ELLENVILLE – In an echo of last fall's poorly attended Meet the Candidates Night, hosted by the NAACP at the Trudy Resnick Farber Building, this Tuesday evening's installment saw an even more dismal turnout. The four school board candidates — incumbent Iris Friedman, and challengers Maxine Chapin, Wayne Storey, and Francis Gurgui — sat before an audience of exactly five (this reporter and NAACP President Maude Bruce included), though current school board member Santos 'Chan' Rivera did attend the discussion toward the end of the evening.

Despite the poor showing, each of the four candidates made the best of the situation, and enumerated their reasons for running for the board, as well as their backgrounds and qualifications for the three available positions. All four candidates were born and raised in Ellenville and Wawarsing, and attended and graduated from Ellenville schools, while Friedman and Chapin have actually taught at the school.

Francis Gurgui, a Napanoch resident and a certified physics and math teacher, said that part of his decision to run was so that there would be more than three candidates contesting three seats on the board. One of the policies he proposed would be to freeze salaries and revise the tenure system the school employs for its teachers. Gurgui also spoke about his idea that the summertime be used to have students work with educational software to promote the study of physics and math — subjects that he would like to see promoted, and would like to one day teach. He also made accusations of conflicts of interest of both the other candidates and other board members, because of their relations to those who are employed by the school, likening it to "the fox guarding the chicken coop."

The ideological split between himself and the other three candidates could be seen in their position at the front of the room: Chapin, Friedman, and Storey all sat on one side of the table, while Gurgui's seat was positioned at an angle, far off to the other side. Besides the incumbent Friedman, Gurgui is the only candidate who has run before, having done so for the past three years.

Chapin, an Ellenville resident and a former Ellenville Central School District teacher for a combined total of 31 years, said that she's running because she loves her school, and loves the area's kids. Chapin is also Ellenville's representative on the Ulster County BOCES Board, a position which she will have held for one year this July. She addressed Gurgui's accusations that holding a seat on the BOCES board would constitute a conflict of interest should she win a seat on the Ellenville school board, saying that the eligibility rules for each board show no such conflict. She also addressed accusations that her daughter was currently working for the school as a guidance counselor; she said that the school's Alison Chapin was not, in fact, her daughter, who works in New York City.

Friedman said that she was running for her fourth term on the school board, and said that she wanted to retain her seat to offer her ideas on keeping the district's costs down, and to have a hand in the upcoming renegotiations of the two contracts (one for school employees, and the teachers' contract). She also discussed the duties of a school board member, saying that the board's role is create policy, review and evaluate the superintendant and renew that position's contract, to inspect the facilities once a year, and to maintain the finances — all money spent in the district must first pass muster with the board. She said that her assets were her tenacity and her open mind, and that she brings a cooperative attitude to the board.

Storey, who works for Gillette Creamery, has been the board president of the Ellenville Cooperative Nursery School for the past four years, and said that he would bring energy to the Ellenville school board, as well as his past board experience. He also said that he had no ulterior motive for his run for the position, addressing the fact that his wife is a teacher at the school. He said he was most interested in helping the school with its fiscal responsibilities, and with getting people excited and involved with the school and the school board.

When asked how he would help reign in the school's expenses, Storey said that he would try and take a look at the state's unfunded mandates, and try to rally support to put a stop or limit to them. Friedman's response to the question was to try and institute more conservation efforts in terms of utilities and paper, citing the many unnecessary copies that are made. Chapin said that she was hoping to "think outside of the box," and look for ways to effect more fundamental changes about how schools are funded on the state and federal levels. Gurgui, reiterated his earlier proposals to freeze salaries, and perhaps to make salary and workload cuts to longer-serving teachers. All four candidates spoke about looking at the budget line-by-line, and seeing what cuts could be made.

At one point, Gurgui said that, should he be elected, he would probably step down before his three-year term was up, thereby opening up the board to more potential candidates. His motives were questioned by board member Santos Rivera, who asked him if he expected to be able to fulfill his agenda in less than three years. Gurgui emphatically replied that he was "here to persuade you people."

The school board elections and school budget vote will take place on May 19 in the Ellenville High School Media Center.

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