BOE Candidates Discuss Budget, School Closings

Incumbent Steve Gellar and challenger Glenn Montes spoke about their backgrounds, qualifications and opinions on everything from district administrators to school closings. Based on the questions submitted by members of the community, budgets were at the forefront of the public's mind.

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We've compiled a chart to compare their views on various hot topics and issues in the community.

Steve Gellar Glenn Montes Years in West Islip 16 13 Education B.S. & M.S. Polytechnic University B.A. Queens College, Masters Stony Brook University Areas of expertise Management, budgeting, planning Human resources, labor relations Children currently in the district 2 2 Community involvement Current Board of Ed president, PTA member, Little League coach Budget advisory committee member Special contribution to the community Co-chair of the West Islip Summit Coalition Founder of Citizen's Board of West Islip What are your goals as a board of ed member? "My goals moving forward are the same as they've been every day that I've been on the board for the past six years: To strike a balance and maintain the balance between what our students need and what our taxpayers can afford." "One of the biggest issues I have with the current board is transparency. I would like to utilize technology to bring board meetings and functions to the public." Are you happy with the proposed 2012/13 school budget? "Obviously since I did vote to approve it, I'm happy with the proposed budget. I believe that we once again struck the necessary balance between educational needs and the taxpayers' desire to keep taxes low." "I'm not happy with the proposed budget. I think if we had had better prior financial planning, we may not have had to close two schools." What are your feelings on the school closings? Would you have chosen two elementary schools?
"Our objective was to preserve educational programs. Despite the disruption, there will be no change in program through the consolidation." "Based on the study group, I think closing one middle school and one elementary school would have been the wiser decision." Are there too many administrators in the district?

"We have reduced our administrative staff by over 25 percent in the last two years. In addition to mandated evaluations, our administrators are responsible are responsible for curriculum if that falls through the cracks, education will suffer."

"I believe We need a certain level of administrative leadership. Are we there yet? I'm not quite sure. There are other things we need to look at."

Check back with West Islip Patch on Friday for a rundown of responses from West Islip's other candidates, incumbent Mike Zotto and challenger Kevin O'Connor.