as a school principal when the floods from Tropical Storms Irene devastated the town, Gillis said, “I worked with community organizations to help families and get them back on their feet.”

She currently serves as the head of Youth Services in Knox. Gillis is working to bring together newer families with more established ones and to revitalize the town park and youth programs, she said. This week, she met with Albany County Deputy Sheriff Amy Kowalski about a Youth Council overnight and also talked to a former student who now works as an excavator about projects for the park.

She concluded of BKW, “I’m proud of the work I did on staff and I’m proud of the teachers and administrators that provided such a solid education for my children. I want to continue that for my grandchildren and the children of my former students.”

If elected to the school board, Gillis said, her first allegiance would be to the students. “It’s been my life,” she said.

On the budget, Gillis said, “I know from my past experience as an administrator in Schoharie, there were many conversations about what the community could bear....I know there were programs I would have liked to bring in that did not get discussed. It would have been a difficult conversation for our school board members and our superintendent.”

Gillis said she would not rule out going above the near-zero state-set tax cap next year at BKW if she “felt the community had adequate input and the administration had a chance to propose programs.”

She said of the new superintendent, Timothy Mundell, “Dr. Mundell’s approach at the forum was to open discussion on what people want.”

Asked about the best budget process for BKW, Gillis said, “As a new board member, I’d like to listen to reasons for suspending [the Budget Advisory Committee] and to hear the objections people have...I do believe it started when Steve Schrade was looking for input,” she said, referring to a former superintendent and long-time high school principal at BKW. “We had gone through a very difficult time with significant cuts in staff.”

If the budget were defeated at the polls in May, Gillis said, “The board should find out why the budget went down.” She suggested an exit survey would be useful and perhaps a meeting so the public could express reasons why they voted “no,” Gillis said, “so revising could be made in accord with original difficulties.”

Gillis also said, “The part we vote on is very small — so much is driven by mandates, especially unfunded mandates.” She advocated “getting out and educating the public” about that.

She concluded, “A contingency budget is the last resort. The impact on the educational system is challenging. I’m advocating for children.”

On what is most important in planning BKW’s future, Gillis said, “My goal as an educator has always been to develop a program that insures children have choices when they leave BKW — to pursue college, to pursue a military career, to pursue a job. If we don’t provide the skills for children to have a choice, we failed as a district. My emphasis would be on curriculum and providing students with as many opportunities...to make the choices they want.”

On standards and tests, Gillis said, “First of all, I believe what has happened in New York State education is not surprising.” She called the roll out of the Common Core Standards “not well done.”

Gillis went on, “I do believe...there should be basic standards, skills-based to drive the curriculum. There should be some commonality. Our children have to compete statewide, nationally, and internationally.

“I do not believe in standardized testing,” she said, stressing the “not.”

Gillis went on, “Standardized testing as a measure of teaching success is tremendously skewed. Fourth- through eighth-grade teachers were targeted; it’s not fair. In so many other areas, evaluation was left to individual school districts.”

She continued, “I do believe there is value in Common Core.” She gave an example of observing elementary math classes as a principal and seeing the different way of teaching as being worthwhile.

“But you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water...Keep what works. Change is often politically motivated,” said Gillis.

She concluded, “Teachers do need to be evaluated. Any teacher that is a true professional believes that. But testing should not be tied to teacher evaluation.”

Gillis said she would support tests that were used to evaluate programs, as opposed to evaluating individual teachers, which could identify areas of curricula that need improvement.

“Putting kindergartners through pre-tests when they step in the door is a moral issue,” said Gillis. “I want to be held accountable but in a multi-faceted way, not with standardized tests.”

She described her frustration when, years ago, she ran a grant-based summer program at BKW so that, for four weeks, kids could practice math and reading, driven by their interests. “We saw significant improvement,” she said. Then, budget cuts killed the program. When programs that help learning aren’t sustained, she said, it is unfair to hold a school accountable for lackluster results.

On bullying, Gillis said she would defer commenting on whether a particular student should be sent to another district because the only information she has is secondhand; if she were elected to the board, she would speak directly to the people involved, she said, to form an opinion on the best course of action.

“I feel strongly about the emotional safety of students,” said Gillis. “Administrative turnover ...has not been healthy.”

If she is elected to the board, Gillis said, “I would focus resources on the training of teachers and staff” to prevent bullying, which, she pointed out, frequently occurs outside the classroom, in hallways, on buses, or in the school cafeteria.

Gillis also said it is important to “distinguish between bullying and children just not being kind to each other.” She went on, “People have an idea of bullying that doesn’t necessarily line up with the definition of the law. I would look to the district to put that information out there. I would let them know who to report to. Make sure there is a clearly articulated process for bullying and misbehavior,” she advised.

Gillis also said she’d look to school organizations like the Parent-Teacher Association “to create a culture that is supportive of the emotional health of all students.”

On contracts, Gillis said, “I believe all options should be investigated...There are often discrepancies in steps...I wouldn’t make a blanket statement. I would sit down with the association to look at the contract....It doesn’t treat the staff as professionals to make a blanket statement.”

Gillis concluded, “They have chosen to work at BKW. Many have a vested interest as taxpayers. I’d put all the options out on the table and work toward an agreement.”

 

Matthew Tedeschi

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Matthew Tedeschi, a Berne-Knox-Westerlo alumnus whose children have also graduated from the district, says BKW served them well. Both daughters, who were standouts in track, are currently attending and competing for Division 1 schools.

Still, Tedeschi believes there are ways BKW could better serve its students and, further, that his expertise as a partner in an insurance agency — a profession he’s been in for 20 years — would allow him to help the district.

“I’ve served on the Budget Advisory Committee and was involved in the search for the new superintendent,” said Tedeschi. “I feel we have finally got the school district pointed in the right direction...We’ve had a lot of turnover; that’s been one of the biggest problems in trying to establish a game plan for the future.”

Tedeschi, who is 43, also said, “For many years, the school has had a public relations problem...There’s been a lot of negativity about the turnovers. Every interim had a different way of looking at the community and the budget; that caused a lot of frustration.”

A lifelong Hilltown resident, Tedeschi graduated from BKW in 1990. His wife, Maria Tedeschi, works in the BKW district office, handling payroll. Tedeschi doesn’t consider his wife’s job a conflict of interest but says he would recuse himself in any instance where a conflict arose.

“I’m going to do what’s best for the community, not what’s best for individual people,” he said. Tedeschi ran for the school board once before. “I jumped in late and lost by just a few votes,” he said.

The Tedeschis have two daughters — Courtney, who graduated from BKW in 2013, and Alexandria, who graduated in 2015.

“I’m proud of my daughters,” said Tedeschi. “My kids were very successful. Allie is at the University of Hartford and Courtney is at DePaul; they are both Division 1 athletes. They were able to achieve that because of the foundation they had at Berne.”

He went on, “A lot of people say kids from Berne don’t have a lot of opportunities. I believe the school does have a lot to offer. We have to offer them more as the world changes.” He also said, “Budget cuts affected both of my daughters. They didn’t have all the classes they wanted.”

Tedeschi added, “It’s not necessarily about going to college. A lot of students want to be farmers or mechanics. It’s important to keep that in mind, what the children want.”

Asked to which constituency his primary allegiance would be, Tedeschi said, “I don’t think you can pick one. You have to balance the needs of everyone; there’s compromise involved. You have to give kids the best opportunities with what the residents of the community can afford.

On whether BKW should challenge the tax cap, Tedeschi said, “I know the community would have a hard time supporting a budget increase. I don’t think that’s feasible. I believe you can accomplish the needs of the students and administration without challenging the cap.

“I think Dr. Mundell is creative...and can think outside the box,” he said of the new superintendent, Timothy Mundell. “Enrollment declining is a fact, so there should be ways to accomplish zero percent.”

On the budget process, Tedeschi said, “I’m open to listen to what the board is suggesting. My initial gut reaction is [tours] need to happen. The Budget Advisory Committee should listen to what the superintendent is proposing. They should be champions of the budget and explain it to the community.”

He concluded, “If the Budget Advisory Committee exists, it should go on tour with the superintendent and support it.”

If the budget were voted down in May, Tedeschi said, the board’s response would depend on “how much it goes down by.”

He explained, “If it’s a landslide defeat, that speaks volumes. You need to come up with a different plan. If it’s a close call, put it up again.”

Referring again to public relations, Tedeschi said, “It goes back to PR...People don’t come out. People don’t show up. It’s frustrating to sit on a committee.” He concluded, “If the community is not going to engage with the school, the school needs to engage the community.”

Pride is what is most important for BKW’s future, says Tedeschi.

“When I was a kid,” he said, “I remember going to carnivals at the school. Everything revolved around the school. It’s bothered me to se the school trashed. I could have lived anywhere but chose to be here.”

He also said, “The planning process has to make sure the students at BKW have the opportunity to pursue what’s important to them.” He’d like to see the kind of pride and enthusiasm evident at basketball games infused throughout the schools.

On standardized test, Tedeschi said, “As a student myself, you always dreaded taking standardized tests...You didn’t now how you did on it.”

He went on, “The teachers need to be allowed to have creativity and not teach to a test.... My kids and their friends got a lot out of learning.” He cited one example of stocking a pond with fish. “You have to engage the kids and they’ve got to want to learn,” said Tedeschi.

“Teaching to a test, the teachers get frustrated. It’s scripted. They should be allowed to have leeway with the end goal to teach students what they need to know to be successful in life.”

On bullying, Tedeschi said, “Every kid has to have an opportunity to learn in a safe environment. When I was 16, I was punched in the head in gym class. I was 45 minutes away from dying.”

Tedeschi was playing flag football when he was tackled three times by the same boy, he said. When he questioned the tackler, the boy put “his fist in my temple,” Tedeschi recalled. Later that day, when he headed a soccer ball, “I fell to the ground,” he said, awakening in a hospital. “They sucked a blood clot out of my brain,” he said.

“My daughter was bullied as a junior in the high school,” Tedeschi said. “Things were said in school and posted online that weren’t true. I know what that has meant to our family. It’s imperative the schools keep accurate records.”

He concluded, “If a student is bullied and it’s recorded and documented and our school doesn’t have the resources and support to keep that student safe, I would support that student going to a place that is healthier and safer.” He cautioned, though, “You have to have all the facts”

On contracts, he said, “I think you have to do a deep dive into what we’re paying teachers at BKW compared to similar school districts. I’m all for paying teachers; they’re a great asset to our children and our community. What I struggle with is when you have high pay and rich benefits and you compare that — is that equitable, is that sustainable?”

Tedeschi says, at his job, he has negotiated contracts.  “I handle two other school districts as clients,” he said.

He concluded, “There’s ways to improve health insurance using different funding methods. If you’re creative in how you do it, there’s money to pay salary. I struggle with antiquated benefits, not using concepts and funding technologies of today.

“I do it every day of my life — improve benefits, reduce costs.”

Tedeschi concluded, “I don’t want to raise people’s taxes. We need to be creative to get everyone’s needs addressed.”