Maria Asnis and Barbara Carlton Support Israel for School Board

Here are letters from Maria Asnis and Barbara Carlton in support of Irin Israel for Scarsdale Board of Education

To the Editor:
I am voting for Irin Israel for Board of Education on May 18.

I am a parent with my oldest daughter in Kindergarten. My husband I moved to Scarsdale when was 4 weeks old. We chose this community, in large part, for the stellar reputation of the schools. She is now in school for the full day with her truly amazing teacher and has made friends with children in her class. She is happy and flourishing.

But as many of you parents out there know and lest we all forget, the year didn’t start this way.

Like me, many of you, flocked to the Zoom Board of Education meetings, staying up late to speak and to try to get answers to our questions – Why weren’t the children in school for more hours? What objective measures were being used to get more of our children in school safely?

These questions and many more were not directly answered.

Like me, many of you, sent emails to the Board and the administration. As a physician, mine were focused on advocating an objective Medical Advisory Panel and questioning the validity of the particular COVID-19 testing the Administration and Board had chosen for the district. The advisory panel was rebuffed and the board, in response, chose to eliminate a clause in the bylaws calling for medical officer positions. I also had questions about COVID-19 testing and the consent forms proposed and I did not get response.

Like me, some of you spoke at the Board meetings. I was one of the lucky community members that spoke at the very meeting where the Board voted to limit public comment – leaving many to wait until late into the night to be heard.

The Board this year has consistently failed to provide me, as a parent, with transparency and accountability. It is clear to me that a different voice on the Board is needed. A voice I can trust.
Irin Israel, spoke up for parents and our children consistently and courageously throughout this year. He has committed to being transparent and accountable to the community if he is elected.

I am a parent with a child in our schools. I will vote for him and let him be our voice.

Maria Asnis

To the Editor:
I am voting for Irin Israel, and I don’t even know him! Why? Because as a parent following most of the Board of Education meetings, I started to hear his passion, time and time again, speaking up with prepared speeches about the reopening of our schools. Whether or not I agreed with everything he presented doesn’t matter. Why? Because I am looking for a candidate that I know is questioning and evaluating our options then taking those ideas and being actively engaged in our school administration and board meetings either from speaking up or sending e-mails.

Hearing Irin over the fall and winter months, that’s what I have gathered and learned about him. I feel he was bringing forth multiple options for our school administration and Board and it allowed me as a parent to make informed decisions on whether or not to send my child to school this year.

My impression of Irin, from those meetings, as well as his active involvement in our local Facebook town and school groups, is that he is someone who found the time to research, talk with architects, medical experts, ask questions, and send follow ups to our Board and administration on his findings. This shows a deep level of care for his children, our children, and our community and not to just allow the status quo to be. He shouldn’t have had to do this, but he felt it was necessary to show both the current Board and the administration other options that they potentially weren’t looking in to as well as be the voice to some of us parents.
We were (and still are) in unprecedented times, and to see someone step up and offer up the evaluation that he did, doesn’t need any other resume from me to evaluate on May 18th.

Over the course of the 3-year term as the focus switches significantly away from Covid, I feel confident that he will continue to ask questions and ask for alternatives on other subjects that come before the Board, whether or not he is an expert in the area, such as he has done during the pandemic.

Barbara Carlton
Nelson Road