Banned
Aidala’s rule causes flyer flap



GUILDERLAND — In a hotly contested school board race, candidates have been told they can’t distribute flyers on school grounds.
"I was flabbergasted," said Barbara Fraterrigo, one of the candidates. "This is a 10-year past practice"You want to educate voters to go into the voting booth, knowing as much as possible about candidates. It has served the district well. I see it as a total infringement of free-speech rights," she said yesterday of the ban.
Superintendent Gregory Aidala, who issued the new rule, said, "The board of education is responsible for how its facility and resources are used. We have to maintain the appearance of not permitting partisan activities on school grounds."

Five candidates are running in the May 15 election for three seats on the nine-member school board.

Two candidates — incumbent Colleen O’Connell and retiring teacher Gloria Towle-Hilt — are running together with the support of the teachers’ union.
The other three candidates — incumbent Fraterrigo, and newcomers John Fraher and Carolyn Kelly, an accountant and an auditor — are running together with the endorsement of Guilderland Parents Advocate, which said, "This next election will be the pivotal point for progress."

On Monday evening, Fraterrigo, her husband, and Kelly handed out election flyers after a school program at Guilderland Elementary School.
Fraterrigo described the flyers as "biographical" and said they were careful to hand them out after the program, so as not to be disruptive; people could choose to read them on their way home or throw them out, she said.

Aidala said someone questioned the school principal about the practice and she passed the question along to him.
"When I don’t know the answer, I call the school attorney to see if it is permissible," said Aidala.

He consulted with Kathy Ann Wolverton of Girvin and Ferlazzo, he said, and was advised against the practice.
Since Altamont Elementary School had a concert scheduled for Tuesday evening, before he had time to call the candidates, Aidala said, he asked the Altamont principal and the district’s music supervisor to tell candidates "politely, this is not permissible."

Fraher and Fraterrigo’s husband had plans to distribute flyers at Altamont Elementary School, which they then abandoned.
On Wednesday, Aidala said, "I telephoned each of the five candidates and explained the situation to them." He followed up with a letter, which he mailed and e-mailed.
"This decision applies to all five candidates equally," he said. "This is not partisan politics on my part."

Fraterrigo, who heads the school board’s policy committee, took exception to the Guilderland decision being based on two decisions by the state’s education commissioner, which she said were not applicable.
"Neither specifically dealt with candidates informing people in the community about their biography or viewpoints," she said, adding that she had consulted with lawyers who saw the commissioner’s decisions as irrelevant to the situation in Guilderland.
"In the old days," said Fraterrigo, "people would hand out literature in the commons." She likened the practice to that and went on about the superintendent, "He said it gives the appearance we’re endorsing a candidate. If I were to hand out literature in Tawasentha Park, would that mean the town was endorsing me"" asked Fraterrigo.
"You want an educated voter," she said. "The other candidates are free to use some shoe leather."
Fraterrigo also said, "There is no policy in place".so you should go with past practice. That would be the fair thing to do."
"Has it taken place previously"" asked Aidala of candidates distributing flyers at school programs. "Yes," he answered himself. "But we had never asked a legal opinion until yesterday," he said on Wednesday. "Now that we asked for a legal opinion, we need to correct it," he said of the practice.

The Enterprise asked Aidala if flyers will be allowed on election day as long as they are distributed outside the 100-foot limit set by election law. "I don’t know the answer to that yet," he said, but the school attorney is working on it. Aidala said he expects an answer by Friday and will be in touch with the candidates about it.

Fraterrigo said that her group had planned to hand out flyers outside the polling places on May 15.

Aidala said that, after the election, he will recommend the board’s policy committee look at it.
"We should have a frank discussion afterwards," agreed Fraterrigo.

But there the agreement ended.
"What schools do in terms of budget votes and board-of-education elections," said Aidala, "is we try to provide information through several vehicles — the newsletter, the district website, the May 2 meet-the-candidates night which aired on Channel 16"We also have The Altamont Enterprise."
He concluded, "I would encourage everyone to vote on May 15."
"Aren’t we all about education" This should be the primary focus," said Fraterrigo. "We should want to reach the electorate so they can vote in an informed way. They put a squash on that"
"I’ll abide by that," she concluded. "We’re not going to raise a stir here." But, after the election, she said, "I would lobby for open government."