BOE Candidate Profile: Roger Katz

Now the most senior member of the Babylon School Board, Roger Katz is one of two incumbents running for three seats. The third candidate is newcomer Ann Donaldson, who Patch last week.

As part of our candidate profile series, we asked the Brookhaven National Laboratory System Administrator and longtime Babylon Village resident to reflect on the past year and explain his goals for the next.

In a school year marked by a major superintendent search and the challenges of the tax cap budget restraint, Katz naturally pointed to appointing a new superintendent and creating a budget under challenging fiscal circumstances as the board's most important accomplishments. The other major issue that's still ongoing, Katz pointed out, is the negotiation of the teaching contract.

"This year's budget, we were in the hole, depending on how you look at it, $750,000 to $1.25 million. if we don't get lucky again next year and have teacher retirements, we need to see what we can cut. The teacher contract has to be more equitable to tax payers.

We've been able to not replace positions because enrollments have been down but that's not going to continue forever," Katz explained.

As for his own specific role in the budget process, as well as the larger conversation, Katz sees his seniority as a benefit.

"I'm the board member who has been there the longest. That perspective and knowledge of how we got where we are, that's one of the things that I offer."

A new superintendent will bring inevitable changes, and Katz has confidence the new school chief will have a fresh perspective and recommendations. One of the areas that parents have expressed concerns about is Babylon's recent performance on standardized testing.

Katz agrees that there is work to be done.

"There is a valid argument to be made that we could be improving our test scores, and offering better educational opportunities across grades. We recognized we had problems and after some personnel changes we're seeing improvement. The curriculum should be clear, and test scores should reflect that we are meeting those instructional goals."

The ten-year veteran of the board and father of two Babylon graduates is optimistic about the opportunities technology presents, especially for a small district: "The revolution in computing and personal devices is going to make the teaching process more fluid, more differentiated for each student and their particular level and needs."