No incumbents in school board race
5 candidates will be on Tuesday ballot
Five people are running for three seats Tuesday, but the people who currently hold the seats are not among them.
KYSERIKE, N.Y. >> Five candidates, none of them incumbents, are running for three seats on the Rondout Valley school board in Tuesday’s election.
Voting will be from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the district office on Kyserike Road.
The candidates are Kim Cohen, of 46 Towpath Road, Accord; former board member Breanna Costello, of 450 Circle Ave., Kerhonkson; Chris Schoonmaker, of 450 Mohonk Road, High Falls; Megan Snair, of 330 Mettacahonts Road, Accord; and Fallon Wynkoop, of 2021 Queens Highway, Kerhonkson.
The winners will serve three-year terms.
The three current board members whose seats are up for election — James Ayers, James Blair and Glenn Dannaham — are not seeking new terms.
Kim Cohen
Cohen, 41, is a faculty member of Western Governors University. She has lived in the Rondout Valley district for six years, and she and her husband, Jim Keller, have one child.
She said one issue she would like to address as a board member is a possible later start time for schools, “which our district is investigating right now.”
“I think that we’re headed in some good directions with that,” she said. “We have a transportation study underway. I’m really looking forward to learning more about that.”
Cohen said she also would like to increase the “level of transparency and the ability of the board to feel accessible to the public.”
“I really would like that to be improved upon,” she said. “One thing that I think would be great is if we could livesteam board meetings so that they’re more accessible to parents.”
Cohen graduated from Freeport High School on Long Island in 1993, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Hofstra University on Long Island in 1997, received a master’s degree in English from SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island in 1999 and was awarded a doctorate in English from the University of Iowa in 2009.
She is a volunteer with Quality Matters.
Breanna Costello
Costello, 43, is psychiatric nurse for Willcare. She has lived in the district for 25 years and has three children.
Costello served two terms on the school board, ending in 2015, when she chose not to run.
Costello said a priority for the board will be finding a successor to Superintendent Rosario Agostaro, who is stepping down next year.
“The biggest issue is going to be our new superintendent search,” she said. “That’s going to be a priority. That’s going to take a long time, and we’ll have a committee and we’ll probably contract with somebody to help us with that.”
Costello graduated from Rondout Valley High School in 1991, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the SUNY Buffalo in 1996 and received an associate’s degree and certification as a registered nurse from Ulster County Community College in 2006.
She is a member of the Rondout Valley Growers Association.
Chris Schoonmaker
Schoonmaker, 38, is a vice president for Cytel. He is a lifelong resident of the school district, and he and his wife, Mary, a teacher at Kerhonkson Elementary School, have three children.
“One of the things I think we might do better at is listening to the community or the parents a little bit more,” Schoonmaker said. “So one of the plans that I have is, should I be allowed to do so, is get on to the board and really foster collaboration among the administration, the teachers, the parents, the community, and make sure that we’re all working together for the benefit of the entire district.”
Schoonmaker said he has concerns about proposals to change school start times.
“They’re proposing to have high schoolers start an hour later and have the elementary start an hour earlier ... and I’ve expressed concern with moving ahead with that model because, from my perspective, it’s taking the sleep deprivation burden off the adolescents but it’s moving it to another population,” he said.
Schoonmaker graduated from Rondout Valley High School in 1996, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Marist College in 2000 and received a master’s degree in public health from Boston University in 2002.
He is a volunteer with Rondout Valley Little League
Megan Snair
Snair, 43, is a route logistics specialist with National Express LLC. She is a lifelong resident of the district,
and she and her husband, Ryan, have one child.
“Communication and transparency is one of the highest priorities,” Snair said.
“Perhaps something like streaming or recording the meetings would help bridge the information gap between all the stakeholders in the district,” she said. “We only have so many outlets of communications we can use, so making sure we’re utilizing them to the fullest potential is step one.”
Snair also would like to take advantage of the Rondout Valley district being and agricultural area.
“Healthy and nutritious
food is another priority,” she said. “We have a significant number of free and reduced[-price breakfast and lunch students] in our district. I think it’s around 49 percent. Some of our student are receiving two out of three of their meals a day at our schools. So providing them with better options and more sustainable nutrition will only benefit everyone.”
Snair graduated from Rondout Valley High School in 1992, earned an associate’s degree in water quality and hazardous waste remediation from Ulster County Community College in 1994 and received a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1997.
She is vice president of the Rondout Intermediate
and Middle School PTSA and a member of the district’s Later Start Committee.
Fallon Wynkoop
Wynkoop, 30, is administrative assistant to the town of Rochester highway superintendent. She has lived in the district since 2011, and she and her husband, Randall, have one child.
“There’s a lot different ... socioeconomics in the district, and we really need to bridge that gap in communications and communicate collaboratively and as a whole,” she said. “Listening more to our community can bridge that gap in communications.”
Wynkoop graduated from Marlboro High School in 2005 and is working toward a human resources
professional certification at Herkimer College.
She is a volunteer with the town of Rochester Animal Shelter.