School board candidate Ed Karlewicz: ‘No more status quo'

To the editor: My name is Ed Karlewicz and I’m running for a position on the Warwick Valley School Board. I’ve met with several local groups and invariably I’m asked, “Why do you want to run” or “What do you bring to the Board” or “What’s your agenda?” Let me start by stating that I can think of no more locally important position than that of school board member. “Why do I want to run?” Well. I feel that we need a different direction in Warwick. Too many of our residents are leaving Warwick because they cannot afford the tax burden. We need to find a way to balance maintaining and enhancing our school district’s academic excellence and spending taxpayer monies in a responsible fashion. The two are not mutually exclusive. I would bring to the board many years of experience in business. As a manager in my company I deal with many Fortune 500 companies on a daily basis and must work with them to literally fix issues and must build a consensus amongst diverse organizations in order to satisfy my client’s needs. “Do I have an agenda?” You bet I do: Our children and our community. That’s it, nothing else. I hear current members speak about the amount of experience they have on the board. The board, by its very design, changes its members at regular intervals in order to mix new members with “more experienced” members. My question regarding experience is this “how long is too long:” three terms (nine years), four terms (12 years) or how about five terms (15 years)? Personally, as a resident, a parent with children in the district and a taxpayer, I think it’s time for a changing of the guard. No more status quo. Experience is great but what we need are people to run for our school board who bring new experience to this board. We need new ideas, new visions, new ways to move our students through the 21st century. We need more technology in our classrooms so our students will be prepared for what lies ahead of them. We need to ensure that our administrators, teachers and support staff have the tools they need to help our students succeed. This will not all happen overnight, but change is needed, and with your help, with your votes, we can begin our quest on May 15. Ed Karlewicz Warwick