The annual vote for School Board candidates is just around the corner in districts both local and across New York State, and as is often the case, incumbents running for another three-year term are faced with challenges from fellow members of the community.
Most school districts had a deadline of Monday, April 18 for prospective candidates to turn in petitions, including the Saugerties Central School District (SCSD), the New Paltz Central School District and the Onteora Central School District (OCSD).
Just two candidates are running for two open seats in the New Paltz Central School District. Board President Bianca Tanis will return to the School Board, where she’ll be joined by challenger Matthew Williams. Incumbent trustee Diana Armstead will not seek re-election in New Paltz.
As a small city district, the Kingston City School District’s petition deadline isn’t until Thursday, April 27. But several candidates have already let their interest in the three available seats be known. Incumbents Suzanne Jordan, James Michael and Steven Spicer are all seeking to stay on the KCSD School Board, and in recent weeks Malia Cordel, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Justin Hoekstra and Jim McCasland announced their respective candidacies as challengers. Whether the field becomes even more crowded ahead of next month’s vote remains to be seen.
In Saugerties, three seats are up for grabs with six challengers on the ballot. None of the three incumbents — Katie Emerson-Hoss, Elena Maskell and Paul VanSchaack — are running for re-election. The challengers as they will appear on the ballot are Scott Polston, Randi Kelder, Danielle Carter, Christine Bellarosa, Vincent McLaughlin and William Ball.
Hudson Valley One will profile candidates ahead of the School Board election next month. As the names of candidates in the OCSD come in, we will update this story.
Voters will determine who will earn a seat on their local School Board when they head to the polls on Tuesday, May 17. Also on each district’s ballot will be their 2022-23 budget.
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