Croton School Board Candidate: Joshua Diamond

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 Joshua Diamond.
Diamond has been a resident of Croton since 2001. He is married to Zhanna Glazenburg, a physics teacher at Croton-Harmon High School, and has two children attending school in the district. He is a member of board-of-trustees of New York Destination Imagination and the Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor.

He has spent most of his career doing software development and managing IT teams at various firms in the investment industry. He currently works at UBS Securities, where he manages a team thats develops software supporting equity options market making.

Patch: What strengths will you bring to the board?
Managing a team of brilliant individuals gives me deep understanding of the process of setting a vision, defining goals which are in concert with that vision, and executing a collaborative plan to achieve those goals. The significant regulatory burden in my industry gives me insight into the similar matters of school district compliance with mandates and the need to do so within the limitations of budget. As trustee of non-profit organizations I have experienced the parallel processes of fundraising, and the implementation of a core mission using those limited funds. As a leader of Destination Imagination, and as a former chair of the education committee at Croton Jewish Center, I have gained direct knowledge of the challenges facing educational programs, including building a faculty and setting curriculum.

Patch: What issues facing the district do you feel most strongly about?
The Common Core has some advantages, in that it sets challenging goals, but compliance is expensive, and heavy reliance on tests can have undesired effects. What are we not teaching because we must focus so heavily on the testing required by these mandates? Our school system must become more transparent.  There are too many cases in which we are left guessing about what is going on with our kids, or about how our tax dollars are spent. We should avoid educational fads, and utilize our professional development budget wisely.  For instance, rather than bringing in expensive external consultants for professional development, we should instead utilize our internal corps of master teachers for this purpose, paying them a stipend for their additional responsibilities (as is already done for department coordinators).

Patch: Describe the quality of education you think students are getting in the district. Are there measures you would take to improve upon it?
As noted in U.S. News and World Report, CHHS is already in the 260th in the US, and 40th in the State – a significant achievement. But there is room for improvement:

1. We must do more to ensure that kids who have exceptional ability are identified and provided with programs which allow them to succeed according to their potential.
2. Science, technology and engineering in grades K-8 is inadequate.  Why do we not have specialist science and technology teachers in the lower grades, when STEM education is such a high priority in the modern world?
3. We should avoid chasing the latest untested and expensive educational fads, and instead foster proven methods which our master teachers already use effectively.  Great teachers don't take big risks with new systems; they take small incremental risks on new ideas and alternate techniques that are individualized to their students.

Patch: his was another tough year for the district in terms of developing a budget. Are there any areas you would consider cutting during next year'sbudget process to stay under the tax cap?
Obviously, any cuts should be kept as far from our students as possible.  We must make sure that we continue to offer a set of programs which conform with our students' needs, abilities and desires. We need to take a close look at administrative costs, which have grown significantly.  With 14 full time administrators, most of whom make over $100,000 per year, and significant other costs, we have a higher administrative load than most comparable districts. If student programs must be cut, those cuts must be judicious and balanced, targeting programs which affect the smallest numbers of students, or those with outside-of-school alternatives. That said, I strongly believe that academic programs are a school system's raison d'etre, and I promise to approach this topic from that point of view.  

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 2% tax levy cap limits revenues at precisely the same time that we must comply with unfunded mandates, and deal with rising healthcare, retirement and administrative costs. Given present pension and contractual obligations, absent structural change in the form of additional state or federal funding, it is going to have significant impact, and will most likely require cuts to programs in the future.   I note that exemption to the cap for debt service is an incentive for districts to go into debt to keep programs going.  I strongly oppose this approach, as it is not sustainable. That said, we must find ways to have excellent schools and at the same time avoid raising taxes to the point that our community becomes unaffordable.

Patch: What do you think about the Common Core standards? Will they benefit Croton students?
On its face, Common Core can serve some good, in setting higher standards. Challenging goals are important, no matter the endeavour, and evidence based approaches do have some merit. It is clear that the standards are forcing some much needed rigor upon the program in the lower grades here in Croton. But there are significant problems with Common Core, which derive largely from its creation by a consortium of business funded foundations, and textbook / testing companies.  Little input from teachers with experience in the classroom was involved. Tailored largely to drive improvement in schools elsewhere, the standards are at times redundant in relatively successful schools like Croton. They are expensive and untested – our children are the experimental subjects. Finally, the heavy reliance on testing can drive teachers to "teach to the test", instead of providing their students with basic knowledge, the skills to analyze it, and the wisdom to apply it.

Patch: Is there anything we haven't asked that you would like the public to know about you or your candidacy?
I believe that we must support each and every child with an education appropriate to their talents, needs, desires and aspirations. Beyond providing basic knowledge, we must teach them to be creative problem solvers, effective team members, compassionate friends, and critical thinkers. We must build in them a foundation for strong careers that will allow them to affect their families, community, nation, and the world for good. As a trustee I will commit to making our already great schools even better, despite the difficult crosswinds affecting us, focusing on the actual education of our youth rather than on the mere satisfaction of external mandates. I will strive to strike a balance between the need to properly fund education, and the understanding that high property tax rates can be devastating to retirees and to families of limited means. And I will always speak out for doing what is right for the children.