Five vie for three seats on school board
Five people are vying for three seats on the Marlboro Board of Education.
The candidates for the three-year terms are incumbent John Cantone, of 85 Mill House Road, Marlboro; Michael Connors, of 159 Homes Road, Newburgh; Jeffery Hacker, of 174 Tucker Corners Road, Highland; incumbent James Kuha, of 9 Sunrise Drive, Milton; and James Mullen, of 29 Fabrizio Drive, Newburgh.
The top three vote-getters will be elected. Voting will be by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Connors, 59, is an accountant and managing partner with Jackson Hewitt. He has lived in the district since 1998, and he and his wife, Kassia Messina, a teacher in the Marlboro district, have six children.
“The virtual education that they’re receiving now is really hodgepodge,” Connors said of the current at-home learning forced by the pandemic. “It’s not something that’s been tested with these age groups. Let’s face it, the children are more tactile than they are ready to learn through electronic means.”
Connors also said the district needs to look for alternate “revenue streams” because he doesn’t see state lawmakers being able to provide assistance for schools to reopen effectively.
“We need to develop an electronic plan, but there really is no replacement for the teacher-student interaction,” he said. “We’ve got to get the kids back together. But that takes money, and with the state irresponsibly pissing their money away like they always do, we’re looking at ... cuts in education funding.”
Kuha, 45, a transportation foreman with Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., is seeking a third term on the board. He has lived in the district for 23 years, and he and his wife, Maria, have one child.
Kuha said the district can plan for reopening its schools but needs help from state lawmakers.
“The governor seems to change his mind every two weeks,” he said. “So it’s really hard for any school district to put a plan together at this point . ...
“We’re concerned about getting kids back to school,” he said. “We’re going through social-distance guidelines if that’s where we are at that time.”
Mullen, 35, is the aquatic director and safety manager for the Rockland County YMCA and a firsttime candidate for a board seat. He has lived in the Marlboro district for five years, and he and his wife, Devon, have three children.
“The first thing we need to work toward is including teachers in ... what we’re going to be doing moving forward with the schools,” he said, “especially with incorporating a distance-learning type program into a normal school day. I just worry that far too much of it is being forced upon them and they don’t have a voice in ... how to implement that properly.”
Mullen is a field supervisor for Marlboro Youth Baseball and Softball.
Neither Cantone nor Hacker could be reached for an interview.