Bedford Central School Board challenger Joseph Whelan criticized the increase in the school district's proposed budget for next year as three times the rate of inflation and called for greater independence for the school board in responding to school administration recommendations.

Incumbent School Board members Paul Alcorn and Dot Fallon defended their records, stating that they had brought a stability and reasonableness to the board that had been sorely lacking in recent years.

All three candidates were brought together at The Record-Review's offices for a meeting with members of the editorial staff on Monday, May 8. Mr. Whelan is running against Mr. Alcorn, who is board president, in the election on Tuesday, May 16, and Mrs. Fallon is running for reelection unopposed.

Mr. Whelan accused the current school board of being "insensitive to the impact on people's lives" of proposed tax increases, which range from 8.59 percent in Mount Kisco to 20.19 percent in North Castle. Increases proposed also include an 8.66 percent increase in Bedford, a 9.85 percent increase in New Castle and a 9.98 percent in Pound Ridge.

"I have had clients who have had to move out of this community on account of tax increases like this," said Mr. Whelan, a certified public accountant.

He compared the board to being "like a horse without a bridle," in its approval of the $66,834,236 budget for next year with an increase in spending of 8.52 percent, "triple the rate of inflation."

Mr. Whelan proposed a five-year projection for spending in the district and called for more financial controls. He stressed his qualifications as a CPA and a holder of a master's degree in business administration as enabling him to do more in this area.

Financial pressures

Mr. Alcorn countered that the district was under financial pressure to meet the needs of a growing student enrollment, including increased numbers of students who speak English as a second language and special education students who require more staff and special attention.

He noted that 17 percent of the incoming freshman class at Fox Lane High School were Spanish-speaking students, many of whom work part-time in the landscape business and attend school part-time.

"Like all of our other students who have been in our schools since kindergarten, these students must meet the higher academic standards that have been set by the New York State Board of Regents," he said.

Mr. Alcorn noted that 10 or 15 years ago, the state provided 15 to 17 percent of the revenues needed for the school budget. Now that percentage has dropped to 7 or 8 percent, in spite of higher academic standards and increased state mandates to provide the remedial and special assistance needed for many students to succeed.

Teachers' salaries

Mr. Whelan noted that the school board was locked into a 6.1 percent increase in spending for teachers' salaries and benefits even before the budget for next year was formulated.

"Do we need to be so extremely generous in comparison to Byram Hills and other neighboring school districts?" he asked.

In a somewhat contradictory statement, Mr. Whelan criticized the board for encouraging teachers With 20, 25 and 30 years of experience to retire in favor of hiring teachers with two, three, four and five years of -experience.

"Teachers are the number one ingredient in education," he said. "We are moving towards a faculty with a lower and lower teaching experience."

Teachers with higher seniority are at the top of their salary scales when they retire. When they are replaced by new teachers, it is usually at a much lower salary producing savings in the budget.

Mr. Whelan went on to criticize the board for doing too much of its contract negotiations with faculty and staff behind closed doors. "Let the public express what they want in contract negotiations," he suggested.

Both Mr. Alcorn and Mrs. Fallon asserted the need to conduct labor negotiations in private, but Mrs. Fallon noted that there had been a citizens advisory committee on labor relations prior to the last contract negotiations.

"They knew everything that was going on," she said, adding that the committee made many recommendations with regard to savings and changes.

She said that her experience in corporate human resources and labor negotiations was one of the reasons she was offering herself for reelection. The teachers' union contract and Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) contract for school administrators will come up for renegotiation during the next three years.

Calm and civility

Mr. Alcorn said that he had brought a new calm and civility to the school board since he was asked to run three years ago. Mr. Alcorn, who is pastor of Bedford Presbyterian Church in Bedford Village, said that the previous board had been marked by "divisiveness and animosity" and "spent most of the time fighting with each other."

After his election, he said, he was nominated and elected to serve as board vice president for two years and as president for one year.

"I think I have been able to manage the proceedings to allow for full discussion and debate allowing for everyone to have a chance to raise questions and have their opinions heard. That discussion has been both thought-provoking and respectful," Mr. Alcorn said.

Somewhat surprisingly, Mr. Whelan agreed, complimenting Yr. Alcorn's "superior skills in running meetings," even adding that the board had been ,'much more effective this year."

More independence needed

However, Mr. Whelan was critical of the fact that "no one works for the board." He recommended that the board have its own office, its own computer, its own library and its own answering machine in order to be able to make judgments and act independently of the school administration.

"I don't think the board should be passive supporters of the administration," Mr. Whelan said., "It should examine all of the pros and cons by going outside the box," he said.

"I think the board is understaffed, overworked, under-resourced and over-agendaed," he said.

"I vehemently disagree with your assessment of our independence,' Mrs. Fallon said. "We set the goals and objectives of the school district. I disagree that the superintendent and administration are overbearing. We request the information we need, and the administration supplies it to us."

Mr. Alcorn also asserted the policymaking function of the board, saying that the board sets the goals both for itself and the administration. The board evaluates the district's progress toward those goals both', at midterm and at the end of the school year, he said. "I think that we are an advocate for public education at a time of significant national dialogue'' he said.

In contrast, Mr. Whelan referred to the school board as "the sum total of its trustees," viewing it as an independent agency, in some ways competing with the administration for control of the district in providing an education that is "adequate, complete, fair and reasonably priced."

Controversial cases

Mr. Whelan was critical of the school board's decision to subsidize Fox Lane High School's Spanish and French clubs' trips to Europe over last year's spring recess. The decision was successfully challenged by Mount Kisco resident Phil Christe, who brought an appeal to the New York State Commissioner of Education Richard Mills.

"It's unheard of that someone wins an appeal to the commissioner," Mr. Whelan said, "Thank God. But it didn't help the board's image, I can tell you that."

Commissioner Mills ruled that the school board could not spend public money in support of such activities unless they were for school credit and an integral part of the school district's curriculum.

Mr. Alcorn responded that the board was simply trying to extend an educational opportunity to students who might not otherwise have been able to afford it.

"We made the wrong decision," he said. "But the decision was made in public. We would make a different decision today."

Mr. Alcorn said he thought the ruling was "overbroad" and the board would ask its legal counsel to review it for unintended repercussions.

Mr. Whelan was also critical of the board's spending of $200,000 to $300,000 on legal fees to appeal three adverse rulings out of 15 in the so-called "Satan Suit" and said the district should just "stop doing whatever it was doing." Mr. Alcorn responded that the issues were more complicated

and involved more than just doing or not doing something.

The three rulings involved the sale of "worry dolls" at the high school bookstore, the requiring of fourth graders to make images of a Hindu god and the alleged religious overtones of the high school's annual Earth Day celebration.

Schools Superintendent Bruce Dennis has stated that the most important principle upheld by the court was that of academic freedom in not allowing parents the right to have their children opt out of courses that they found in some ways objectionable.

in addition to selecting school board candidates, voters will also be asked on Tuesday, May 16, to approve the proposed $66,834,236 budget for 2000-2001. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in residents' attendance area elementary schools.