White Plains CitizeNetReporter - W.A.V.E. Commentary on Board of Education Elections

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS STREET. By Steven Rabinowitz of White Plains Alliance for Vision in Education (W.A.V.E.). June 6, 2003:With regard to the outcome of Tuesday's Board election and budget vote in White Plains, on behalf of WAVE I would like to say firstly and foremost how pleased we are to see such an overwhelming majority voting in favor of the school budget. The 83% Yes vote was the largest favorable majority in Westchester. As with last year, it shows that even when there are contested elections, we see a community that unites around its schools and supports them. Our thanks to Superintendent Connors, Asst. Superintendent Richard Lasselle and all the staff in the District, along with the Board and members of the Annual Budget Committee, who contributed to framing this budget.

Secondly, we note that while voter turnout was down somewhat from last year, the number of voters this year still far exceeds the turnouts for a number of years prior to last year. This demonstrates that when there are real choices to be made and open debate and discussion that people will turn out. There is much room for improvement, but we are encouraged by the number of people who show a real interest in what happens with our schools.

We congratulate our two endorsed candidates, incumbent Peter Bassano and newcomer Terence McGuire, on their great success in placing first and second in the voting respectively. It should be noted that for two consecutive years WAVE endorsed candidates have placed first and second in fields of five. The credit for their success however belongs to Peter and Terry, who showed the voters their real merits. We believe that the Board will benefit greatly from their presence over the next three years.

To newcomer Michael Seymour, we offer regrets on his not being elected, but we are pleased to see that he had a respectable showing. Mike made a good effort, and we believe that he will have much to contribute to our District in the future. We are proud of all of the WAVE endorsed candidates who each ran their own campaigns with their own perspectives.

To incumbents Donna McLaughlin and Michelle Trataros we also send congratulations on their re-election. We respect their contributions and hope that we all can unite when needed around common goals for the children of White Plains.

Lastly, we thank all of those friends and supporters who helped get the WAVE message out each in their own way. We feel that what is most important here is not the face of WAVE as an organization but what WAVE stands for--open, honest and inclusive dialogue on the future of our schools and our children.

This year's election helped engage people in the governance of our schools, and all the candidates contributed their thoughts and ideas to the process. We have accomplished much since WAVE began in February of last year, and we will continue to work to that end in the future and hope for bigger and better things for the White Plains schools in years to come.


Create an account		The White Plains Daily Internet Newspaper...Founded 2000 A.D....


			Designed and hosted by WestchesterInternet.com