Nancy Steins Farewell Address

Nancy Steins’ “Farewell Address” as a Bedford Central School Board member in last week’s paper was true to form: short on veracity and long of vitriol.  That is particularly so when she referred to three members being elected (unlike she, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term, and would not stand for election) who were part of an “effort to undermine our schools.”  I was one of the three to which she alluded.  Ms. Stein asserts, falsely, that I had “no previous involvement in public education.”  Not true, for example I had volunteered to help but playgrounds at our schools even before my children attended Bedford Central, where they attend to this day.  Ms. Stein fabricates an “example” of my having “advocated using very expensive search firms for personnel openings.”  That never happened.  We were getting literally thousands of resumes for single openings.

I served for six years and was re-elected in a landside (I got ninety-two percent of the vote in Bedford Village), and am justifiably proud of my contribution to public education in Bedford Central.  Largely due to my efforts we have televised board meetings.  I initiated  the successful effort to abolish an illegal and  unconstitutional “gentlemen’s agreement” that disenfranchised community members. Ms. Stein by contrast wanted to continue to see community members illegally denied the right to run for the school board.   Far from “subverting the board’s possess” as she falsely claims, proposals that I made and were adopted resulted in better adherence to New York’s open meetings law, allowed board members to raise new business items for the agenda (a fundamental right of any elected official), turned free for alls into orderly meetings by applying rules of order for meetings, established practices to conclude board business before one or two in the morning ,and increased community involvement with a citizens budget advisory committee.  While I worked with other board members during my six year tenure academic performance moved steadily upward, our curriculum revision process was accelerated, advanced placement course were expanded, annual reports on the school district were distributed to the community, ninth grade honors programs were enhanced some of the best labor contracts Bedford Central and Westchester County had ever seen were negotiated (although still far from perfect) and the list goes on.  During that time, as performance and Bedford Central’s reputation were improving, we strengthed our budgeting process and tempered the rate of increases in spending.  Also, proper accounting practices were introduced to the school district’s accounting office. 

I would challenge Ms. Stein to lay claim to any of her accomplishments as a school board member, especially in light of her tired, gratuitous attacks on others who contributed and accomplished much.  Ironically, Ms. Stein irresponsibly and incorrectly accuses others of engaging in an “organized effort to undermine our community”.  Yet, that is  all I have ever known Ms. Stein to do: attack others of being members of imagined shadowy conspiracies.  By making her remarks as part of a school board meeting, she has used her position a pulpit of petty personal attack.  That is a breach of the public trust as a school board member.  As it turns out, anyone who disagrees with her naïve and simplistic approach of merely just sending more money as solution to any issue is in Ms. Stein’s distorted view an enemy to be vilified – truth be damned.! Our school children and the community are indeed fortunate that Ms. Stein was giving her farewell address the Bedford School Board.  For once, Ms. Stein why don’t you display some graciousness.

Some of my comments are, admittedly, harsh  -- but entirely deserved.

                                                                                    James J. Markowski