3 incumbents unopposed in board election
Three incumbents are running unopposed for re-election to the Saugerties Board of Education on May 15.
On the ballot for the three three-year terms are current Trustees Robert Thomann, of 16 Neighborhood Drive; James Mooney, of 6 Redwood Road; and Raymond Maclary, of 7 Willow Lane.
Voting will be 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the district’s four elementary schools.
Robert Thomann
Thomann, 62, is a retired school administration who is seeking a third nonconsecutive term on the school board.
Thomann said the school district’s priority should be raising the overall graduation rate as well as the graduation rate for students with disabilities.
“We have a new assistant superintendent ... and we’re analyzing the data to see why the graduation rate [of 40 percent] is so low for students with disabilities and to come up with an action plan to get their graduation rate up,” he said.
Thomann graduated in 1973 from Bishop Reilly High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens; earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Spanish from Manhattan College in 1977; received a master’s degree in school psychology from James Madison University in 1979; and received a professional diploma in education administration from SUNY New Paltz in 1987.
Thomann is a deacon with Morningstar Christian Fellowship and a member of the Government Relations Committee for the School Administrators Association of New York State.
Thomann has lived in the district for 16 years, and he and his wife, Gina, have two children.
James Mooney
Mooney, 46, is seeking a second term on the board. He is teaches social studies and “English as a new language” at Kingston High School, and he also is president of the Upper Hudson Valley Labor Council of the AFL-CIO.
“Right now, we’re prioritizing the graduation rate where we have students not finishing and unfortunately many of the kids with special needs fall into that category,” he said of his efforts for the Saugerties district.
Also, he said, “we definitely want more community involvement in schools. We were going to continue the ‘Community and Conversation’ [program] to try to make ourselves more available and be more visible at school events and games.”
Mooney graduated from Kingston High School in 1990, earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from SUNY Oneonta in 1994, received a master’s degree in education from SUNY New Paltz and received an advanced certificate for teaching at SUNY New Paltz in 2016.
He has lived in the district for 20 years, He and his wife, Luz, have two children.
Raymond Maclary
Maclary, 55, is seeking a second term on the school board. He is employed as a sanitarian with Ulster County Department of Health.
“I would like to see more opportunities for the kids,” he said. “We’re starting to develop the technologies. We were just able to save three instructional positions, which some were [for Advanced Placement] classes.”
Maclary graduated from Saugerties High School, earned an associate’s degree in business from Ulster County Community College and an associates degree in occupational studies from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. He declined to provide the years he graduated from the schools.
Maclary is a lifelong resident of the Saugerties school district. He and his wife, Sonja, have four children.