Find out who’s running for trustee for Port Jeff/Comsewogue school board

Comsewogue Union Free School District

Two seats are up for Comsewogue’s school board, and both remain uncontested.

Comsewogue’s budget vote and trustee election will occur May 21 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Comsewogue High School.

Robert DeStefano

Current trustee Robert DeStefano is looking forward to continuing along with the board, all the while continuing on without longtime superintendent Joe Rella at the helm of the district.

The trustee said he is “born and raised,” in the Comsewogue school district, and has lived in the district for more than 40 years. He is finishing his ninth year on the board and is looking for his fourth term on the board.

“It’s a special place to be, it’s a special place to grow up, it’s a wonderful place to raise a family, and I’m just proud to serve the community,” he said.

With the outgoing Rella and incoming superintendent Jennifer Quinn, DeStefano said he expects it to be a smooth transition.

“As a student of his, and having worked with him, it’s been a wonderful experience,” he said. “Dr. Quinn’s been in this district for so much of the same time, and her accomplishments in the district speak for themselves.”

DeStefano has two kids enrolled in the district and holds degrees in business marketing and business management from New York University Stern School of Business and holds a master’s of business administration degree from Long Island University. He currently works as a product marketing manager at IT company ivanti.

He said he is looking forward to finally beginning work with the $32 million bond proposal, which was passed by residents in a 2018 vote. This summer the bond will begin to address parking lots in the two elementary schools and will improve athletic fields and address other exterior building infrastructure.

“It will allow us to make investments in the district in a variety of ways, in a very fiscally responsible way in the next several years,” he said. 

He said he sees the new budget as fiscally responsible, with the tax levy rise a full percentage point lower than the cap. He said it is especially important, because as he sees it, the economy will eventually take a turn for the worse, following the cycle of boom and bust.

“You can’t just go to the cap because it’s there, you have to be responsible with the funds we get from our residents,” he said. “My time on the board started as we were just trying to pull out of the last recession. I don’t have a crystal ball to say how bad the next one will be, but I know there is going to be one, you don’t need a crystal ball to tell that.” 

Continuing disagreement with New York State over Common Core, DeStefano said he wished there could be more direct dialogue with leadership in Albany. While he appreciated the efforts of representatives like New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), he said the district will continue to respect parents’ decisions to opt out.

Francisca Alabau-Blatter 

Trustee Francisca Alabau-Blatter is running again unopposed for her seat on the school board.

Alabau-Blatter did not respond to requests for comment.

Originally from Spain, she moved to Long Island at 13 years old. She has three kids in Comsewogue and teaches Spanish in the Central Islip school district. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art education and a master’s degree in computer graphics.

Port Jefferson School District

Three seats are currently up for vote in the Port Jefferson School District, with two set for a three-year term commencing July 1, 2019 and ending June 30, 2022, and one a two-year term making up for the unexpired term of Adam DeWitt, from May 21, 2019 to June 30, 2020.  With two incumbents running again for their positions, two newcomers are also hoping to offer their services to the school board.

The Port Jefferson trustee election and budget vote will occur May 21 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Port Jefferson High School.

Ryan Biedenkapp

Ryan Biedenkapp came onto the board last year after Adam DeWitt, then elected to his third term, resigned in August 2018. The then-board voted 4-1 to bring Biedenkapp onto the board after he ran for it in May that year, and now he is seeking a full term in his current seat.

A nine-year resident of Port Jefferson, the candidate said he has three kids enrolled in the district, a 15-year-old and two 13-year-olds. His son, Parker, has autism.

He currently works in the biotech industry in the sales department for biopharmaceutical company AbbVie. 

With having kids of differing ages and experiences, Biedenkapp said he’s able to keep in mind the many young people in the district, from those on sports teams to those with special needs.

“I think having somebody with a broad range of knowledge of what’s offered — what’s available, what’s good, what’s working, what’s not, what do we have that we’re really proud of that we want to keep, what do we think we need to do a little better with,” he said.

Biedenkapp said he, along with the rest of the board, was active and engaged in this year’s search for a superintendent to replace Paul Casciano, who will now be leaving in October. 

“You have to drop your ego, and you have to look for a compromise,” he said. “If you can come at it with a logical, rational act, always placing quality education for your children as true north, then you can come up with some really good decisions.”

While the trustee pointed to the board’s work on the current budget as fiscally sound, he said that with the downvote of the 2017 bond referendum, there needs to be a significant look into school’s infrastructure.

In the wake of the settlement between the Town of Brookhaven and Long Island Power Authority, which will reduce its tax payments to the district over time by 50 percent, the board has had discussions about consolidating or removing school programs with low enrollment. Biedenkapp said it will be a hard decision process going into the future, there are some classes with low turnout that still require a full state-certified teacher to be present.

“When you look at it down at a micro level, it shows were not doing the best we can for all our students,” he said.

He added it’s important the board show their support toward teachers, especially when it comes to Common Core testing or mandated tests that the board has had discussions of recently.

Ellen Boehm

Ellen Boehm, a 26-year resident of Port Jefferson and graduate of Port Jefferson High School, said she is running again for her seven-year seat to help the district deal with issues such as the outcome of the LIPA settlement.

“In consideration of what’s finally been resolved with the LIPA issue, that we have a glide path, as a district and community we have to identify what we want to keep or strengthen in programs, and what’s really not important to us,” Boehm said. “We have an exceptional education program. As a community we have to decide what we have to spend money on when things get tight, and perhaps they won’t get tight … we have to have some very candid conversations.”

The candidate said she has agreed with the incoming superintendent Jessica Schmettan, who said she hopes to resurrect the budget advisory committee, allowing residents to sit down and discuss what will and what won’t be cut in future budgets. She said there are residents who need to be able to talk about the school budget who might be retired or not have students within the school district. She said the district will also need to pay attention to the infrastructure of its schools and grounds and pay attention to what may need to get fixed in the future.

“We all have different interests, and we all need to work together to see that we have a great, stable school,” she said.

Both her daughters are graduates of the school district. 

She said the strengths of the school district are its diverse and in-depth education programs and its wide base of extracurricular activities. 

“We don’t have a lot of wasted spending in the budget,” she said. “The past boards have been pretty fiscally responsible.”

She added the current board works well together, and whenever there is disagreement, it is always handled professionally and openly.

“There’s many times we don’t all come from the same thought process, and the open exchange of ideas and the conversations we have are great,” she said. “It’s not a board that spends time fighting. We all have that common interest to do what’s best for the community.”

Randi DeWitt

Randi DeWitt, 43, said she grew up in Port Jefferson, and while she moved away first for college and later for work, it was its quaint setting that drew her back home, where she has now lived for close to 40 years. She now has two kids in the school district, one in eighth grade, and the other in ninth grade, and she said she felt it was time to run for school board now that her kids are a little more independent.

“It’s a great way to volunteer and to give back to my community,” she said. “I grew up in a family that always encouraged community service.”

The trustee candidate has been a teacher for several years at Mount Sinai Elementary School, teaching first-graders. She has been the designated inclusion teacher in the district for several years and teaches both typical students and students with special needs. 

She said that her education experience, along with having attended schools in Port Jefferson from kindergarten through 12th grade, gives her insight in what needs to be done for the district, especially in terms of the ongoing budget changes the district will experience due to the fallout from the LIPA settlement.

“It gives me some insight and vision for the school district,” she said. “Ultimately I would love to preserve the programs we currently have, while also managing and realizing these fiscal challenges that are going to lie ahead due to LIPA.”

While the district has had discussions about the need to either consolidate or cut programs with low enrollment to stay under budget, DeWitt said while she would love to preserve as many programs as possible, she would like to be there to help determine that important programs don’t get slashed.

“Being a teacher, and having the best interest of Port Jefferson, I would hope any board member running for school board has the needs of the students who attend the schools at heart,” she said. “I would like to be part of that decision-making process.”

Mia Farina

Mia Farina, a seven-year Port Jeff resident, is throwing her hat in the ring for the second year in a row, saying she could bring a fresh perspective on school security.

Farina has lived in Port Jefferson for seven years, having spent two years in itself trying to find a place to live in the village, saying it was the locally renowned school district that spawned her desire to help raise her now 7-year-old son.

She said her main concern is giving the community a voice on the school board and getting them more involved.

“Everyone talks budget, budget, but my concern is — are the children being lost because we talk about budget every meeting,” she said. 

The candidate has spent 21 years in law enforcement, and currently works as a detective for the New York City Police Department. She said there are several things the district can do to enhance the security of its buildings. While emphasis in Port Jefferson, and many other surrounding districts, has been put on security vestibules and identification card systems, she said she would hope to emphasize teaching kids to notice problem signs and teaching them about warning signs and what to do in an emergency situation. She said it can be taught in a fun and engaging way. 

“Kids are already inside the school, and the vestibule isn’t going to help protect those kids that are already inside the school,” Farina said. “I would like to implement more hands-on with the children, so that they can notice things, without scaring them … It’s being proactive instead of reactive.”

While Farina admitted she is not as adept with finances as other members of the board, she said the effect of LIPA, and the talk about cutting certain classes or programming, has her concerned. If current students enjoy certain classes, she said, it should only be fair that children like her 7-year-old should get that same opportunity down the road.

“My concern is keeping programs or helping keep from cutting programs when things come down to the wire,” she said. “I would like to sit down, you tell me what the budget is, and let us find ways to keep things, combine things together, or get grants or assistance from other school districts you can share … I need to know that there are other things being looked at.”

This post has been amended from when it was originally published in the May 9 edition of the Port Times Record amending the number of seats contested for the Port Jefferson School District.