Timothy Blow
VOORHEESVILLE Timothy Blow says its time to be a part of the schools decision-making process, instead of just complaining about it.
"I’ve always been on the outside, interested," Blow said. He is unhappy with some of the decisions that have been made in recent years, he said.
Blow, 40, has been a resident of the district for 17 years. He has been involved in the community for the last 10 or 12 years, he said.
He has three children one in each school third-grade, seventh-grade, and tenth-grade. It gives him a "good spectrum of what’s going on," Blow said.
Blow is the chief financial officer for Ballston Spa National Bank. He has a bachelor of science degree in accounting from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and has been a certified public accountant since 1990.
Fiscal responsibility is something that Blow takes very seriously. "I demand that my employees be fiscally responsible," he said. "It’s not an unending pot of gold you’re dipping into."
He hopes that the school board can have "one voice or opinion," said Blow.
"I think a lot of people are concerned with rising taxes and keeping the education bar high," he said. "I think a lot of my views are reflected in the community.
"It’s important to get the focus back on the important thing the kids," Blow said.
Blow said that he can see the benefit of Tech Valley High School, but, he feels that attending should be a choice left to individual parents, and not something the district should pay for.
"I can’t see how it benefits the school district and the community," Blow said. "I’d rather see something brought into the school that would benefit more students."
Blow said he doesn’t understand why the district should pay the tuition so that a small number of students can attend the high school. "I am confused as to how we can support that and be fiscally responsible to our constituents."
Blow said he’s "not sure that we made the right decisions" regarding Alan McCartney and Anthony Marturano the two former school administrators accused of inappropriately paying themselves more than $200,000.
He said that, in a similar situation, he would try to "temper the enthusiasm" and investigate and uncover the facts. "There was a much more beneficial way of pursuing this thing," he said.
"It seemed we were chasing the horse, not knowing if we even owned the horse," he said.
Regarding Charles Reader’s resignation, Blow said that he often wonders what the process of oversight and review is. "If there’s people noticing smoke, I think they’ve got to start looking for the fire sooner," he said.
If there are rumors of inappropriate conduct, what is the mechanism to address it, Blow asked. "We need to be more responsible to the students."
With regards to policy enforcement, Blow said, "Administrations are not subjective." If there was a problem with continuous complaints, then it would need to be looked into, he said.
"I don’t feel all situations are created equally" I’m not a fan of zero-tolerance policies," Blow said. "Give the administration the benefit of the doubt that they will enforce with common sense."
The social worker is "absolutely not a good direction" for the district, Blow said. The district has a "plethora" of staff as it is, he said, citing guidance counselors, deans, principals, and the school psychologist as examples.
"We are not New York City. We are not downtown Albany," Blow said. "Every school has its issues, and I’m not sure having a social worker will address these issues."
Adding a social worker, Blow said, "is blurring the lines and throwing bodies at the issues."
Regarding enrollment, "Student-to-teacher ratio is important" I don’t think we want to be average," Blow said. "If we want to hold ourselves above average," he said that the classroom is the place to start.
"As the district grows, we need to sit down and plan for the future," Blow said.
Regarding minimizing taxes, Blow said that the board needs to "take everything we spend money on, and see how we can scale back," asking the question, "Does the benefit outweigh the cost"" He added that it is important to "evaluate what we’re doing, and question ourselves to see if it’s benefiting the taxpayers and students."
Blow said he has never been in favor of the security measures the district took following Columbine.
"We all chose to live in America, not in a military society," he said. "I don’t think we need to have knee-jerk reactions to some deranged individual in Virginia or Colorado or any other place."
If elected, Blow is looking forward to being able to "add my knowledge into the decision-making," he said.
Blow said that he contributes to the community in many ways, and being elected to the school board is "one more step" to help out.
"My interests are aligned with individuals who want good education for their children and also those who don’t want taxes to spiral out of control," he concluded.
