Letter to the Editor: Port Chester School Board Race

To the Editor:

I am confused about James Carriere. In his recent announcement of his candidacy for the Port Chester school board, he wrote in the Westmore News, “ I am a class parent, a member of the PTO, and active in school activities.”  That sounds really good, but it turns out all this activity is at Corpus Christi/Holy Rosary School. But Mr. Carriere is running to be on the school board for public schools! Sending your kids to private school and wanting to be on the board of the public school is like playing on the tennis team but wanting to manage the football team.

I’m also confused that he wants to “bring the school board and village board closer together in a combined effort to make developers understand our village does not need dense housing but much more multiple use development.”  I think there’s broad agreement that the village board needs to address housing and development, but I’ve never seen someone run for school board without talking about trying to improve public schools or public education.

I think perhaps Mr. Carriere would be a better fit for either the village board or for the school board of Corpus Christi/Holy Rosary School.

For my part, I will be voting for Carolee Brakewood, who is an active parent, an excellent educator, and a tireless voice for bettering our schools – IN the Port Chester public schools. And I intend to vote for the budget for two reasons; 1] it is under the tax cap and reasonable, and 2] it is good for our children, our schools, and our community.

Kikki Short

Port Chester