The Kingston City School District will see three incumbents and two challengers vie for three open seats on the board of education when voters head to the polls on Tuesday, May 18. Board President James Shaughnessy Jr. and fellow trustees Robin Jacobowitz and Herbert Lamb will face challenges from Michele Milgrim and Matthew Branford. The school district randomly selected the order the names will appear on the ballot, and that is how their questionnaires will appear below.
James Shaughnessy Jr.
Shaughnessy, current BOE president, joined the board in 2006 and serves on the Policy and SRO advisory committees.
What motivates you to run for reelection?
It is an opportunity to continue community service in a role in which I have experience, and I feel I still have contributions to make.
What skills do you bring to the work?
I have good analytic skills and knowledge of issues facing the Kingston City School District in particular and public education in general.
What do you see as the greatest challenge the district faces at this time?
The greatest current challenge is recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. In September, we want to be able to safely open full-time for all families desiring to return in person. We will need to accommodate students who need to remain remote. We need to identify the social, emotional, mental health, and academic impacts of the pandemic since March 2020 and plan and execute support and remediation for all of these areas.
What would you like to see the board accomplish over the next few years?
I would like to continue our efforts to achieve the annually adopted board goals. These include advancing equity in academic opportunity, extracurricular participation, social-emotional learning, and discipline practices. In February 2020, we began to engage in enhancing our strategic planning process. This was interrupted by the COVID-19 state of emergency, and I would like to see the board re-engage in that effort.
Michele Milgrim
What motivates you to run for a seat on the board of education?
I once had a mentor who suggested that setting and presenting the best example in all interactions was an integral part of educating, and I have ever since heeded those words in all aspects of my life. Presenting with respect, integrity and fairness, but also with life skills students can use for problem-solving. That advice has influenced every aspect of my life. Not only do I strive to present the best example for the students, but also for my own children, friends, family and new neighbors I meet. Taking a leadership role to improve district communications with our entire community, help develop fair and equitable policy while helping improve the prospects for all of our students is a critically important example to set.
What skills do you bring to the work?
I have raised my family in Kingston. I am a Girl Scout leader. I am a taxpayer. I teach high school math in a neighboring district. I teach professional development for teachers for New York Center for Teacher Development and Brandman University and I have an extensive background in corporate human resources with Bloomberg LP. I am an active member of the KCSD community, a leader of the Tiger Band boosters, and involved in the community at large. I believe my perspective as a current and active educator, parent, homeowner, spouse and neighbor will be integral in helping the board of education and the Kingston City School District plan for and deliver success for all students in a world that is continuously and rapidly changing. Most importantly, I know how to listen and to work effectively in a team environment to achieve shared goals and objectives.
What do you see as the greatest challenge the district faces at this time?
Covid has changed the face of teaching and learning. School districts need to help bring the best practices we learned while teaching online, remotely, and in hybrid sessions together with our return to in-person learning to propel teaching and learning for all students and faculty into the future for education.
What would you like to see the board accomplish over the next few years?
My dream is for the school board to become a cornerstone that facilitates communication with our parents, staff, faculty, administration, business owners and students through programs that bring us all together while modeling citizenship. It is the school board’s responsibility not only to provide a safe environment for teaching and learning, but to cultivate our youth so they continue to live, work and raise their own families in our community.
Matthew Branford
What motivates you to run for a seat on the board of education?
I believe that we are reaching a critical juncture in our community. The pandemic has accelerated change that was already in place. I am a parent of two elementary-age children, and I know how important education is to our family. I know that all parents want the best education for their children. As a small city school district, Kingston is unique in that we can maintain both a vibrant close-knit community, while providing superb education for our children. In order to have both, we need to act decisively, but with vision. If we make smart investments in education, infrastructure, and technology our students can graduate to achieve their goals, but also make a career and home in our area as adults, if they choose.
What skills do you bring to the work?
I have a 13-year career in education as a high school English teacher. I have served the city of Kingston on the Board of Assessment Review for the past four years. I believe that I have an eye for analysis, an ear for hearing peoples’ concerns, and an open mind for building consensus.
What do you see as the greatest challenge the district faces at this time?
Kingston is rapidly changing in many ways, but we can also hold on to what makes our community a special place to raise a family. We need to continue to invest in expanding educational opportunities for our students equitably, while continuing to update the infrastructure of the district. Just as we can welcome new members to our community and still maintain our unique culture, we can invite growth and still maintain our historic character.
What would you like to see the board accomplish over the next few years?
I would like to see the board expand access to high-quality universal pre-K, foster development in STEAM and humanities curricula, further invest in educational technology, help our teachers hone their craft, and continue to update our school buildings. Kingston city schools will continue to be the backbone of our community for years to come.
Herbert Lamb
Lamb, an incumbent, joined the board in 2019 and serves on the Policy, Audit and Finance, and Facilities committees.
What skills do you bring to the work?
I taught in the public schools for 35 rewarding years. I have a bachelor [of arts in] music education from Ithaca College, a masters of science in elementary education from SUNY New Paltz, and a certificate of advanced study in school district administration, from The College of Saint Rose. I hold permanent certification in K-12 Music, K-6 Reading, K-6 Elementary Classroom, and a license as a school district administrator. My first job out of college was here in Kingston at Brigham and Tilson elementary schools the spring that they closed. Then [I] taught at Anna Devine for nine years and [M. Clifford Miller] for nine years. I was offered a junior high music (my true love) job in Newburgh and taught there for 17 years. Any of my students will tell you I am very child-centered. In Kingston I served on the Building Leadership team at both Anna Devine and MCM [M. Clifford Middle School]. I was VP of the PTA at Anna Devine and Miller, conducted Select Chorus at MCM in the evening as a graded class, KALP [Kingston Accelerated Learning Program] chairperson at Miller and facilitated the OM (Odyssey of the Mind Team) at Miller. I can truly say that I loved my job and my students.
What motivates you to run for reelection?
I am running for reelection to finish many of the things which we have started to develop and initiate. I have only been on the BOE for two years and truly spent the first playing catchup and learning what my job was. I enjoy each person I serve with and though we may not always agree on the path we are working towards the same goal. Members of the board respect and care about each other, our students and staff, and all stakeholders. Our difference of opinion is how to achieve that goal. I just received the NYSSBA [New York State School Boards Association] award for Level 2 Excellence for taking or 75 hours of in-service/webinar classes. I want to give back to the community which took its chance on me as a new teacher in 1983 and the district which gave my daughter a wonderful education. I feel that we as a community are fortunate to have this jewel of an education system and the facilities which the community has provided.
What do you see as the greatest challenge the district faces at this time?
Funding of schools. As long as politicians: (a.) fund schools based on property tax; (b.) offer PILOTS [tax breaks] to the top one percent; (c.) offer PILOTS which allow some to not pay their fair share while overtaxing others, this will be a problem. The city and the county can just choose to raise your taxes over the tax cap while schools are required to get a supermajority taxpayer approval. This seems to be a double standard. Let’s give the public the same vote on the county and city budgets.
[Number 2 challenge:] Discovering gaps in student learning (resulting from the pandemic) and making up for those gaps.What would you like to see the board accomplish over the next few years?
Accomplishments: Second Century project finishing up 16 million under budget; the five-year capital improvement plan MCM/Kennedy and beginning Edson final year; policy switches to inclusive language; keeping spending at or under the max allowed while offering students diverse and advanced programs; slowly opening schools giving our students and staff a safe work/learning environment; working with community partners to see that all children received meals and the technology needed for their education; social and emotional wellness/health; [increasing the] graduation rate for all students.
As a board we need to continue to develop and build on these accomplishments and as we return to the “new” normal pick up the restorative practices where we left off. I could not be prouder of our staff, students, and administration for handling this situation and continuing to move forward. Every day was the first-time experience, and we will come out the other side all the stronger from this experience. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our children and the Kingston City School community and to give back to that district which took a chance on me in 1983.
Robin Jacobowitz
Jacobowitz, an incumbent, joined the board in 2011 and chairs the Teaching and Learning Committee and serves on the Health and Wellness and Legislative Action committees.
What motivates you to run for reelection?
Additional federal funds coming into the district are a tremendous opportunity. I want to make sure they are spent wisely and well. I want to continue the equity work that we have begun. Also, in my time on the school board, we’ve accomplished a lot — an increased graduation rate, renovated high school, dual language public pre-k program — but there is always more to do.
What skills do you bring to the work?
The most important perspective that I bring to my work as a BOE trustee is that of a parent. I have 4 children in the KCSD and through them, I live and experience the policy created by the KCSD and the BOE every day.
I have also worked in the field of education policy for over 20 years. I have a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in public policy with a focus on education from New York University. I am currently the director of education projects at The Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz. I understand the education policy landscape in New York and this has helped me understand what policies to pursue more locally.
What do you see as the greatest challenge the district faces at this time?
Additional federal funds are an opportunity, as I stated earlier, but they are also a challenge. The district will have to determine the best way to spend those funds to help our school community move on and grow after this difficult year of teaching and learning in a pandemic.
In addition, while the district has done a good job of increasing student performance over the past few years, specifically the graduation rate, there is still a long way to go. We will need to look at teaching and learning at all levels of the system (and keeping our classes small) in order to enhance performance, and further increase graduation rates, for all of our students.
Communication and community engagement have also been a challenge, especially in this year of COVID. We need to put thought and energy into developing an effective, inclusive, and efficient engagement process that reaches all of our communities.
What would you like to see the board accomplish over the next few years?
Some of the answers above apply here: Increased graduation rate, more effective processes for engaging and communicating with our community.
Equity in school district practices and in access to opportunities is also important and I would like to see the district further develop systems for ensuring equity in, and access to, opportunities within KCSD. This includes integrating restorative justice processes more thoroughly into our schools and continuing to pursue our work in culturally responsive education.
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