NYSAPE & Opt Out CNY Recommends Candidates for Two Open Seats

New York State Allies for Public Education interviewed close to two dozen Regent Candidates seeking the at-large and judicial district V (Central NY) open seats for the Board of Regents.  After careful review of the candidates’ resumes, NYSAPE candidate surveys, and personal interviews, we are supporting twelve candidates for the open at-large seat and three candidates for the judicial district V seat. In addition, Opt Out Central NY endorsed the same three candidates for the judicial district V seat.  All 15 candidates have strong public education backgrounds and/or are parent leaders who have a record of advocating for their communities, and we strongly believe they would make excellent Board of Regent members.  
 
The NY State Board of Regents is a 17-member board representing 13 judicial districts and 4 at-large positions, each with five year terms. They establish educational and professional standards and policies.  They act as the “Board of Education” for New York State, and are selected by the State legislature, though up until recently, the appointment process has been less than transparent and incumbent members were automatically re-appointed.
 
The interviews for this year’s two vacant seats will take place on Feb. 3, 9, and 10, in Albany.  For the first time, these interviews will be live-streamed, recorded, and posted on the Assembly website.  By March 8th, the joint Legislature will convene and vote to select the members to fill the two open seats.
 
NYSAPE recently announced its support for Regents Dr. Betty Rosa and Beverly Ouderkirk for Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, respectively. Regents Rosa and Ouderkirk have strong education and leadership backgrounds which will steer the education system in New York in the right direction. We also hope that the Board will move the election for their new leaders from March to April, when the new members will take their seats.
 
“After going through a thorough process, I am confident that all of the candidates we selected would be very productive board members who understand the need for major changes in our current education system.  They will support sound research-based policies that will benefit the public school children whose interests they are supposed to serve.  We are proud and excited to support this excellent pool of candidates,” said Lisa Rudley, Hudson Valley public school parent and NYSAPE founding member.
 
“In the central New York region, it is important to our community to have a Regent who is responsive to the concerns that we have regarding the initiatives being promoted by Governor Cuomo, Commissioner Elia and the New York State Education Department.  In the past, parents felt that their opinions on education reform issues were being ignored by our Regent representative.  We are extremely excited that our search has produced such highly qualified candidates, whose views are more closely aligned with the people who live in central New York,” said Steve Shrey, Central New York public school parent and educator.
 
The candidates NYSAPE is supporting are:
 
At-large seat:
David Bloomfield – educator (Brooklyn)
Martin Brooks – educator (Long Island)
Manuel Felouzis – educator (Long Island)
Tania Mouscardy-Johnson – educator (Long Island)
Marla Kilfoyle – educator (Long Island)
Lisa Eggert Litvin – parent advocate (Westchester)
Colleen McDonald – educator (Cambridge/Capital Region)
Carol Mikoda – educator (Binghamton)
Marlene Natale -educator (Long Island)
Michael Reilly – parent advocate (Staten Island)
Luis Reyes – educator (NYC)
Alan Singer – educator (Long Island)
 
Judicial District V seat (Central NY), also supported by Opt Out CNY:
Tracy Allen – educator
Jessica McNair – educator
John Sheffield -educator
 
Please click here for their resumes and candidate surveys
 
NYSAPE, a grassroots coalition with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state, is calling on parents to continue to opt out by refusing high-stakes, inappropriate testing for the 2015-16 school year.  Go to www.nysape.org  for more details on how to affect changes in education policies.