Letters to the Editor
How to Submit a Letter to the Editor
Local/Regional Publications:
Albany Times-Union - Submission Guidelines
The River Newsroom - Submission Guidelines
Southern Dutchess News, Northern Dutchess News, Beacon Free Press - Contact Information
Why local school board elections matter
Published in the Southern Dutchess News on April 27, 2022 [PDF] and the Albany Times-Union on May 5, 2022 [PDF]
To the Editor:
The Mid-Hudson region bears the unfortunate distinction of currently being the only area in New York where school boards have voted to ban books from public school curricula and libraries, according to PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index. The Yorktown School District in Putnam County has banned 10 books; the Wappingers Central School District in Dutchess County has banned one book; the Marlboro School District in Ulster County has banned two.
In two of the three districts, the books of which all received national awards for literary merit and deemed appropriate for teens by the American Library Association were banned only after a member of the Florida-based “parental rights” group Moms for Liberty, which recently opened chapters in Putnam, Dutchess and Orange County, demanded their removal. That organization’s website reveals that its members deliberately target local school districts. If school board members fail to do what they want (kudos to the Arlington School Board for recently refusing to kowtow to a Moms for Liberty member’s ban-this-book request), the activists promise to replace school board members with their own candidates.
While calls to censor the teaching of certain concepts and books they claim “indoctrinate children in sexual perversion and the need for social justice” is just the latest tactic far-right lawmakers and activists have embraced to energize their base, school boards are meant to be nonpartisan, focusing solely on serving the best interests of all students and not on advancing any political agenda. Mid-Hudson residents can help ensure that our local school board members remain nonpartisan by carefully reviewing each candidate’s statement on their school district’s website before voting in school board elections on May 17.
According to the National School Boards Association, as few as five percent of registered voters participate in school board elections. It’s a mistake to let a tiny minority of residents determine the composition and direction of Dutchess County's 13 school boards when those votes impact the future of more than 46,000 students and their families.
Finally, children and teens alike continue to struggle to get back on track academically after the disruption of the pandemic. As such, public school teachers, administrators, and school boards desperately need our support. That alone should be enough of a reason to vote on May 17.
Sandi Sonnenfeld
City of Poughkeepsie
School boards have crucial role – get out and vote
Published in the Northern Dutchess News on May 4, 2022 [PDF, p4]
To the editor:
On May 17, residents of the 13 Dutchess County school districts will vote for board trustees and budgets. It is a critical election. Disagreements about the direction and operations of our schools are at a boiling point, as evidenced by recent board meeting disruptions by those who would challenge policies and practices they oppose, from library book-choices to masks and vaccinations.
Sadly such histrionics disrupt and distract from the real, everyday, and practical role of school boards. According to the National School Boards Association: “The school board sets the standard for achievement, incorporating the community's view of what students should know and be able to accomplish.” That’s it - diligent, transparent, often prosaic, complex, and complicated (and always unpaid), the role of the trustee is as demanding and technical as it is misunderstood and unappreciated.
School boards are not the place for political grandstanding or bombast. Nor are they the venue to challenge federal and state laws and regulations. Take a listen to your local board's latest meeting, and you will instantly recognize that the vital qualities of trusteeship are diligence, empathy and service, rather than rhetoric, ridicule and blame.
Please consider this advice from a veteran trustee, as you make your choices - and, above all, please exercise your right to vote. School board elections are notorious for voter apathy, which is not only a shame, but potentially devastating to the one branch of local government that everyone claims to support.
The prime directive of school leadership is that, as board members and superintendents, we are the grown-ups in this family and it is our job to show how thoughtful, responsible adults can work together to solve problems. The behavior of this leadership team ripples out, and everyone, adults and students alike, takes their cues from that example. A school board and superintendent working together sets the tone for all that is done in the district. Integrity at the top is contagious.
Gully Stanford
Salt Point