Katonah Lewisboro Election Coverage: Q & A With Charles Day

We continue our series about the upcoming school board election and budget vote on May 17. Check back with Patch on Friday to read a candidate Q & A with Mark Dembo. to read Janet Harckham's Q&A. We'll post our voter's guide on Monday, summarizing the issues, the candidates and how and when to vote.

Charles Day is 49 and has lived in Goldens Bridge for ten years, with his wife, Amy, daughter Juliet, who attends the Master’s School in Dobb’s Ferry, and son Alexander, who is a junior at John Jay High School.  He has more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry and is currently employed by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. He graduated from Carleton College and holds a law degree from Brooklyn Law School.  He has served for the past year on the school district's finance committee.

Patch: Why are you seeking a seat on the board and why should people vote for you?

Day: I think I have experience to offer, with my professional work as a financial advisor and work on the district's finance committee. I also have a desire to make a positive impact in the district. I want to help recalibrate the relationship between the teacher’s union and local taxpayers and look for ways to keep the high quality of education in the district while keeping tax increases minimal.

Patch: What are the top issues facing the board during the 2011-12 school year?

Day: The number one issue is overwhelmingly to reshape the finances in this district. A lot of our financial worries have nothing to do with us and everything to do with the mandates we have no control over. But we have to find a way—through contracts and technology and other ways—to maintain the level of quality we have now. 

 We also need to talk more about our accomplished students and how well they are educated. Improved communications would help. I think we need a common set of facts we all agreed upon—right now people use their own facts. Let's quantify how well we are performing, how well we are managed and in what state are our finances. All of this could lower the level of cynicsm and vitriol in the community. When I tell people I am running for the school board, I hear, 'you are out of your mind;' Let’s lower the decibel level and people won’t think it’s awful to serve on the board.

Patch: Given the controversial hiring of Paul Kreutzer as the next superintendent of the district are there specific measures you would take to improve board relations with the community?

Day: I think he's had an unfair introduction to the community. We need to integrate him into the community. I think there is a part of the community that is upset and I hope that is short-term. I would have Dr. Kreutzer speak everywhere, to as many people as possible, to students, PTAs, and teachers so they get an unfiltered view of him, and get him out as often as possible and is many different situations as possible. The school board members who met him talked about what he did in Wisconsin and if he brings that here it will be good. The school board, which is full of different personalities and opionions, came to a unanimous decision, so hopefully they'll be vindicated.  

Patch: Given the talk of a proposed annual cap on property tax increases, in relation to state mandates such as employee pension contributions, would you be willing to go with a cap that does not address the mandates, or do you believe tackling both at once are needed?

Day: The odds that this is happening are less than 5 percent. I think these neat and simple solutions are not happening—it would be great to have mandate relief—for example, listening to [transportation director] Jim Minihan talk about how state law mandates we have a seat for every child on the buses is frustrating when some of them are half-empty. It would be more cost efficient to have smaller buses but we can't. I would support a tax cap with mandate relief, but at this point, it's all in the abstract. 

Patch: Do you support repealing the Triborough Amendment that keeps terms of expired union contracts in place until new agreements are reached? Would you support changing the state's pension systems for teachers and other public employees? If so, what type of changes would you want to see?

Day: I would support repealing it but I don't think it's going to happen. I think we'd be better served spending time addressing what issues we can locally instead of dealing with this amendment that is not going away. I just don't think there's an appetite for it at the state level—it's going to on for the next few years.

Patch: What is your position on the current "last in, first out" system in place that gives priority to retaining teachers with more seniority, in situations of job cuts?

Day: I don’t think it’s helpful or good but it’s ingrained. I’d like to have a better system for evaluating and dismissing poor teachers and I know other districts in Westchester which have done that without destroying relations with teacher unions. There is enough to do within our control—things we can do within our contract right here and now—without getting into macro issues.

Patch: Is there anything we haven’t asked that you would like the public to know about you or your candidacy?

Day: I think this board works hard. I don’t think they have ulterior motives. This is a very modest board and they seem to be on it for the right reasons. We have a great educational system, and my son got a really good education here, and we need to rally around that.

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