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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Six are running for three Pine Bush School Board seats
Continued from page 1
Caci, Matthew Watkins, and incumbents
Dori Johnson and Gretchen Meier. Board
President Lloyd Greer Jr. will not run
again.
These are unpaid positions and carry
a three-year term, running from July 1,
2019 to June 30, 2022.
Polls are open on May 21 from 6 a.m.
to 9 p.m. Residents of Gardiner and
Shawangunk will vote at the Walker Valley
Fire House, Crawford and Montgomery
residents will vote at the Pine Bush Fire
House (Station One), Mount Hope and
Wallkill residents will vote at Circleville
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and
Mamakating residents will vote in Town
of Mamakating Park in Bloomingburg.
Nancy Vinella
If elected, Vinella will support the
music and the arts and advocate for the
development of the Spanish and foreign
language program.
A strong supporter of the arts, Vinella
said she would like to bolster the music
and arts programs. Her daughter, who
is a graduating senior at Pine Bush
High School (PBHS), is a member of the
marching band.
“I’d like to take a look at what
programming we currently have and see
what could be more robust,” Vinella said.
She also supports the addition of
Spanish as a course offering in seventh
grade. The school board voted to add
Spanish on a half-time basis to the 2019-
20 school year and a full-time basis by
2020-21.
Vinella strongly supports the addition
of an additional language as a course
offering at the high school level.
Vinella earned a bachelor of arts
from the University of New Mexico,
in Albuquerque, with a major in
Communications. Professionally, she
has more than 24 years of administrative
support experience, including 11 years
inclusive of bookkeeping and accounting
support.
Vinella is an active member of the
Pakanasink Parent Teacher Association
(PTA) and is currently serving her third
year as PTA treasurer.
Vinella and her husband have two
children who currently attend Pine Bush
Central Schools—a graduating senior at
PBHS and a third grader at Pakanasink.
Erik Buckley
If elected, Erik Buckley will bolster
diversity and inclusion programs, foster
programs with local trade unions, and
advocate for special education programs.
Buckley said while the school has taken
great strides to promote tolerance and
combat racism and anti-semitism, there
is still more to be done. He would advocate
for the continuance and bolstering of
programs such as No Place for Hate.
“I really want to focus on embracing
diversity,” Buckley said. “We are one
community and there seems to be a
disconnect with that one community idea.
I really would like to see the coming
together of a community.”
Buckley wants to foster relationships
with trade unions and establish
programs through which students can
gain apprenticeship hours. The programs
would offer career tracks for students
who might not be college-bound.
He would also propose Pine Bush
become a partner school of Syracuse
University’s Project Advance, which
offers college courses to qualified high
school students at their local school
during their regularly scheduled school
day.
A special educator himself, Buckley
would advocate for the expansion of
special education programs that keep
students in the district.
He has worked for Rockland Boards
of Cooperative Educational Services
(BOCES) for the past 17 years as an
educator for students kindergarten
through eighth grade who have emotional
and behavioral disabilities, as well as
students with autism and developmental
disabilities. He is a graduate of State
University of New York (SUNY) Orange.
Buckley and his wife have two children,
one of whom attends kindergarten in the
district.
Dori Johnson
If elected, incumbent Dori Johnson
would continue to advocate for the
expansion of foreign language, electives
and after-school programs.
While serving her first term on the
board, Johnson pushed for the expansion
of Spanish as a course offering in
seventh grade and would like to see more
languages added in the future.
“Foreign language is very important
to a child’s development,” Johnson said.
Johnson would also continue to push for
new electives and the power of students
to choose what interests them. Teachers
could then teach the electives they have
an interest in.
Johnson will continue to advocate for
the expansion of after school programs,
including the modified sports programs.
In the past three years on the board
she has served as both vice president and
acting president.
Johnson has been a member of the
Circleville Middle School (CVMS) PTA
and the district’s Audit Committee.
Johnson is a graduate of SUNY New
Paltz with both a Bachelor of Science
degree in geology and a Master of Science
degree in education. She has been a
teacher at Monroe-Woodbury for the past
25 years and is an adjunct professor at
SUNY Orange.
Johnson and her husband, Eric, have
two children in the district, a seventh-
grade student at CVMS and a sophomore
at PBHS.
Jillian Caci
If elected, Jillian Caci would push for
more state funding and a decrease in
high-stakes testing.
She said she would use her influence
as the regional delegate for the New York
State United Teachers Union to lobby on
the state level for more state funding,
decreasing the burden on local taxpayers.
If elected, she could also appeal to the New
York State School Boards Association.
Caci would lobby on a state level for
less emphasis on high-stakes testing.
Currently, students are tested in every
grade in grades three through eight and
low test scores can cause a school to be
put into receivership.
“The amount of time and importance
that we put on testing grades three
through eight is way too much,” Caci
said. “There’s a lot more those teachers
could be doing to impact those childrens’
lives positively.”
Testing should be used to measure
a student’s progress and identify their
needs, Caci said, not dictate receivership.
She advocates for grade-span testing, or
testing students once at the elementary,
middle and high school levels.
She holds a bachelor’s degree of
music from the Crane School of Music
at SUNY Potsdam, a Master of Arts
degree in educational psychology from
Marist College and a level 2B certification
from the Technology Institute for Music
Educators.
Caci is a music educator in the
Newburgh City School District, teaching
on all grade levels in a variety of music
positions. She is currently the choral
director at Newburgh Free Academy.
Caci has a son at Crispell Middle School
and is a Pine Bush alumni.
Matthew Watkins
If elected, Matthew Watkins would
promote fiscal responsibility, ensure
every student has access to a quality
education, promote alternative options
for non-college bound students, and
promote a Future Farmers of America
(FFA) program.
Watkins said he would ensure resident’s
taxpayer money is being well spent to
provide students a quality education.
He would also encourage the school to
continue to create courses and programs
for non-college bound students.
“My goal is to be diligent to ensure
that every student has the opportunity
to prepare for the career of their choice
while in Pine Bush Central Schools,”
Watkins said.
He would also introduce the idea
of an FFA program, which provides
opportunities for students to learn about
agriculture and other outdoor activities,
such as hiking, fishing, biking and more.
Watkins received an associate’s degree
in marketing from SUNY Delhi and a
bachelor’s degree in general business
from Penn State University.
He is self-employed through GOALS
Development Company.
He previously served on the Pine Bush
School Board from May 2016 to June 2017.
Watkins serves as a councilman in the
Town of Shawangunk and a trustee for
the Pine Bush Area Public Library.
Watkins and his wife have three
children in the district, two at PBHS and
one in middle school.
Gretchen Meier
If elected, incumbent Gretchen Meier
would continue to develop the strategic
plan, promote fiscal responsibility and
listen to the needs of her constituents.
Meier said she would continue
the board’s work of developing and
implementing the strategic plan, which
will foster student development and
success through specific action steps.
She would also promote fiscal
responsibility.
Meier said her largest concern is to
listen to the concerns and needs of her
constituents.
“When you’re on the school board
it’s really important to listen to your
constituents, whether they are students
and families, or staff or community
members, you want to be able to represent
everyone and be available to hear and
address any of the concerns that people
may have,” Meier said.
Meier has served on the board for six
years, including the current one as vice
president and acting president.
Meier is a physical therapist and owner
of Pine Bush Physical Therapy. She
graduated from Quinnipiac University
with a Bachelor of Science degree in
physical therapy.
Meier’s two children are graduates
of PBHS, as is her husband, Fritz. She
lives in Crawford and has been a district
resident for 25 years.