Three vie for two spots on school board
RHINEBECK, N.Y. » Two incumbents and one challenger are running for two seats on the Rhinebeck Board of Education in the May 15 election.
Voting will be from 2 to 9 p.m. in the high school on North Park Road.
On the ballot will be incumbent Diane Lyons, of 665 Willowbrook Road, Clinton Corners; incumbent Mark Fleischhauer, of 146 Rhinecliff Road, Rhinebeck; and David Lavallee, of 944 Route 308, Rhinebeck.
The top two vote-getters will win three-year terms.
Mark Fleischhauer
Fleischhauer, 52, a data support analyst with ArchCare, is seeking a fifth term.
“I think the biggest priority we have for the district right now is how to continue providing a quality education for all our students while we have declining enrollment and we’re under a tax cap,” he said. “Right now, the district’s working to develop a long-range plan to deal with those issues. We started that this year, and we’re looking to continue that work into next year.”
Fleischhauer graduated from Rhinebeck High School in 1983, earned an associate’s degree from Dutchess Community College in 1986 and received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from SUNY New Paltz in 1994.
He is vice president of the Dutchess County School Boards Association, an usher at the Church of the Good Shepard, and a member of the Rhinebeck-Rheinbach Exchange program, the Rhinebeck Alumni Association and Boy Scout Troop 128.
Fleischhauer is a lifelong resident of the Rhinebeck school district. He and his wife, Mary, a teacher for the district, have two children.
David Lavallee
Lavallee, 72, is retired as chief academic officer and deputy chancellor for the SUNY system, and he previously served as SUNY New Paltz provost for 10 years.
He is a first-time school board candidate.
Lavallee said his priorities are “communications among teachers from one level to the next, [such as] what the middle school teachers expect from the elementary school ... then the same thing with the high school teachers and the middle school teachers, so they can all work in sync.”
“The other thing is just supporting ways that teachers themselves can communicate with each other and continue to develop their professional skills,” he said.
Lavallee graduated from Charles W. Baker High School in 1963, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Bonaventure University in 1967, earned a masters degree in 1968 from the University of Chicago, and received a doctorate in 1971 from the University of Chicago. He was in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1971 to 1977.
Lavallee is member of Literary Connections of Dutchess County and the Rhinebeck Community Garden.
He has lived in the Rhinebeck school district for 16 years. He and his wife, Eileen Gilmartin, have three children.
Diane Lyons
Lyons, 48, is seeking a third term.
“The biggest issue is being able to provide the same high-quality education at Rhinebeck that we always have, and doing so in the tax cap era,” she said. “Currently we’re in the process of creating a long-range plan ... that will help deal with the financial issues and address the declining enrollment that we have.”
Lyons is a volunteer with Girl Scout Troop 10479 and is referee coordinator for the Rhinebeck Soccer League.
She graduated from Pine Bush High School in 1987 and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of South Carolina in 1991.
She has lives in the Rhinebeck school district for 20 years. She and her husband, Brendan, have