Penfield Board of Education candidates

Barbara Larkin Babiarz
Incumbent
AGE 58
CAREER Speech pathologist at Monroe BOCES 1
HOMETOWN Penfield
EDUCATION Associate’s degree from Monroe Community College; bachelor’s and master’s degrees from SUNY Geneseo
FAMILY  Husband Jim and daughter Meghan, a sophomore at SUNY Cortland
TERM ON SCHOOL BOARD 2007 - present

What can you do for the Penfield School District?
I bring over 34 years of working in the special education field and have an understanding of all of the mandates that affect the education process.  I am dedicated to making sure that ALL Penfield students are provided with the best possible education.  Along with my colleagues and local and state school board associations I will continue to encourage the state to consider mandate relief and to provide our district the tools needed to run more efficiently.


What’s the biggest issue facing Penfield students and taxpayers in the upcoming years?
I feel there are two issues facing the students. One is how will the district be able to maintain quality elective programs at the high school level and the other is how do our educators work to encourage the average students to achieve higher academic excellence?  As for the taxpayer, the biggest issue is the BOE and district administrators dedication to be fiscally responsible.

How can the school board address this issue?
I feel that the board can be a strong supporter of any initiatives that the educators design to achieve academic excellence and to work in tandem with administrators, local and state school board associations to encourage mandate relief that would serve to reduce taxes on the local budgets.


Why did you originally run for the school board, and why have you continued to do so?
I had always wanted to serve my community in some capacity.  I feel that as an educator my best way to “give back” to my community was to serve on the Penfield school board.  I feel that I have been a capable board member who has overseen some significant changes in my three year term.  Penfield has wonderful new facilities, a new superintendent, been fiscally responsible with the budget and worked hard to make accurate and thorough communication between all of the districts stakeholders a priority.  I would like to continue to be a viable member of the Penfield Board of Education as we head into some challenging decisions the next few years.


Barbara J. McKinley
Incumbent

AGE 48
CAREER Per diem substitute teacher
HOMETOWN Penfield resident 11 years
EDUCATION Master’s degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University, bachelor’s of science in chemistry from St. John Fisher College
FAMILY Husband Paul, children Daniel (18) and Sarah (15)
TERM ON SCHOOL BOARD 2007 - present

What can you do for the Penfield School District?
I will continue to advocate for quality education for all students while maintaining a fiscally responsible budget. I will continue to “do my homework” and ask a lot of questions and seek out information on tough issues at school board meetings and many other meetings. I will continue to make it a priority to listen to the needs of the community and communicate those and other needs to my fellow school board members and superintendent.


What’s the biggest issue facing Penfield students and taxpayers in the upcoming years?
The budget!  Next year’s funding from New York state is likely to be reduced like it was this year, so we will continue to struggle with forming a budget that  provides quality programming for students with fewer resources of staff and revenue.


How can the school board address this issue?
The school board will continue to form responsible budgets as we have done for the three years that I have been on the board. Our tax levy (total taxes collected) for the past two years have increased by only 0.8 percent for 2008-2009 and 0.5 percent for 2009-2010. For 2010-2011, the state is reducing our funding by $2.3 million, so we are reducing spending in many areas and reducing over 30 staff positions as well as using additional reserve funds to keep the tax levy increase below 3 percent. If the state reduces revenue next year also, we will again need to take a hard look at reducing spending on materials, supplies, curriculum development, athletics and also once again consider reducing staff levels through retirements and/or layoffs in a way that least affects the classroom. We will keep tax rates as low as possible and in line with what our community can support. Also, we will continue to ask our unions to pay more into their health care plans and we will continue to be save money as a district by participating in county-wide health care and worker’s compensation consortia. Also we will continue to lobby our state representatives for mandate relief and for laws that will support us when bargaining with unions and contractors.


Why did you originally run for the school board, and why have you continued to do so?
I originally ran for the school board to advocate for a more effective partnership between parents, school and our community through better communication so that we can continue to support and be proud of our quality school district and to fund our schools through sound, reasonable, and fair funding.  I am running for re-election because I am still committed to these ideals and over the past three years I have learned a lot and have become a more effective school board member further enabling me to better advocate for these goals.


Kimberly Graham
Challenger

AGE  40
CAREER Director, Education Services Unity Health System
HOMETOWN Penfield
EDUCATION  Bachelor’s of science in secondary education, double major in
English and psychology, master’s of business administration with an emphasis on
technology management
FAMILY Husband Charles, son Wallace, 12, A 6th-grader at Bay Trail Middle School

What can you do for the Penfield School District?
I offer extensive
experience with policy and procedure creation and review through my work in
secondary and adult education.  I have past experience with school-level committees, and current experience at organizational level multi-disciplinary committees at Unity Health System that address budget review, policy review and creation, strategic planning and operational improvement.  My experiences as a middle and high school teacher, regional trainer, operations manager, training manager, and now director of education of a major health provider in the Rochester will provide the Penfield School
District with my broad knowledge of educating across different ages, cultural awareness and sensitivity, budgeting process and development, policy review, revision, and creation, and a great appreciation for how time
consuming these types of work can be.  With all of that, I also have the skills of patience, reading for purpose, and identifying the root cause of questions and issues.

What’s the biggest issue facing Penfield students and taxpayers in the upcoming years? 
The lack of state money coming in and the increase in
budget for the tax payers.

How can the school board address this issue?
Ask the tough questions such as, is it time to ask the teachers and administrators to forgo their raise; are there other ways we can cut costs such as renegotiating supply contracts, asking those who work in the schools if there are ways to reduce costs, and look for grants to support some of the costs that are incurred; think outside the box and start the budgeting process for next year as soon
as this year’s budget is adopted.  This would allow for plenty of time to look at contracts, renegotiate supply fees and look for additional ways to elevate costs.

Why did you decide to run for the school board?
Over the past three years I have watched the number of students in the Penfield Schools decrease and the budget increase, and it just
doesn’t make sense to me that we have done everything we can to cut costs, reduce expenses, and make our school district budget as low as it possibly can be, especially when we are all facing huge state cuts and tax payers who have been taxed far too much.

John R. Piper
Challenger

AGE 56
CAREER Twenty-plus years CEO leadership experience, most recently as president of Family First Federal Credit Union in Penfield, and previously as CEO of the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors and the Realtors Charitable Foundation. Currently managing partner of JR Piper Consulting, an association /not for profit organizational management consulting firm.
HOMETOWN Syracuse
EDUCATION  B.A. in communications, SUNY Oswego; A.A.S. Onondaga Community College.
FAMILY Wife Beth Danehy, children Kaitlyn Piper, Michael Piper, Elisabeth Piper, and Arron and Aedan Danehy (sixth-graders at  Bay Trail)

What can you do for the Penfield School District?
Bring my leadership and management experience to the table to assist the board, the administration, the teachers union and other affiliated partners in our collaborative efforts to ensure that we are accessing all available resources in support of our students. Outside of  New York, our public education is regarded as world class. New York states’ education system produces some of the most intelligent people in the world. Within the state however, we have both high and low performing schools. We live in a district where the administration, teachers , and supporting staff are regarded as some of the best in the region, which contributes to the excellence of Penfield as a  high performing school. Preparing students for the today’s global world involves continuing assessment of programs to insure that our graduates are positioned to be successful as they enter the next stage of their life. I would like to assist in the decision making and planning as we continuing the path we are on, maintaining that excellence and quality in education, while also insuring that we continue to rise the bar for the stewards of our system.


What’s the biggest issue facing Penfield students and taxpayers in the upcoming years?
Declining enrollment, the New York state financial crisis, continued curriculum improvement,student personal achievement and preparation for life after high school.


How can the school board address this issue?
Our school operating budget continues to place its focus on helping students to achieve and learn. State and federal education aid, and local property taxes, are our sources of that revenue. Our ability to continue to work collaboratively to enhance our relationships with our state legislators and members of congress is critical. State and federal mandates require us to provide services and comply with regulations that are not supported with sufficient government funding, which results in a heavier burden on the taxpayer. I believe my experience working with our representatives in Albany and Washington, can assist the district in greater awareness and conversations with our legislators, to ensure that resources remain available from outside our local property tax base. Conversely, looking at how tax dollars are allocated is also important. As an example, today, homebuyers pay a mortgage recording tax as part of the purchase of their home.. The majority of this revenue pays for public transportation in the region. Could some of those dollars be allocated to education?
Declining enrollment, though a regional trend, can be addressed through an effective, broad strategic planning process with stakeholder input, which will in effect provide for a scan of the core reasons for enrollment decline, and provide a foundation for future budget forecasting. We cannot simply agree that enrollment will continue to decline. By looking at what we can do collaboratively to change this trend, working with all the pertinent stakeholders within our district, change can occur.

Why did you decide to run for the school board?
I believe we can do more to celebrate our district and our students achievements.  The creation of a “Points of Pride” program that continually emphasizes the achievements of the district would go far in telling our “story” to  residents and those considering relocation within the Penfield School District. The last few years have brought remarkable accomplishment internally and externally in the district. We are at or near the top in many areas of student measurement and graduation rates. Additionally, our students have higher achievement and excel in the areas of music, arts , sports and more. These are the points to emphasize as we compete for those considering a move within our district.