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Across the entire region and state, school board votes continued to drop this year, despite protests against testing and other key issues. Courtesy photo
Abysmal Turnout For School Elections
Incumbents Win. Budgets Pass. Voters Stay Away.

REGIONAL – Last year, all reports on the 2014 school board elections and budget votes noted falling turnout.

This week, the May 19 results were even worse. Much worse, in fact.

Part of the reason was a paucity of board races. In Ellenville, three incumbents faced a perennial candidate who always makes about one quarter the votes of those he's facing. In Pine Bush, there was only one declared candidate for two open seats, and while easily won by a teacher write-in candidate with a big amount of backing, the final count was delayed for hours because of the number of single and undecipherable other write-ins on ballots.

Even in Rondout Valley, where there was a full race for school board, the final numbers were down several hundred from last year's already meager results.

Many spoke all year about Common Core testing and other issues, and "opt out" rates during last month's actual testing were high for both the state and nation. Those figures, and trends, just didn't result in polling figures, though.

But enough of the analysis. What were the results?

In Ellenville, just over 600 residents turned out to vote, although the district's $48 million plus budget — a decrease of $471,603 from last year — passed easily with 466 ayes to 147 nays.

"We're very thankful for the support of the community," ECSD Superintendent Lisa Wiles said.

In addition, the three incumbents running for re-election this season will hold their seats for another three-year term with Maxine Chapin garnering 526 votes, Iris Friedman, 542 and Wayne Storey, 519. Long-standing challenger Francis Gurgui received 161.

In Rondout Valley, where issues were raised in the school board race over political stances in the classroom, testing, and school safety, it was an incumbents' day. And the biggest vote getter ended up being a member of the extended Parete family, who've controlled local politics — where they've wanted to run — throughout the last decade.

For the district's $61 million budget, 871 voted yes and 392 no. As for the board races, Nicole Parete came in highest with 772, while incumbents Rebecca Versace and Wayne Beckerman came in at 737 and 617 votes, respectively. Also running were former board member Pamela Longley, with 480, and Gerry Fornino with 457.

"I am thankful for the strong support from our community for our school budget," noted district superintendent Rosario Agostaro of the vote. "We will continue to look for external funding to assist with the funding of several new initiatives."

Finally, in Pine Bush, the district's proposed $109 million budget passed by a tentative number, as of press time Wednesday afternoon, of 1,266 to 409 against. For the ballot candidates, incumbent Roseanne Sullivan received 1,320 votes.

What complicated matters this election were write-in votes, with district observers noting that "confusion came because people wrote in something like fifty or more names at random. Bill Hermmann [Mamakating town supervisor] got a couple votes as did many other names... so everyone got a little freaked out all day."

In the final round, Peter Agro, a Wallkill school district teacher with backing from the Pine Bush Teachers Association, won very handily with an 892 vote tally.

As for what this all translates to in terms of future candidates strengths is anyone's guess for now. Especially when districts such as Pine Bush are now looking at ward voting instead of the current "at large" system.

Elsewhere around the region, turnouts were similarly down excepting a few hotspots where major races or hyper-local issues ruled the roost.

New board candidates get voted in at annual reorganization meetings in July.



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