MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
061303 Sneak attack against our community's education led to defeat
Writer asks that people put their faith in the public forum process hahahahahahaa
To the Editor:
The Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education and district administration is to be commended on their efforts to listen to and inform the community on the recently defeated school budget. In March, the school board organized a well-publicized' evening forum structured as a series of small-group sessions that allowed members of the community to ask questions and voice concerns about various components of a very complicated budget.
After the small group sessions, all attendees were brought together and a summary of individual sessions was given. That particular evening meeting was in addition to several other night meetings during which community members were encouraged to ask questions or voice concerns. If there were concerns in the community, those concerns should have been voiced at one of these numerous public meetings so that the school hoard and administration could address them.
Citizens for Prudent School Planning (CPSP) had their opportunity to voice their concerns. Some of their concerns, such as triple busing, were addressed by the administration in public meetings. Former CPSP members, who are now school board members, agreed that triple busing is not what is best for students.
Instead of participating in the public form regarding the school budget, this small group of well-financed individuals sprung a sneak attack in the form of a deceptive flyer mailed to all residents of the district. This flyer, which was distributed just days prior to the vote, was full of inaccuracies in the data and condemning innuendoes against school board members. It lead to the very narrow defeat of the seventh smallest school tax increase in Westchester County - one of only two defeats out of the 39 districts in the county.
We would encourage all residents of the district to put their faith in the public forum process. Conversely, we encourage residents to be highly skeptical of last minute flyers from CPSP given their prior practices of deception that bypass any chance of being discussed in a public forum.