Croton School Board Candidate: Yariv Alpher

On May 21, Croton school district residents will vote on a $44.5 million budget proposal and elect two new school board members. Below is a brief bio for school board candidate Yariv Alpher.

Alpher is a market researcher and strategic consultant  at Red Oak Strategy. He is a distinguished fellow at the Ponemon Inst., one of the Nation’s leading research centers for data governance and privacy. He has an MA in social sciences from the University of Chicago; MA in sociology from the New School, where he also completed Ph.D coursework in sociology.

He has lived in Croton for the past three-and-a-half years and has two children—one who attends Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School and another who is a preschooler. 

Patch: What strengths will you bring to the board? At the core of my decision to run for school board is a desire to contribute my skills to the community.  I’m a strategic consultant and market researcher, and over the years have worked with such educational organizations as the NYC Dept. of Education and the College Board. My work has touched on college and career readiness, educational technology, virtual classrooms and remote learning, and launching peer networks for educators.  In the past year I’ve attended each and every session held by the Board to gain a solid understanding of the issues facing our District.  I also met with our administration, school principals, PTAs, the sports director – and as many parents as I could. When I take my professional experiences in education, my deep familiarity of the issues facing our District and my professional skills managing budgets and complex initiatives (as a former VP for two multinational companies) – I feel I bring a very hands-on set of capabilities to the Board.

Patch: What issues facing the district do you feel most strongly about?  84 percent of our District budget comes from taxes (prior to STAR). This number must be brought down, if only by a couple of percentage points. To do that, we should institute a long term plan for identifying alternative revenue streams (funds, grants, donations, etc.) and identify specific areas in the budget we can target for those. Additionally, with the implementation of Common Core and the testing associated with it we must institute a long term vision of our own for educational excellence, one that is not tied to testing, but which focuses on developing critical learning skills in students, such as stick-to-itness, time management, and so on. These have been shown to have a much greater correlation with long term success than any single subject matter or test.

Patch: Describe the quality of education you think students are getting in the district. Are there measures you would take to improve upon it? Croton provides its students with an excellent education, thanks to fantastic teachers. Long term, I would like to see us focus more on developing critical learning skills in students (non-cognitive soft skills), such as stick-to-itness and the ability to learn-how-to-learn. Additionally, I would like us to move towards having an Individual Learning Plan (ILPs) for each and every student, allowing each child to develop at their own pace and build upon their  strengths. This will require moving towards Flipped Classroom environments and competency based learning – a process that has already started (in math for example). 

Patch: This was another tough year for the district in terms of developing a budget. Are there any areas you  would consider cutting during next year's budget process to stay under the tax cap? 84 percent of Croton’s school budget is dependent on taxes (prior to STAR). Long term, we must institute a plan to bring that number down towards 80 percent by seeking alternative revenue streams (grants, etc.) and by exploring shared nonprogram services with other districts (legal costs, insurances, etc.). Without doing this, our discussion will continue to focus on the tax cap and cuts, rather than on potential growth of programs. If cuts must be made, I would advocate for cutting as far away from the classroom as possible, and affecting the fewest number of students possible.

Patch: What do you think the long-term impact of the tax cap will be on Croton schools? (Do you support or think it's hurting public education?) The tax cap is a safeguard, and while I don’t think a responsible District needs it, I’m fine with it. The reality is that having a tax cap conversation is having a very passive conversation – rather than addressing the structural flaw of our budget, which is a gross over dependence on taxes (84 percent prior to STAR). Long term, we must seek alternative revenue streams and identify specific areas in the budget where those can be used. We must become far more proactive about our budget, rather than reactive and focus on the cap.

Patch: What do you think about the Common Core standards? Will they benefit Croton students?
We’re currently in the de-facto testing period for Common Core standards (they were never tested prior to rollout) and they seem to offering some benefits and some drawbacks. On the plus side, they may help improve rigor and drive towards higher college readiness. On the drawback side, Common Core has a strong testing component to it, and while I’m not opposed to testing per-se, test prep steals valuable class time and may create a false sense of rigor. Long term, I’d like to see us have a vision for excellence that is not linked to any single topic or test, but rather fosters students’ learning skills and non-cognitive skills across the board.

Patch: Is there anything we haven’t asked that you would like the public to know about you or your candidacy? The past few weeks have been extremely invigorating. I’ve met hundreds of Crotonites and each and every conversation I’ve had has reinforced just how special a community Croton is. I’m humbled to be considered for the Board, and will work tirelessly to ensure our schools continue to provide a world-class education to our children. You can learn more about my candidacy by visiting my facebook page: www.facebook.com/AlpherForCrotonBOE