LWV to Host Forum on Local School Boards

The two dozen East End boards of education are often the first step for higher elected office for local lawmakers, making them a key proving ground for aspiring politicians looking to make a name for themselves.

With that in mind, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork has planned a free panel discussion at LTV Studios in Wainscott for current school board members, PTA leaders, parents, residents and high school students titled “School Boards, the Training Wheels of Democracy: What You Should Know and How to Get Involved.”

“Public education has been recognized by some of the most influential thinkers on democracy and capitalism as crucial for developing an engaged and thoughtful citizenry,” said event moderator Andrea Gabor, a board member of the group and Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism at Baruch College/CUNY, who is also a former Bloomberg Opinion education columnist and author of After the Education Wars. “Yet today, public education faces a host of challenges: culture wars over everything from masks to mascots to gender issues; privatization; the need to provide a host of services for underprivileged students; and the federal government’s plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.”

Panelists include Robert Vecchio, a former 18-year William Floyd School Board trustee, now the executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, which oversees the school boards on Long Island; Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, a former high school social studies teacher, Southampton Town Council member and Sag Harbor School Board member; Germain Smith, a current Southampton School Board trustee and member of the Shinnecock Nation; and Kate Rossi-Snook, a recent six-year Shelter Island School Board trustee.

The panel discussion, followed by a Q&A, comes amid a heightened polarization of school board meetings, where national politics often enters the discussion. The legislative bodies are among the most local forms of government to be found, yet are responsible for some of the largest portion of property tax bills.

“At the center of these challenges are local school boards, which serve two important functions: first, to represent the concerns of citizens, taxpayers and parents to school administrators; and second, to represent the needs of the students and schools to citizen stakeholders,” Gabor said. “They also frequently serve as a stepping stone for higher elected office and thus, serve as the training wheels of our democracy.”

“School Boards, the Training Wheels of Democracy: What You Should Know and How to Get Involved.” is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at LTV Studios, 75 Industrial Road, Wainscott. LTV asks all to register for this free program on their website at ltveh.org. The event will also be streamed at youtube.com/c/LTVEastHampton and will be available live and later for Spanish speakers.