Petitions filed, all but one school board seat is contested

By FRANK NARDOZZI

Joseph Whelan, an accountant and father of three who ran for the Bedford Central School Board unsuccessfully last year, has filed petitions to challenge Paul Alcorn for his seat on the school board in the May 16 election.

Mr. Whelan, a Bedford Village resident since 1981, challenged Pound Ridge resident Mark Slivka last year, losing by a 1,551 to 996 margin of votes.

Mr. Whelan filed nominating petitions with 65 signatures this week, according to school district clerk Verna Carr. Mr. Alcorn, the current school board president, filed petitions with 93 signatures. A total of 53 signatures were required.

Dorothy Fallon, the school board vice president, lives in Mount Kisco with her husband and two children, one each in Fox Lane middle and high school. She will be running for reelection unopposed. The 13-year local resident filed petitions with 98 signatures, according to Ms. Carr.

Mr. Alcorn has been a resident and pastor of Bedford Presbyterian Church in Bedford Village for I I years. He has served on the school board for three years, two as vice president and one as president. He has two sons, one a senior at Fox Lane High School, another a seventh grader at Fox Lane Middle School.

Mr. Whelan identified himself earlier this week as an independent certified public accountant and a holder of a master's degree in business administration. He has three children, all of whom graduated from Bedford Central schools.

In citing his reasons for running in the election, Mr. Whelan calls the current school board "inadequate," and said the budget process was "fatally flawed." He proposes "zero-based budgeting" so that all expenditures, he said, and not just add-ons, would have to be justified.

"No family and no school district can afford to simply keep adding to expenses," Mr. Whelan said. He proposes a five-year financial projection before spending commitments such as teacher contracts; building bonds or budgets are made.

Mr. Whelan stated that even before the school board started deliberating on next year's budget, members had locked themselves into a 6.1 percent spending increase. He was referring to the district's wages and fringe benefits contract with its employees negotiated by a previous school board.

The School district's budget proposed for next year calls for an overall increase in spending of 8.5 percent. The budget must also be approved by the voters in the school district election on Tuesday, May 16.

Mr. Alcorn stated that his most important accomplishment as school board president has been to make sure that everyone was able to participate in the discussion when educational and fiscal questions were decided.

"Everyone's opinion was expressed openly and honestly and in a forthright manner," Mr. Alcorn said. "Everyone had an opportunity to express their point of view."

Mr. Alcorn said that he had provided leadership on the issue of transforming the middle school from an ungraded structure, one combining students in grades six, seven and eight in classes, to a graded structure, which kept the grades separate. The change was necessitated by the state's new academic requirements, which require more preparation for students to pass five Regents exams in order to attain a high school diploma.

Mr. Alcorn also came out strongly in favor of an eighth team to be started this fall at the middle school. Team teaching enables teachers of all the major disciplines to confer and plan curriculum together for the same group of middle school students. Mr. Alcorn said he spoke up in favor of the eighth team at the very beginning of the budget process and the team was instituted.

"I will take steps to restore an independent board, free of dependence on the superintendent," Mr. Whelan said. "I will not be mute about issues that are of concern to the public. I will be outspoken on behalf of people on fixed incomes; those with college bills, preschool children, aging'parents; those who are depleting their savings and nest eggs; and mothers who are forced to work away from their children.

-CANDIDATE JOSEPH WHELAN

"For a board to work, a diversity of viewpoints must be, represented," he said.

Mr. Whelan went on record last year as criticizing the school board for leaving the Altman v. Bedford Central School Board case, or the "Satan Suit," to the Bedford Central administration to handle.

"If only 10 percent of what they said in the suit is true, it’s a dereliction of responsibility. Don't butcher my fourth grader's curriculum by studying the Aztecs," Mr. Whelan stated in a Record-Review article at that time.

his week, he also called for a more "community-friendly environment," suggesting that members of the community be heard at the beginning of board meetings and not be kept until the end before being allowed to speak.

Mr. Alcorn stated that everyone wished that education was cheaper but that Bedford Central is faced with important challenges - such as the increase in enrollment, which is expected to raise the number of students at the high school by 40 percent in the next five years.

He said that he was offering his leadership for the renovations or new construction that may be required, depending upon the assessments and recommendations of the Citizens Facilities Advisory Committee.

That committee, chaired' by Pound Ridge resident Homer Schoen, is currently engaged in conducting public meetings to ascertain the community's needs and desires.

So far, the district has had to add six new classrooms to Bedford Village Elementary School, as well as perform substantial construction and renovations at Bedford Hills Elementary School and Fox Lane Middle School. Work at the middle school has included a new library, media center and cafeteria.

Although The Record-Review placed a number of calls to Mrs. Fallon, she was not available to comment on her candidacy by press time.