ISSUES
I am running for school board because I love living in this community and I love the school district. I want to raise a family in Farmingdale and I hope my friends and fellow graduates will do the same. If I earn your vote and am honored to be elected to the Farmingdale school board, these are the three main issues I will focus on.
Proper Implementation of Armed Security
Supporting Our Staff; Especially Our Lower Wage Workers
Financially Sustainable Budget
As active members of the community, I am sure that you are aware of the recent decision made by the Farmingdale School Board that approved the creation of an armed security program on school grounds. Making a decision on this subject must have been difficult, as the answer would be controversial regardless of the conclusion. While the decision has already been made, the implementation has only just begun.
The board has provided our community with some details: armed security will be stationed outside, will be wearing inconspicuous clothing, and will be barred from entering any building without being alerted that an intruder with a deadly weapon has entered. Aside from this, we were told that the board will not be answering any further questions due to safety reasons, however many questions still linger in the wake of this decision.
The school board is elected to represent our voices in the school district and they are obligated to provide us with answers. Understandably, certain information should be kept confidential, such as the guards’ exact locations and their rotation schedule. That would be an actual threat to our security, as the board alluded to. However, there are many valid questions that definitely need to be answered:
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Are we hiring internally or are we subcontracting to an outside firm?
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Who’s handling the vetting process? We shouldn’t rely on the company’s research, we must run our own background checks on any individual placed on school grounds with a firearm.
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What certifications will we require?
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With what type of firearm will they be equipped?
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Who will be overseeing them? The head of our own security, someone in our administration?
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What members of our staff will know who these guards are, or will they be kept completely anonymous?
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How many will be stationed at each building? Will it differ by population or area size?
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Will they remain in their cars all day or will they be walking the grounds as well?
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Will they be near the kids when they’re outside during recess or will they remain in the parking lot?
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Will we have armed security at after school events such as sporting events and concerts?
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What will be the situational qualifications for armed security to enter the building? When a deadly weapon is suspected? Observed? Used?
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What will we consider a deadly weapon?
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Who will be responsible to make the decision to call in the armed security?
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What are the conditions on which said person will make that decision?
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How will armed security be identified by police in the scenario there is an active security threat?
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How will all of this information be presented to students, faculty, parents, and staff?
These and many more questions must be answered before we can adequately implement armed security in Farmingdale schools. The board should not hide but answer these questions head on and work with the community. It is not in the interest of safety to withhold from parents the nature of their child's safety.
I understand the gravity of this topic and the concerns it raises within the Farmingdale school district. If elected to the school board, as part of my dedication and commitment to transparency and honesty, I will actively engage with the community to discuss and share information about the implementation of our armed security. Transparency will be the cornerstone of my approach, ensuring that parents, educators, and community members are kept informed about the rationale on decisions made. Together we can create a safer learning environment for all.
As a Daler, I know firsthand the incredible impact our faculty and staff have on our students. Teachers, principals, counselors, custodians, security guards, and office staff alike guide and instruct our children from an early age to young adults, preparing them along the way for the outside world. Another group that is also impactful to our students, but is often overlooked in their efforts, is our district’s aides. Regrettably, they operate in conditions that do not reflect the compensation they deserve.
Take for example Dawn Olson, the head lunch aide at Woodward Parkway. She has worked in the district for over ten years and was honored last year with the State PTA Honorary Life award by the Woodward Parkway PTA. “Many moons ago” she was also honored with the same award by the Saltzman PTA. Mrs. Olson has gone above and beyond for her kids, including personally chasing down the children who have escaped the schoolyard, preventing them from running into oncoming traffic. Although she’s held in such high regard by coworkers and administration alike, as well as an intrinsic part of the Woodward Parkway team, Mrs. Olson is paid less than $20 an hour. Despite the decade she put into our district Dawn only earns the wage of an average New York intern.
And she’s not the only one. A majority of our aides, including one-on-one special needs aides, only make an average of around $20 an hour, an absurdly low rate. What’s even more reprehensible is that their current contract only calls for a 1.5% increase a year, which equates to an average of 30 cents. At this rate, our aides’ yearly raise can barely afford them a weekly loaf of bread. How can we expect to retain members of our staff if we can’t even pay them a living wage? The answer is we can’t, and we haven’t. We lost over a dozen aides before the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year alone and more plan to leave before the year is done. Farmingdale School District is in an aide deficit, which is problematic since there is a growing number of students who are contractually obligated by the state to have an aide present with them every day, which we just barely maintain.
This is without mentioning the stress that weighs down on our aides every day. Their job is not only to act as chaperones for the children during their time at school but also to be guides and mentors for appropriate behavior. While this is expected, the district does not inform them of school policy or provide them with the proper training to perform as such. Therefore, many great aides work under the knowledge that they might yet still receive strict reprimand if they attempt to fulfill this role. Only recently has the district begun to do something about it, years too late.
If I am honored enough to be presented with a seat on the Farmingdale School Board I vow to be an advocate for our aides as others are for our teachers and administration. Our aides deserve more than I can give, but I promise to have their back, as I will with all our staff.
As I have stated many times before, I love this community. I love this school district. For those reasons and many more, I want to continue living in Farmingdale as I settle down, decide to get married, and raise a family. Unfortunately due to the rising costs of living in Farmingdale, and the rising costs of living on Long Island, this dream is becoming more and more unreachable.
The current budget for the 2024-2025 school year calls for $200 Million, an increase of almost $6 Million. In our lower to mid-income community, increases like this are entirely unsustainable, especially when a large portion of our budget relies upon grants and state funding. Eventually, these funds are going to run out or significantly decrease and the responsibility will fall to our Farmingdale families to maintain. That or we'll see significant program cuts, such as what's currently happening in the Amityville School District and what happened to the Copiague District when they cut the business department due to the threat of less state aid during the pandemic.
Many members of our Farmingdale family have already left the school district, some leaving Long Island entirely. Families similar to mine, who have been here for generations, can simply no longer afford to live here and have moved to areas where they get more bang for their buck.
And the case is the same for many recent Farmingdale graduates. After we invest a decade and a half of funding and education into our students we are making them incapable of living comfortably in their own community, causing them to leave for better opportunities elsewhere.
If I am honored to be elected to the Farmingdale School Board I will be a voice for our Farmingdale family, especially my generation, so that we can find a balance between what our community can afford, without resorting to massive cuts as other school districts have.