Votes for Crouch and Singer are Votes for Open Dialogue and Transparency on the School Board

This letter was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Mitch Kahn of Brewster Road
Since joining the SNBC over a year ago, I have received lots of feedback from our neighbors about their experience with and image of the school board. While most people appreciate the hard work and dedication of the board members, I share the belief that the school board and the administration have areas where they can improve. This year, the SNBC has provided a slate of candidates that will work to address the most common concerns about the school board and the administration and ask that you vote for the SNBC Slate of Woodrow Crouch and Alison Singer.

I have identified four main areas that I believe the community would like to see improved:

1. People should be welcomed and encouraged to speak in from of the school board and the administration; and doing so should not be an unpleasant or unfriendly experience.

2. The school board and administration should more effectively and transparently communicate with the residents about the board’s planning and decision-making.

3. Community members should be allowed and encouraged to ask board members their thoughts and positions on issues and express their concerns with individual board members.

4. Individual board members should explain their opinions on important issues.

Woodrow Crouch and Allison Singer represent what is best about Scarsdale and understand the importance of engagement and transparency.

Woody has spent over 40 years in Scarsdale raising his family here and remaining in town when his children returned with their families to be near his grandchildren. He has worked on numerous boards and is as approachable as anyone I have ever met. In his time at Con Edison, Woody was involved in community outreach to listen to and address community concerns about various Con Ed projects and worked to balance the logistical needs with emotional community members. Throughout it all, he was dedicated to solve complex problems with grace, compassion and a soft spoken nature that left those engaged in the process feeling heard. His time at Con Edison is the perfect experience for the board’s responsibilities in the near future as it faces the negotiation of its contracts with the union and other critical district needs including continued capital improvements and efforts to increase our STEAM curriculum. Woody has negotiated with numerous unions and municipalities, assisted with the construction of several major capital projects involving the construction of power plants. Finally, not to be overlooked, I know he will provide an ear and a voice to the older, and often under represented, senior members of our community who I know still care a great deal about Scarsdale.

Alison is as accomplished a potential board member as we have seen. She sent her two children through the school system on very different paths. Having a child that has special needs and a super high achieving child that has gone on to attend Yale, Alison has a dual perspective of the education programs and opportunities that our schools provide. This is a person who understands, first hand, the responsibility that a superior public school system has to all of its students, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses. I also believe that Alison’s professional background as an accomplished television producer will help to improve the board’s messaging and communications efforts. Finally, I know Allison is a person who is unafraid to speak her mind and will work to challenge the status quo in areas where she sees need for improvement.
So I ask the readers of this paper, what do you want your school board to be? Do you want to help make it better, warmer and friendlier? Do you want your ELECTED officials to actually listen to their constituents and explain their opinions? Do you want the board to better communicate with the public? Do you want to feel that you are being heard and respected?

If that is the case, then I implore you to vote for the SBNC slate of Woodrow Crouch and Allison Singer. They are a big step in the right direction.

Mitch Kahn
198 Brewster Road