Five run for three seats on GCSD board

GUILDERLAND — It’s a five-way race for three seats on the Guilderland School Board this spring and, once again, a parents’ group is squaring off against the teachers’ union with endorsements.

Two newcomers — Judy Slack and Christine Kenefick — joined the three incumbents — Catherine Barber, John Dornbush, and Peter Golden — in filing petitions by Monday to run in the May 20 election.

The teachers’ union is “enthusiastically supporting” three of the candidates — Slack, Barber, and Dornbush — according to Chris Claus, the president of the Guilderland Teachers’ Association, which has 750 members.

“We’ve offered to provide help to them in ways they would find useful,” said Claus on Tuesday, adding he has yet to hear back from the candidates on what those ways will be.

Last year, for the first time, the union offered candidates money for their campaigns. And, for the second time, the GTA mailed cards to students’ homes supporting the budget and selected candidates. Use of the addresses, obtained through the school district, became controversial this year, so Claus said the GTA will not be using the list.

Golden is endorsed by Guilderland Parents Advocate, which founder Melissa Mirabile describes as a watchdog group with “a few hundred” members. “When the teachers’ union began to use the data base to influence voters and pay candidates to run, the need stepped up for independent candidates,” she said.

Golden, she said, “has no conflict of interest and no hidden agenda” and he has saved the district “millions of dollars” by “challenging the status quo” on health-insurance. “He has made sound financial and intellectual decisions,” said Mirabile, concluding, “Peter is independent and he’s brilliant.”

All five candidates support the $84 million spending plan proposed for next year. Voters will decide on the budget and elect three school board members on May 20. The posts are unpaid and carry three-year terms.

Kenefick

Christine Kenefick, 40, is making her first run for school board. A member of the Citizens’ Budget  Advisory Committee, she e-mailed from Paris this week, “I do support the budget.”

Kenefick, who graduated cum laude from Albany Law School and the University at Albany, works as a confidential law clerk for Anthony Carpinello, an Appellate Division judge. “My job as a law clerk entails analyzing a myriad of legal issues before my court, the New York State Appellate Division,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I am a former adjunct professor at Albany Law School, as well.”

She is married with two children — a fourth-grader and a kindergartner, both at Westmere Elementary School. Kenefick served on the Westmere Building Cabinet last year and this year.

A runner, she has put together a team for the Race for the Cure, with funds going to combat breast cancer. “I have put the team together every year since 2003,” she wrote. “We have won the largest team award for the past three years ... It consists of family, friends, lawyers, and several breast cancer survivors.”

“She has raised thousands and thousands of dollars,” said her husband, Mark Sanza.

Slack

Slack, 64, will retire in June after 24 years as a teaching assistant at Lynnwood Elementary School and said she would like to keep her hand in education. “I’d like to continue to be involved,” she said. “The children are our future. I’m concerned.”

Slack went on, “I’m first of all a mother who is very proud of my children and their education, and I’m proud I’ve worked with kids forever. That’s who I am.”

She continued, “I have three children with different needs and their needs were met by the school district.”

Asked about her goals in serving on the board, Slack said, “I’d like to bring some peace ... The board needs to work as a board. Arguing takes up a lot of the energy. Hopefully, we can get people who work as a group instead of as individuals.”

Slack has lived in the district since 1969 and currently lives in Altamont. “I’m well aware of school taxes,” she said.

Slack said she will be running on a slate with Barber and Dornbush.

The incumbents

The three incumbents were profiled last week. (Go online to www.altamontenterprise.com, under archives for April 17, 2008.) The Enterprise, in a later edition, will conduct in-depth interviews on the issues with all five candidates.

Catherine Barber, a lawyer and musician, is running for a second three-year term. As a mother, she likes being involved in the schools, she said, and considers education to be of “the utmost importance.”

Her goals include continuing the expansion of foreign-language instruction at the elementary level, which she sees as a manifestation of what the school district is about. “We support arts and language,” said Barber.

John Dornbush, who has been on the board since 1999 and currently serves as its vice president, is running for a fourth term, he said, because of his commitment to education, and to the “families of the community.”

Dornbush, who works as the assistant director of financial aid at the University of Albany, plans to continue his focus on technology, preparing students for high-tech jobs.

Peter Golden, an author, is running for a second term. He plans to continue pushing for “cost containment” and accountability, “pushing for outcomes,” he said.

Calling service on the school board “a thankless task,” Golden said, “You’re not performing your legal mandate if you’re not willing to confront people. If you pretend you’re an extension of the administration, you shouldn’t be on the board.”