By Kimberly Brown
Karen Pitka and Paul Staudt are running Tuesday, May 18, for two available seats for a three-year term on the Mount Sinai School District Board of Education.
Karen Pitka
Pitka has lived in Mount Sinai since 2011. Celebrating her 20th year as a fourth-grade teacher this fall, she is an educator in the school district. She has experience in teaching second and fifth grade, and spends her free time being director of the school’s drama club.
Having the experience in teaching elementary school, Pitka also was the leader of her schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports team and has created presentations to faculty, staff and other Long Island educators about motivating and engaging elementary classroom practices.
When Pitka isn’t working, she spends time with her three children who are 7, 6 and 2 years old.
Having been recently nominated by the district administration and selected to serve on a standards committee for New York State educators, she is prepared to run for the school board.
“Being an elementary school teacher, I feel that I am well versed in what our children need,” she said, “All of our children have suffered greatly from the closure of the school in 2020 along with the hybrid learning plan into 2021. During these unprecedented times, I feel I will be able to offer the proper guidance as to what our students truly need due to being involved in it every day in my own classroom.”
Having young children in the community, Pitka has a vested interest in the well-being of all Mount Sinai students. She also feels having longevity in the district is important.
Paul Staudt
Staudt, a heavy equipment technician for Komatsu America Corp, was born and raised in Mount Sinai. He has two children who are currently attending Mount Sinai schools. Both Staudt and his wife Krista have grown up in the same town and have been married for 19 years.
After battling a very tough year with the pandemic, Staudt felt it was imperative to run for the school board. Despite the current BOE doing their best to work through the COVID-19 crisis, he believes he can offer a different perspective if elected.
“Obviously over the last year, some issues and concerns have arisen from both the parents and teaching perspective,” he said. “There’s been a lot of issues with clarity. Their communication to the community, in my opinion, is outdated.”
With a broad background of different jobs Staudt has accomplished throughout his life, he feels he is well rounded and will be able to aid the board in achieving transparency.
“I am a nine-year military veteran, I have 23 years as a volunteer fireman, I am also a tradesman,” he said, “All of these things, coupled with my life in Mount Sinai, bring a different perspective to the board.”
Staudt said he feels the board needs more diversity: “I think that is what a school board needs, people of varying backgrounds with different perspectives. We, as a board, need to put our personal experiences together and use that to make decisions in the best interest of all of our children.”
As the school district makes the transition from online meetings to in-person, Staudt hopes the same amount of people who have been attending the online meetings will translate into coming down for the actual board meetings.
“I’ve been around a long time, I grew up in this town, so to be able to step into this role and be able to look at things through a different lens is something you need to have on a board,” he said.
Voting
The school budget and board of education votes take place Tuesday, May 18, at the Mount Sinai Elementary School back gym at 118 North Country Road, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
