Four seek three seats on Wallkill School Board

By Connor Linskey
Posted 6/3/20

This year’s election for the Wallkill Central School District Board of Education will see incumbents Kathryn Anderson and Vincent Petroccelli face a challenge from David Bartolone and Michael …

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Four seek three seats on Wallkill School Board

Posted

This year’s election for the Wallkill Central School District Board of Education will see incumbents Kathryn Anderson and Vincent Petroccelli face a challenge from David Bartolone and Michael Rose for three open seats.

Those elected will serve three-year terms, commencing July 1, 2020 and ending June 30, 2023. The governor’s executive order called for districts to send each qualified voter a postcard with the date of the Board of Education election, the date of the district’s budget hearing and the definition of a qualified voter.

All voters received an absentee ballot. There will be no in-person voting for the 2020 school board and budget election. Ballots must be received at the district office by 5 p.m. on June 9. If a qualified voter does not receive a ballot in the mail by May 22, they should contact their district’s clerk.

Anderson has lived in the district for 25 years and has served on its school board since 2002. She is a volunteer with the New York State Music Association and the Wallkill Reformed Church’s Senior Sunrise. Both of her children are graduates of Wallkill Senior High School.
“It is my way of public service and the education of our youth is of utmost importance to me,” Anderson said regarding her reason for running for the school board.

If elected again, she hopes to be a team player, keeping students first and foremost in all of the board’s decisions. Anderson believes the board’s top priority is the safety of the students and staff, while providing an excellent education to all students is second.

Petroccelli has lived in the district for 28 years and has served on its school board since 2008. During his time on the school board, he has represented the district as a member at large on the Ulster County BOCES Board. He is the owner of Turtle Creek Nursery in Wallkill. His two daughters graduated from Wallkill Senior High School.

He is running again because he has enjoyed his past service on the board, especially working with the administration, board, faculty and the students. He is proud of the district’s reputation in Ulster County for outstanding academic excellence and hopes that continues.
“It is rewarding to know that I had a small part in the positive changes and advancements that have maintained and raised the education standards of the district,” he said.

If elected again he hopes to give the New York State Legislature a better understanding of what is needed to run a school district.

“There are more people deciding on educational issues that don’t know a thing about education...,” Petroccelli said. “When you look at Foundation Aid, the board has been looking at it for years and tried to get this through and have people in Albany understand this. There is no understanding of the educational system and what you need to run it.”

Petroccelli also stressed the importance of looking at each child as an individual. He aims to make sure that all students reach their full potential.

Bartolone has lived in the district since October 2003. He works as regional director of sales for ABC-Middletown Development Corp. His civic activities include coaching Wallkill Little League and youth football last year. He currently has three children who attend school in the district.

As a board member he would work with other members of the board and administration to come up with effective ideas that could help reduce costs while keeping programs at their best. He also hopes to help create an effective and safe return to the district’s in-person learning environment.

He believes that the board’s top priorities are to continue to improve their Special Education Department and to focus on coming up with a clear and effective plan for returning to school this fall, whether that be in-person or through online learning.

“I hope to be a true advocate for both students and members of the community,” he said.

Rose has lived in the district for 20 years. He has been an art teacher for 22 years, with the last 20 at Orange-Ulster BOCES. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Queens College and a Master of Arts Art Studio degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz. He has five children who attend school in the district as well as another three who have graduated.

Like Bartolone, Rose believes that the district should be fiscally responsible while providing the greatest possible services to students. He noted that learning shortages caused by online learning will take time to remedy. Rose is in favor of students returning to safe brick and mortar learning environments as fast as prudently possible.
If elected to the Board of Education, he would try to make block printing and cursive taught in the district, as Rose believes they promote thinking, visual skills, problem solving and increase IQ. He would also like to see more classes taught in creative fields such as video, filmmaking and animation. In addition, Rose believes that Wallkill should broaden its foreign language offerings, for instance by bringing French back into the curriculum. He also hopes that foreign languages will be introduced at earlier grade levels.

He believes that the board has several priorities that would affect everyone in the district.

“Reopening the school buildings. Keeping the budget in line and fiscally responsible,” Rose said regarding the board’s top priorities. “Literacy, literacy, literacy: our children must be fanatical readers and writers. That means high quality literature of classics at all grade levels.”