Four vie for two Brockport Board of Education seats

Voters in the Brockport School District will be asked to choose two candidates from a slate of four when they go to the polls on May 18. On the ballot will be incumbents Joan Fenton and Fred Porter, newcomer Sarah Brinklow and Terry Wolfe who has sought a board seat in the past.

Seats on the board of education carry five year terms.

Brinklow has two children attending Brockport schools and has lived in the district for 16 years. She said she is running for the seat from the perspective of a parent rather than an administrator. "I don't have a lot of experience in the classic sense but I do have concerns from the practical sense," she said.

Saying that the maintenance of the art and music departments should be as much of a priority as sports, Brinklow said that extra curricular activities are a big concern. "I don't want to see any of the extras suffer but I think that the arts should remain on equal footing with sports," she said.

Term limits are also a concern for Brinklow who says that possibly shortening the term and having term limits might be a draw for potential candidates.

"I do have an issue with the high school policy whereby they will give parental and student notification of failure halfway through the school year," Brinklow said. "I believe it should be given earlier in the year because it sends a message to the kids that they are beyond reproach and are dooming them to failure. There should also be an earlier implementation of identifying children with special needs and emotional issues. We don't want those kids to fall between the cracks."

Joan Fenton, a 36-year member of the district, is seeking her second five-year term to the board. She said her time on the board of education has been gratifying, adding that she likely spent the first two years learning and is now completely up to speed on all that goes in to being a board member.

"We are in the midst of difficult financial times in the sense that we have limited resources but want to provide a quality education for our students," she said. "It's important, at these times, to have stability on the board."

Fenton said the budget process was "very tight" and that since the district doesn't have final state aid figures from Albany that board members were predicating their decisions on receiving a little more aid than they did last year. "There's a bit of frustration because we find we get less state funding and more unfunded mandates from both the state and federal governments."

One of those programs, Fenton explained, is IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) which was implemented by the federal government with a promise of 40 percent funding. "We're only getting 17 percent," she stated.

Fenton said her background in education, as a parent in the community, as a teacher and now as a senior citizen lends her a unique perspective which she brings to the board.

Incumbent Fred Porter is also seeking election to his second five-year term on the board of education. He echoes Fenton's sentiments in that it takes a couple of years to truly immerse oneself in all that goes into serving on a board. Porter has lived in the district for more than 20 years.

Porter said there has been a great amount of transition during his time on the board. "When I first started, we had a bit more money and not as much accountability and now there is not as much money and much more accountability."

In the past, Porter said, the district has deferred some maintenance items, but when it comes to a choice of cutting in the classroom, it is an easy decision. "We have to continue to show improvement in academic achievement so we restructure our financing to accommodate the changing aid structure," he said. "We've asked educators to put together five year plans for funding special projects."

Stability on the board is of utmost importance, Porter said. "This board has a vision of where we want to see the district go in the next 10 years and I want to be here to see that through to the end."

Terry Wolfe, who has run for a board seat in the past, said that since his retirement from the military he has tried to become involved in the district. "The education of our children is the most important thing and we have to make sure we do it right," he said.

Wolfe cites his management skills as an asset to the board. "I think the present board is doing a lousy job as far as the budget and contract negotiations with the teachers," he said. "The budget is out of line."

Bringing a new perspective and a different opinion to the board is something that Wolfe said is necessary for the district and that is what he will bring, he said.

Voting for board of education members and the district's budget will be held Tuesday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Barclay Elementary School, the middle school and the high school.