Syracuse students will see four new members on their school board after the November election.
Four of the seven education commission seats are up for election and none of the incumbents are running. Seven candidates want to fill the four open seats. The election is Nov. 8.
The Democratic candidates are Bill Bullen, vice president of sales and marketing for Symphony Video, a video content management company; Michelle Mignano, a public health officer for Onondaga County; Stephen Swift, owner and chief executive officer of Blue Water Capital Management and Max Ruckdeschel, a stay-at-home dad and former public policy researcher at the Regional Institute at State University of New York at Buffalo. Ruckdeschel also has the Working Families party’s endorsement.
Republican candidates are Delilah Fiumara, a retired principal at Porter Elementary School; Sarah Gilbert, a stay-at-home mom and former elementary teacher and Edward J. McLaughlin, of the West Side of Syracuse. All three have the Independence and Conservative parties’ endorsement.
The Conservative Party is also reserving a line for a write-in candidate, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
Winners of the Nov. 8 election will take the seats of four incumbents who are not seeking re-election: Calvin Corriders, a Democrat and board member of 12 years; Ned Deuel, a Democrat and an education commissioner of eight years; Laurie Menkin, a Democrat and board member of 12 years; Nancy K. McCarty, a Democrat on the board for eight years. Deuel and McCarty were also endorsed by the Working Families Party.
Remaining on the school board are Richard Strong, board president; Patricia Body, vice president; and Monique Wright-Williams. All three are Democrats.
Education commissioners are responsible for setting the school district policies and its budget. They also hire and evaluate the superintendent. The salary for an education commissioner is $7,500 a year.
Syracuse schools face burgeoning class sizes, run-down buildings and pressure to meet state testing goals despite budget cuts and fewer teachers. Last year, the school board eliminated more than 300 teachers across the district.
Syracuse students suffer primarily from poverty, said Ned Deuel, an incumbent who is not seeking re-election. “Eighty percent of our kids live in poverty. And the reason that’s an important issue is that the parent is the primary teacher and the kids in poverty don’t have that kind of parent support,” he said.
Syracuse schools are turning their pockets inside-out as well, Deuel said. “It’s the situation where we don’t have the funding to hire the amount of people we need to be successful, really,” he said.
The candidates for the four seats agree that Syracuse schools need to spend more efficiently, but they differ on how the district should deal with the fallout from budget cuts and still raise students’ performance. Here are thumbnail sketches of this year’s candidates:
Bill Bullen (Democrat)
Bullen, 56, of the East Side of Syracuse, is the vice president of sales and marketing for Symphony Video, a video content management company.
The youngest students in Syracuse schools are his main concern, he said. “The biggest issue that we have is that if you don’t get it right between ages 3 and 8, you’re probably going to fail,” he said. Getting it right, he said, means transmitting good behaviors like sharing to students. That, he said, will help them lead healthier and more successful adult lives.
Bullen calls for the school board to focus on overarching district policy and leave specifics, such as rules regarding cell phones in class, to administrators and teachers. “It helps us not to micromanage,” he said.
Delilah Fiumara (Conservative, Independence, Republican)
Fiumara, 66, of the south-west side of Syracuse, worked for the Syracuse City School District for 35 years. From 2000 to 2066, she was the principal of Porter Elementary School on the west side of Syracuse.
Fiumara calls for the district’s schools to cut down on excessive spending by outlining a mission statement with measurable goals. “When you have a plan in place,” said Fiumara, “then you can justify spending what you’re doing.”
The district needs to assign as much accountability for students’ progress to its main offices as it does to its teachers, she said.
Her strongest qualification as a commissioner, she said, is persistence. “I know how to ask questions and I don’t stop,” she said.
Sarah Gilbert (Conservative, Independence, Republican)
Sarah Gilbert, 38, of the Strathmore neighborhood, is a stay-at-home mom.
Syracuse schools should turn their attention to the resources they have, instead of focusing on what’s missing, she said. This means finding more ways to involve Say Yes To Education in the schools, she said. Its programs, she said, help students get ready to learn. At the same time, crumbling school buildings must be repaired, she said. “Very little has been done,” she said. “Now they are really falling apart.”
When it comes to parents, she said, “We have to figure out ways to let parents know they are an important part of kids’ education.”
Michelle Mignano (Democrat)
Michelle Mignano, 41, of the East Side of Syracuse, is a public health compliance officer for Onondaga County. Her top education priority, she said, is Syracuse schools partnering with Syracuse businesses to offer vocational training programs in the schools. This way, she said, students will receive real-world job experience before they graduate. They will also develop connections with the Syracuse businesses and likely be offered jobs upon graduation, she said.
“Kids who get a job coming out of high school or college,” said Mignano, “are years ahead of adults who don’t have that same connection.”
Dilapidated schools send the wrong message to children, Mignano said. “We need to make sure that our children see our schools as a great place to be,” she said.
Edward J. McLaughlin (Republican, Independence)
Edward J. McLaughlin, 63, of the West Side of Syracuse, is a retired Syracuse police officer and retired small business owner. He served on the school board from 1998-2002.
His top issues, he said, are ineptness and failed leadership among the school board and school administrators. The solution to these problems lies in heightened supervision of employees through tenure reform and merit-based pay, McLaughlin said.
The school board also needs to rethink its priorities to align them with taxpayers’ priorities, he said. “As a board member, your loyalty is not to administrators or faculty. It’s to all these human beings, to citizens, to taxpayers,” he said.
Max Ruckdeschel (Democrat, Working Families)
Max Ruckdeschel, 30, of the East Side of Syracuse, is a stay-at-home dad. He is a former public policy researcher at SUNY Buffalo and a cartographer.
Ruckdeschel called for an end to what he calls political “rigmarole” surrounding Syracuse schools. The biggest example of this came in May when Mayor Stephanie Miner vetoed a $2.4 million tax hike intended to bolster Syracuse schools, he said.
He also called for more collaboration between the school board and the Common Council. His greatest qualification, he said, is his ability to get along with different types of people.
“I’m pretty good at getting along with everyone I meet,” he said. “My goal is to go one-on-one with all the players that need to make the decisions and make sure we’re all on the same page.”
Stephen Swift (Democrat)
Stephen Swift, 56, of the East Side of Syracuse, is the owner and chief executive officer of Blue Water Capital Management.
A major problem for the schools, he said, is uncertainty among teachers and administrators about their roles. “There’s 4,000 employees in the place and I don’t think anybody has a clue or an understanding of what their job details are,” he said. Teachers lack standardized curriculum to make education consistent across the district, he said.
Detailed job descriptions for district employees and curriculum that is consistent throughout Syracuse schools will help to revive the city, Swift said. The district’s main problem is that teachers and administrators in the school district aren’t sure of their roles, Swift said.
“The teachers are all kind of flying on their own. We have 4,000 people, each one of them working on an island,” he said.
(Annie Knox is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
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