4 Newburgh school board members resign in protest

NEWBURGH — New leadership took over in Newburgh city schools this week after nearly half of the board resigned — continuing a trend in recent years of tumultuous times in this urban Hudson Valley school district.

The five remaining school board members elected John Doerre as their new leader during a special meeting on Tuesday. Mark Levinstein was chosen as their vice president, replacing Deborah Bouley, who also resigned last Friday.

“This is quite an honor,” Doerre said after taking his seat at the head of the meeting table for the first time. He said he will command a more collaborative environment that focuses on the students, and acknowledged the board has “a lot of work to do.”

“But I will tell you this: We’re not in a crisis mode,” he continued. “I don’t panic. I’ve been in many situations worse than this, I don’t panic.”

Darren Stridiron and Bouley, who were elected as president and vice president in 2023, as well as Ryan Lamar and Renee Greene, all posted lengthy resignation letters on Facebook last Friday, Feb. 2 — though a district spokeswoman said resignation letters they submitted to the district were “no more than three sentences long.” Their posts on social media described a deeply divided board that has been split between those four members and the remaining five. The explanations referenced differences that were ideological and personal, and have fed into what Greene described in her letter as a “climate of chaos” that was counterproductive.

Superintendent Jackielyn Manning Campbell voiced her optimism in light of the leadership change.

“I just want to say that I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a really long time,” she said at the meeting, turning to Doerre and Levinstein. “I’m looking forward to the collaboration. I’m looking forward to the continued work that we have to do on behalf of our scholars. I’m so excited to have an opportunity to work with all of you and to move forward together.”

Lamar said in an interview with the Times Union that he and the three other board members’ resignations were their nuclear option for getting the attention of the local community and — they hope — the state Education Department.

“I think there needs to be some oversight from somewhere outside of the district,” Lamar said. “I don’t know what it would be, which department it would be, but I think someone needs to come and take a look at what’s going on in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District.”

Stridiron said he has filed complaints with NYSED, claiming he was subjected to “abusive” behavior by the superintendent. Stridiron, Bouley, Greene and Lamar have all brought up concerns about attendance and a lack of transparency surrounding financial reporting and the effectiveness of educational programs. In an interview with the Times Union, Stridiron said that he has called for the state to install a monitor. In his resignation letter shared online, he instructed the public on how to request documents he filed with NYSED.

“The public needs to know that we have all tried to do what is best for all students and have been met with constant attacks on our character and prevented from making any progress,” Stridiron wrote.

Manning Campbell briefly addressed comments that have been made by the four former members in a statement to the Times Union. She also said accountability and checks and balances have “always been a fundamental part of the system” in the Newburgh school district, and that the district’s executive team will continue its “collaborative approach and reiterate our unwavering commitment” to taxpayers and, most importantly, the students.

“Many statements being made by disgruntled members of our community lack merit, validity, and ethics, causing a distraction from our focus on utilizing taxpayer monies to provide a quality education to the children of our district,” she said.

Doerre’s remarks

Tuesday’s meeting contrasted against claims made against the superintendent. He stressed that the board has to let Manning Campbell run the day-to-day operations of the district.

“We provide oversight,” he said. “We don’t provide her leadership to the district. That’s her job. So, we’re going to see something different. We’re going to see Dr. Manning Campbell get to do the job we hired her for.”

The board voted to allow district Clerk Matthew McCoy to reach out to candidates from the last election, in the order of who got the most votes, to see if they would like to serve as temporary board members until the next election.

Deeply rooted dissatisfaction

Stridiron had served the longest out of the four board members who resigned. He was first elected in 2014 and a majority of his colleagues on the board elected him as the new president in July.

The board has experienced a great deal of change, reflected in the outcome of the 2023 election when longtime president and board member Carole Mineo lost her reelection bid. Three new candidates — Bouley, Letitia McDaniel Politi and Ramiro Burgarelli — had the highest number of votes out of all the candidates that year.

But some of the divisions that existed among

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