I am seeking re-election to the Croton-Harmon Board of Education

Post date: May 09, 2019 10:31:11 AM

Dear Friends in the Croton-Harmon School District:

Six years ago I first asked you, our school community, to elect me to to be a member of the Croton-Harmon Board of Education, and you chose me, from among a large field, to be one of two trustees selected that year to serve. Three years ago, I asked you again, and you again selected me for this position.

I write to you again today, announcing my candidacy for re-election to the Croton-Harmon Board of Education, seeking a third three-year term.

In 2013, and again in 2016, I noted that we all have great hopes for our children, for our community, and for our society as a whole, and that the greatest opportunity to affect our future for the positive lies in providing all of the children of our community with an excellent education – one appropriate to their talents, needs, desires and aspirations, providing a strong foundation for their lives. This still holds true today.

I still feel that school boards must, first and foremost, find and support the very best educational opportunities for our children. We must teach them to be knowledgeable scholars, creative problem solvers, imaginative inventors, innovative leaders, compassionate friends, and critical thinkers, so that they may become our next great generation. As a trustee I too must look past the successes of the past, and the limitations of the present, to see and support the very best future possibilities for our students.

Being a trustee for the past six years has meant being a critical part of something essential for our community, building an already great institution to further heights. I have fostered the creation of a new foreign language instruction at our elementary school, improved math programs at the middle school, and the creation of new computer science and engineering programs at the high school. Our 5-year strategic coherence plan was created and is under implementation, as is an ambitious capital improvement plan to modernize our school facilities. The Flex program and Culture of Respect Task Forces have been instituted to better support students social and emotional needs. A school lunch program is in the process of being launched, ensuring that every student receives a healthy and tasty meal, even if family finances are difficult.

There have also been some significant advocacy successes. Some (but not enough) testing relief has been achieved, and student privacy has been improved. The Gap Elimination Adjustment was eliminated (but unfortunately not all of the funds that are owed to schools have yet been paid). This year, we saw the institution of legislation to enable schools to create a new kind of dedicated reserve fund that school districts can use to better prepare for fluctuating (but mandatory) annual contributions to the Teacher Retirement System.

Of course, we have also selected a new superintendent, new assistant superintendents for curriculum and for business, two new school principals, one new assistant principal, and several new faculty members. Some of the new appointees are educators who have been known to us for many years — but others come to us from far and wide, with strong success in prior postings, recommendations from trusted colleagues, thorough vetting by our own administration, and review by the Board of Education. Our new appointees have an expansive vision of education. They are grounded in known effective techniques, but are innovative and creative in their approach to instruction, and in their interaction with students.

All of the above has been accomplished within constantly tightening fiscal constraints, and while remaining below the 2% tax levy cap.

However, as was true in 2016, there is still significant work to be done! The implementation of the 5-year strategic coherence plan is still under way, as is our capital plan, and the rollout of the school lunch program. There is important advocacy work yet to be done: More state funding and relief from unfunded mandates is still needed; there is still an excessive amount of state-mandated testing, and laws and regulations that attempt to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to learning need to be changed. I will continue to remind our legislators to provide support for education, without shackling schools with unreasonable mandates or requirements.

Of course, all of this must be done while remaining within fiscal constraints. We must manage the district's finances in such a way that living in Croton remains affordable, and use your tax dollars efficiently.

In my third term as trustee I will continue to strive to make our great schools even better. I will continue to focus on the actual education of our youth rather than on the mere satisfaction of external mandates, and will be innovative and creative in seeking the best possible programs for our children. As before I will guide our district in supporting a corps of administrators and faculty that implement creative, effective, and forward-thinking solutions to the educational challenges of today, and of tomorrow. And I will always speak out for doing what is right for the children.

I hope that you will vote to re-elect me to the Board of Education in the upcoming schools election, on May 21, 2019, as I seek a third 3-year term.

For the kids,

Joshua Moses Diamond

josh@windowoffire.com

The principal feature of extraordinary leaders is that they make unreasonable requests.