Five candidates are running for three open seats on the Saugerties Central School District’s Board of Education later this month, and with only two incumbents running at least one of those seats will be filled by a challenger.
But with the three challengers running under the “Working Together: Families, Schools and Community” umbrella, the challengers are hoping for a clean sweep at the polls on Tuesday, May 17. None of the three have ever served on a school board, but they all hope the public will give them their first shot this year.
Each challenger was sent a short questionnaire; the Saugerties Times will similarly profile incumbents Florence Hyatt and Angie Minew in next week’s paper.
Paul Van Schaack
Paul Van Schaack, a systems administrator with IBM, has three children, all of whom graduated from Saugerties High School between 2012 and 2015. Van Schaack received his associate’s in individual studies (computer information systems) from SUNY Ulster, where he was Phi Beta Kappa with high honors.
Why did you decide to run for school board?
“I want to ensure that all students have access to a quality education while at the same time keeping costs in line without undue burden to the taxpayers.”
What do you think are the most pressing issues facing the school board today?
“Standardized testing as well as transparent communications between the school board, administration, and parents.”
What would your goals be as a trustee in the first year? What about during your entire first term?
“I would like to see a mentoring program in place where upper graduate students are assigned a younger student to foster a sense of accomplishment. Junior and senior students paired up with a student that shares their interest but due to circumstances are not capable to reach their full potential. Seniors can you use this involvement as part of their college acceptance process. My goal is to foster a mutual relationship between the school board, the administration, parent and the community in large.”
Katie Emerson-Hoss
Katie Emerson-Hoss is higher education manager for the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning for the Office of Head Start. She received her bachelor’s in history and elementary education from SUNY New Paltz; her master’s in education in early intervention and family support from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University at Albany. Emerson-Hoss has a 12-year-old in the sixth-grade at a private school in New Paltz, where she was enrolled after briefly attending the first-grade in Saugerties; Emerson-Hoss said the decision was made because the New Paltz school offered greater investments in early childhood development, art and music, but she expects her daughter will attend Saugerties High School.
Why did you decide to run for school board?
“I was very involved in the community through my work with Saugerties Art Lab when I first moved to town. Then I needed to step away from my community work to focus on finishing my degree and being with my family. With the completion of my degree and a recent shift in my work where I have more time at home, I have chosen this as a way to get involved again. All of my work in early childhood mental health and learning revolves around building systems for learning and well-being and I would like to bring that to the tremendous work the school board can do.”
What do you think are the most pressing issues facing the school board today?
“I think one of the most important things the school board can do is to consider and promote through practice and policy the fundamental idea that families, schools, and the community working together is the best strategy for the growth and development of all three. It is especially important to have open communication among all three when there are outside forces pressing in; for example, testing, funding, demographic changes. One specific goal related to this might be to ensure there are multiple forums, outside of the strictly limited public speaking time in board meetings, for all stakeholders to talk about the issues facing us. We have a tremendously creative and innovative community and I want to work to bring that creativity and innovation to our schools.”
What would your goals be as a trustee in the first year? What about during your entire first term?
“I can’t speak too specifically to goals since I don’t have the full details of where we are and were we are already headed. Good goal setting requires that. I do have elements of a vision of the school board bringing leadership to the community in regards to having collaborative conversations around the issues we all face — what is our capacity for investment? What are we going to choose to invest in? How do we know our investments are working for our collective learning and well-being? And more broadly, what is working? What suggestions are there for change? How might we implement them? On a micro level I would like to work toward ensuring that board meetings do not drag on for hours — I would rather have a two-hour board meeting two times a month than a 4-5 hour board meeting once a month. After about 90 minutes none of us are working at our best anyway.”
Elena Maskell
Elena Maskell has served as the district clerk in the Red Hook Central School District for the past two and a half years; she spent the four years prior to that in the same role with the New Paltz Central School District. She received her bachelor’s degree from SUNY New Paltz, and a paralegal certificate from Marist College. Maskell has two children in the district; one in high school and the other at Riccardi Elementary.
Why did you decide to run for school board?
“I see positive changes happening on the Board in recent years, and I would like to see that continue.”
What do you think are the most pressing issues facing the school board today?
“Dealing with the tax cap while still maintaining adequate programs and staffing.”
What would your goals be as a trustee in the first year? What about during your entire first term?
“I am interested to learn as much as I can about how the district functions as a whole my first year. My hope is to bring knowledge and experience to the district in order to continue in the positive direction the board has been going and to contribute in as many positive ways as I can.”
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