Tricia will consider all stakeholders

To the Editor:

In the next few days, I will happily cast my vote by mail for Tricia Putman for a position on the Voorheesville Central School District Board of Education.

I got to know Tricia through her leadership in the Blackbird Paradise school garden, the Good Eats program that she developed, and as a coach of my daughter’s Odyssey of the Mind team. Tricia’s kind, calm demeanor was a balm for the kids. She enabled them to devise a plan and encouraged them to bring it to fruition without pressure.

I gladly volunteer for an hour here and there to help out our school and community. Tricia tirelessly volunteers and much of her advocacy is behind the scenes.

For example, she didn’t just lead the school garden, Tricia worked with the school chef to integrate foods that the kids had planted into the school menu. She developed a garden curriculum to make it accessible for kids of all ages. She coordinated with the local food pantry, and the town of New Scotland to bring families in need and shut-in seniors hundreds of pounds of leftover produce from the garden.

Tricia set up a composting system for cafeteria garbage, worked to get styrofoam trays out of the middle school-high school cafeteria, and get healthier, more sustainable options for food trays and silverware.  Whether it’s drafting other parents or high school students to volunteer with the Good Eats program, or to work in the garden, Tricia tries to get others actively engaged so that the programs continue long after her girls graduate.

Tricia also brings her considerable financial expertise from a career managing half-billion-dollar budgets. The last decade has been about painful school budgets, and we are not out of the woods. I fear that next year’s budget is going to make previous cuts pale in comparison.

For the better part of a decade, Tricia has attended almost all of the school board meetings, including committee meetings. She understands the challenges of our school budget. I trust that Tricia will consider all stakeholders (students, taxpayers, and staff) when making these difficult decisions.

With her advocacy for all students, commitment to our community, combined with her financial experience, Voorheesville would be lucky to have Tricia Putman on our school board. 

Kerry Connolly

Slingerlands

More Letters to the Editor

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.