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Miller Place Teachers Association
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Letter to the Miller Place-Sound Beach Community
My name is John Magnani and I am a 30+ year resident of Miller Place and a community member who served on the MPUFSD Board of Education for four terms in the positions of a trustee and of the board president. I am writing to speak out on issues pertaining to our 2022 school board election.
Currently, we have seven residents running for three school board positions, Three are running as a group: Ken Conway, Jenna Stingo and Jennifer Andersen-Oldenskow, who proudly tell us that they are endorsed by seven outside community groups but this publicly acknowledged alliance is, I will argue, problematic. Miller Place has a rich history of nothaving groups outside our community getting involved in our community’s school board elections and there is wisdom in that. These are groups whose intended reach are beyond local concerns; their reach is towards regional, state and federal influence. Local school boards have no place as pawns for that reach.
Miller Place, as districts do, has always had its local resident tax and spending and educational content watchdogs exercising their right to offer differing views and suggestions, rooted in their vested interest in our community and shared in the open forum of a school board meeting, through letters to the editor such as this one and through other face to face conversations responsibly directed to MPUFSD leaders from MPUFSD residents on MPUFSD matters and for no other gain and that is exactly as it should be.
And then there are the specifics of the Ken Conway/ Jenna Stingo/ and Jennifer Andersen-Oldenskow and Outside Groups platform which should cause concern. Here are several concerning points:
Part of their platform uses the buzz words, “parental choice” and while that sounds nice, what does that mean exactly? Which parent’s choice do they mean? Yours? Mine? Theirs? All too often “Parental choice” means “Keep me happy and restrict everybody else’s viewpoint.” A motto to keep here is “out of many-one” not “out of one-many.” Public education on whole must always begin with what is best for the many, not what’s best for one. To say that “What I don’t want, everyone must not want” is not sound public education policy.
Another part of the Ken Conway/ Jenna Stingo/ Jennifer Andersen-Oldenskow and Outside Groups platform is more “transparency”. Over the years, I can safely say that this is a very popular platform for those who run for school boards. Another buzz word that sounds good but, in this case, actually is generally a good idea, until it is contraindicated by law as school districts well know. And where transparency is permissible, keep in mind that school board meetings are public forums, held monthly and in the evening and open for observance and participation by local residents. Board Agendas and Meeting Minutes are published documents on district websites. Responsible conversations are possible within schools and district offices. Board Budget sessions are open to local residents’ observations and participation- before the budget is adopted for community voting. A budget by the way that is always, always overwhelmingly federal, state and contract required expenditures with very little wiggle room for enrichment activities of any kind and still stay within the tax cap. Yet Miller Place continues to do as much as it can in this area while staying within the established tax cap. In fact, I will argue that school boards are the most transparent of any governing body, regional, state, federal, private or public. Transparency exists in school districts but the community members themselves must want to know and seek to know through admittedly time consuming and sometimes unexciting data and law driven documents and meetings-and many meetings over time, not just one meeting.
A final concerning point from the Ken Conway/ Jenna Stingo/ Jennifer Andersen-Oldenskow and Outside Groups platform is with the also currently popular buzz word, “mandates”. The underlying belief in this buzz word is currently: “Don’t like it; don’t agree with it; Ignore, reject, refuse it.” This is problematic in more ways than one. Morally, ethically, socially, politically. One cannot simply do what one wants whenever one disagrees as policy and expect to live in a functioning society. A mandate is a mandate. A rule of order handed down to districts from above. While any Board trustee individually or the Board collectively, can oppose a mandate, none can refuse to implement it. Let me be clear: Board members are sworn into office, sworn to uphold the laws of NYS. Members who fail to do so can and have been removed from office by the State Ed Department. When unsound or unreasonable mandates surface, school boards, who by the way work as a single body, not as individuals, work through recognized organizations like the NYS School Boards Association, Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association, local politicians and more to advocate for change where needed. But they cannot refuse to implement a mandate.
In the end, each of us must answer the question of who will serve our community to the best of his or her ability for the public good. For me, the answer is Johanna Testa and Keith Frank who understand what public education must never be, who understand what transparency can and can not be, who understand how policies and budgets work and, in their words and actions have shown that Miller Place School District interests are their own interests, without any other agenda than that. What is best for Miller Place is for Johanna Testa and Keith Frank to continue serving the Miller Place-Sound Beach community.
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