Denise Eisele believes there is a communication gap between the elected school board members and their constituents.
"I would like to have the board be more receptive to opinions," she said. "In talking with people, I’ve heard they feel they weren’t listened to. They feel the board sits back from issues...I want to be a face of openness and a face of approachability."

Eisele ran for the school board last year, too, using her experience as the mother of six children to inform her candidacy.

Eisele lives on Stafford’s Crossing in North Bethlehem with her husband, George, a physician, and their six adopted children, who range in age from nine to 15 — Stephen, Jacob, Meg, Paul, John, and Doug.

Eisele works part-time as a nurse for the Early Childhood Education Center. She has served as president of the PTA at Farnsworth Middle School and on the building cabinets at Westmere Elementary School and Farnsworth.
As a school board member, she said, "I would support everybody, but my primary support would be to the students."

She used the example of the proposal to cut a social worker to explain her stance.
"A social worker is terribly important in the schools," said Eisele. "So many issues come up with the kids and so many have trouble adjusting.
"In one of my children’s classes this year, the father of a classmate died suddenly. The social worker was right there at the school. The social worker went to the viewing....The social worker talked with all the kids about what they could say to her and how they could help her.
"Social workers work with the teachers and parents; they are there for the kids. I would strongly oppose a cut to any social worker position."
On the proposed $79 million budget, Eisele said, "We need to look at where spending is going. For example, when the board really started looking at health insurance, they discovered they could get the same services and save $500,000."
She went on to say, about health insurance, that "probably the method" the district uses should be changed. "We need to look at where the money is being spent while keeping the services," she stressed.
On budget-making in general, Eisele said, "The board needs to say, ‘Let’s look at our spending to see if money can be saved without cutting services.’ We need to see if we can be smarter with our funding."
Eisele served this year on the district’s alternative revenues committee. "I learned there are many different ways," she said. "For example, if I felt passionately about [teaching] foreign language in elementary school — and I totally agree you can’t just raise taxes to add what you want — there are other ways.
"Sometimes all we hear is, ‘We can’t raise taxes.’ But let’s see what we can do. We need to be creative."
Eisele opposes pouring rights for the school. "We’re trying to make our kids healthy," she said, indicating that pushing certain drinks would run counter to that.
She thinks a foundation is worth exploring. "The idea behind a foundation is funds could be funneled from the community or from corporate donations," she said. "It would provide a vehicle to disseminate this money."
As far as advertising, Eisele said, "If a corporation wanted to donate a scoreboard, I see nothing wrong with having that company’s name on the scoreboard. I don’t see a problem with that. They donated it."
On school security, Eisele said, "My first question would be who or what we are protecting our children from."
Eisele also said, "I’ve never been an advocate for locked doors. I don’t want my kids locked in."
While Eisele said it is "appropriate to monitor who is coming and going" in the school buildings, she went on to say, "You either do it right or you don’t do it."
She continued, "I have children in several schools. Each school is doing it differently....Each school is saying, ‘That is the way it should be.’ There is some confusion."

Last Friday was a busy day at Westmere Elementary School, she said, as young authors were celebrated. Many parents had been invited to watch their children read book reports, or perform in other ways. Eisele came to the school to see two of her sons.
She described the front-door monitor as "a nice woman" who was "absolutely overwhelmed by the volume of parents" that day.
"The line snaked into the parking lot," she said, as parents waited to sign in. "They had to hold things up. Some things had to be shortened....It was just chaos — absolute chaos."

On teaching to the test, Eisele said the issue is separate for special-education students.
"For the kids with special needs, I would like to lobby the State Education Department," she said, so that more students are exempt from the required testing.
"It has nothing to do with how well the teachers are doing," she said; it is simply inappropriate for some children to be tested.
"There have to be more lobbying efforts," said Eisele. "The board has a voice; they could speak on it."
When it comes to the students who do not have special needs, Eisele said, "I support teaching to the test. It holds districts accountable for what kids are learning."
She went on, "I have discovered so many parents are thrilled with the tests because they point out where their children have weaknesses...Parents learn if their children are struggling with reading or writing. All of a sudden now, kids are getting extra help in school...You can never give children enough reading and writing help."
Eisele turned to her own family for examples. "In my children, deficiencies in certain areas have shown up," she said. "It still leaves tons of room for creativity" in teaching, she said.
She gave the example of her fourth-grade son who recently took the part of a Revolutionary War patriot in a "living museum" presentation at Westmere Elementary School.
"He had to investigate everything, even what type of clothing to wear; it was just marvelous," said Eisele.
Eisele would like to see the elementary-school day lengthened. "They are home by quarter after two," she said of elementary-school students. While she enjoys her children’s company, Eisele said, a longer school day would allow more time for learning and creativity. "You’re not frantically trying to get everything in," she said.

And, Eisele thinks the district should move to a full-day kindergarten.
"A full-day kindergarten is appropriate," she said. "So many kids are in pre-school."

While her own children weren’t in day care, she said they attended a pre-school program that was longer than Guilderland’s kindergarten day.
"That doesn’t make any sense," she concluded.