Wappingers Central School District elections (2015)
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Three seats on the Wappingers Central School District Board of Education were up for general election on May 19, 2015. The election shared the ballot with the school district's annual budget vote, which was passed by voters.[1][2]
The seats held by incumbents Ved Shravah, Robert Rubin and Douglass Bitteker were on the ballot. Bitteker did not file to run for re-election, ensuring at least one newcomer would join the board. Shravah and Rubin faced four challengers, Deborah Torres Henning, Karen Mauhs Karath, Anne LaValle and Babu Munusamy, in their bids for re-election.[3] Rubin, Karath and LaValle won seats on the board.[4]
Karen Mauhs Karath participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
About the district
Wappingers Central School District is located in Dutchess County in southeastern New York. The county seat is Poughkeepsie. Dutchess County was home to an estimated 296,916 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[5] During the 2012-2013 school year, Wappingers Central was the eighth-largest school district in New York and served 11,865 students.[6]
Demographics
Dutchess County underperformed in comparison to the rest of New York in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 32.9 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 33.2 percent for New York as a whole. The median household income in Dutchess County was $72,525, compared to $58,003 for the state of New York. The poverty rate was 9.0 percent, compared to 15.3 percent for the entire state.[5]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The Wappingers Central Board of Education consists of nine members elected at large to three-year terms on a staggered basis every year in May. Three members are up for election each year.[8][9] There was no primary election, and the general election was held on May 19, 2015.[1] Voters could vote for all three seats in this election. The three candidates who received the most votes were considered elected to the board.
School board candidates must be qualified voters of the district and residents for at least one year prior to the election. They must be able to read and write and cannot have been removed from another school board office within a year of the election. School board candidates cannot hold another, incompatible office while they serve on the board, and they cannot be a member of the same household as another member on the board.[10] To get on the ballot, candidates had to file nominating petitions containing the signatures of two percent of voters in the last election with the district clerk by May 6, 2015.[11][12]
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
Robert Rubin 
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Ved Shravah | Deborah Torres Henning | |||
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| Karen Mauhs Karath
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Anne LaValle
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Babu Munusamy | |||
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Election results
| Wappingers Central School District, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2015 |
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Robert Rubin Incumbent |
19.5% | 2,549 | |
| Nonpartisan | Anne LaValle |
18.5% | 2,422 | |
| Nonpartisan | Karen Mauhs Karath |
16.3% | 2,136 | |
| Nonpartisan | Deborah Torres Henning | 15.9% | 2,087 | |
| Nonpartisan | Babu Munusamy | 15.9% | 2,083 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ved Shravah Incumbent | 13.9% | 1,825 | |
| Total Votes | 13,102 | |||
| Source: Wappingers Central School District, "Jun 01, 2015 - Board Workshop/Special Board Meeting Agenda," accessed June 8, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
Incumbent Ved Shravah was endorsed by Wappingers Central school board member Seema Rizvi.[13] Challenger Deborah Torres Henning was endorsed by the organization Stop Common Core in New York State.[14] The Wappingers Congress of Teachers endorsed Robert Rubin, Karen Mauhs Karath and Babu Munusamy.[15]
Campaign finance
No contributions or expenditures were reported in the election, according to the New York State Board of Elections.[16][17]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the district
Opt-outs increase in district and statewide
School districts in New York held Common Core-aligned state testing in April 2015, but a large movement of parents opting their children out of the testing meant many did not take the tests. This was true in the Wappingers Central School District, where 40 percent of students opted out of taking the English and language arts (ELA) exam.[18]
This was an increase from the 6 percent opt-out rate for the district in 2014. Statewide, more than 155,000 students opted out of ELA testing in 2015, according to United to Counter, a group that opposes Common Core standards.[18] Approximately 49,000 students in New York opted out of ELA testing in 2014.[19]
Some school district officials voiced concern over the opt-outs as districts could be penalized at both the state and federal level if less than 95 percent of students participated in testing. The New York Department of Education said standardized testing helps ensure the state's most vulnerable students do not get ignored. Despite that, New York State United Teachers started a robocall campaign a few days before the test began to remind members they could opt out their children.[19][20] Union leaders said they opposed the exams because they were not valid indicators of student progress and because the results of those exams would be tied to teacher evaluations.[21]
The Wappingers Congress of Teachers did not go as far as the statewide union. According to Jim Marrinan, the union's vice president of political action, the choice to opt out belonged to the parents. "We're not going to tell them one way or the other whether they should or they shouldn't," said Marrinan.[22]
Ballotpedia survey responses
One candidate in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from Karen Mauhs Karath.
Top priorities
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Karath stated:
| “ | Follow the law as it relates to the duties i have been elected to do and educate the public as to the importance of doing just that.[23] | ” |
| —Karen Mauhs Karath (2015)[24] | ||
Ranking the issues
Karath was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays her rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||
|---|---|---|
| Issue | Karath | |
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues
Karath asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to her responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Wappingers Central School District election in 2015:[1][11]
| Deadline | Event |
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| April 20, 2015 | Original deadline to file candidate nominating petitions |
| First campaign finance statement due | |
| May 6, 2015 | Extended deadline to file candidate nominating petitions |
| May 14, 2015 | Last day to register to vote in this election |
| Second campaign finance statement due | |
| May 19, 2015 | Election Day |
| June 8, 2015 | Final campaign finance statement due |
| July 1, 2015 | First day of term for newly elected board members |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: New York elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with the school district's annual budget vote.[1] Voters approved a $214,032,128 budget for the 2015-2016 school year, which included a 1.02 percent increase from the previous year's budget.[2][25]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Wappingers Central School District New York. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Wappingers Central School District | New York | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 New York State School Boards Association, "Timeline - 2015 Annual Budget Vote & School Board Election," accessed April 13, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wappingers Central School District, "Jun 01, 2015 - Board Workshop/Special Board Meeting Agenda," accessed June 8, 2015
- ↑ Abbey Smith, "Email communication with Susan Penney, District Clerk/Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, Wappingers Central School District," May 7, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "Wappingers Central School District - May 19, 2015," accessed May 19, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "Dutchess County, New York," accessed April 10, 2014
- ↑ National Central for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "NYS Voter Enrollment by County, Party Affiliation and Status - Voters Registered as of November 01, 2013," accessed April 10, 2014
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "Active Policies: 2100 School Board Legal Status," accessed April 27, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "Active Policies: 2120 School Board Elections," accessed April 27, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "Active Policies: 2121 Board Member Qualifications," accessed April 27, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wappingers Central School District, "Legal Notice," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "Active Policies: 2120.1 Candidates and Campaigning," accessed April 27, 2015
- ↑ Poughkeepsie Journal, "Letters to editor, 5/14," May 14, 2015
- ↑ Stop Common Core in New York State, "Board of Education 2015," accessed May 19, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Congress of Teachers, "BOE Candidates," accessed October 23, 2015
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Campaign Financial Disclosure: Expenditure Search Page," accessed July 8, 2015
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Campaign Financial Disclosure: Contribution Search Page," accessed July 8, 2015
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Poughkeepsie Journal, "Dutchess test refusals soar; NY says data will still be used," April 16, 2015
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Syracuse.com, "NYS opt-out movement grows; tens of thousands - maybe more - expected to skip tests," April 14, 2015
- ↑ Business Insider, "Over 50% of students in some New York school districts are boycotting Common Core tests," April 15, 2015
- ↑ New York Daily News, "State teacher’s union chief calls for Common Core testing boycott," March 31, 2015
- ↑ Star Gazette, "Refusing the tests: Opt-out movement grows in NY," April 11, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Karen Mauhs Karath responses," May 9, 2015
- ↑ Wappingers Central School District, "2015-2016 Board Adopted Budget," accessed April 30, 2015
| 2015 Wappingers Central School District Elections | |
| Dutchess County, New York | |
| Election date: | May 19, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Robert Rubin • Incumbent, Ved Shravah • Deborah Torres Henning • Karen Mauhs Karath • Anne LaValle • Babu Munusamy |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
