Position Paper Pleasantville BOE McCullagh

By David J. "Dave" McCullagh

David McCullagh, running for Board of Education for Pleasantville U.F.S.D., candidate overview and position on the major issues.

1. To prepare our students to academically and emotionally meet the challenges of a rapidly changing, globally competitive marketplace.

In order to do this, we need to further refine our ability to meet the individual learning needs of all our students and we need to continue to challenge our students, teachers and administrators so that our students can reach their maximum academic potential. We must also increase the financial literacy of all our students so they are better prepared to manage on their own as young adults.

2. To effectively manage our finances and lobby our legislators so we can meet student needs as well as the needs of our taxpayers.

In order to do this, it is important to negotiate responsible employee contracts that recognize our current economic realities and the long-term need to rein in the cost of funding education. It is also important to develop a grassroots community effort to more effectively lobby our legislators in Albany so that we can fix the way that education is currently funded and take some of the burden off local taxpayers. There is also a need to further expand our alternative funding initiatives, as well as the consortium that we have developed with local school districts, to share services, reduce costs, and increase revenue when we have available space in our educational program. Finally, we should also increase our energy savings and "green" initiatives to save on expenses and conserve resources.

In my tenure on the board, I have continued to be impressed with the caliber of our students. We have children who excel academically, in sports, in the arts and as humanitarians. I am most proud of the fact that Pleasantville as a school and a community fosters excellence in a variety of pursuits so that all of our children can shine in the areas where they have passion. We need to make sure our district maintains this culture of excellence so that we continue to develop great leaders, great people and great citizens. I want to thank the community for the faith and trust they have shown in me by electing me and for supporting our schools.