Election results bring good news and surprises at Lew-Port

Vantine looks forward to working with new board

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, May 22, 2004

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Board newcomer Lenny Palumbo. (photo by Terry Duffy)

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Lewiston Porter election officials spent close to an hour tallying the results after the polls closed on Tuesday. (photo by Terry Duffy)

Incumbent board victor Louis Palmeri (left) shakes hands with newcomer Dave Schaubert. Both scored impressive wins in Tuesday's Lew-Port School Board elections. (photo by Terry Duffy)

Voting was steady Tuesday as Lew-Port residents approved a new budget and elected two new members and one incumbent to the three open seats. (photo by Larry Kensinger)

After what seemed like forever to announce the results at the close of Tuesday's Lew-Port budget/board vote, in light of all the pre-election hoopla, it all boiled down to the numbers. Following nearly an hour-long delay in tabulating the vote, District Clerk Debbie Sherman appeared and announced the results. They bore both good news and surprises.

Lewiston Porter School District voters turned out in decent numbers Tuesday and approved a budget which brings a modest tax hike to property owners along with some cuts in services and programs. However voters made greater noise by opting to reconfigure the three open slots on the school board with one returning incumbent and two new members, who all campaigned on being ever more focused on improving student performance, board and district functions, and spending. Changes are brewing once again on the Lew-Port Board.

Budget Wins Approval

Leading off, district voters approved a rather conservative $35.038 million 2004-05 spending plan by a 1,469-1,327 margin. Unlike other costly plans, such as the neighboring $52.04 million Niagara Wheatfield budget which went down to defeat, the Lew-Port 04-05 plan, while calling for some cuts in services and programs, does carry less of a bite for Lew-Port taxpayers.

It provides for a 7.45 percent increase in spending -- covering instructional, special education needs as well as BOCES expenditures, as well as monies to help the district absorb significant state mandated costs such as increased teacher retirements and health care expenses. It also calls for some cuts in Community Education offerings as well as some potential cuts in high school tech programs. Both will be revisited as the district fine tunes its final spending for the '04-05 school year

And it brings a 2.46 percent tax hike, or a .52 per thousand of assessed valuation increase to the average Lew-Port property owner of a home assessed at $100,000. But when compared to other districts, such as Grand Island where school taxes are going up in excess of nine percent, Lew-Port residents fared much better.

District Relieved

Board member Dr. Nils Olsen, who joined with other board members and district officials at the Community Resource Center to hear the results, spoke for many as he expressed relief that it passed. "I was worried," said Olsen as he heard the earlier news of the Niagara Wheatfield budget going down to defeat and what a defeated proposition could have meant at Lew-Port. Fortunately that was not to be.

Superintendent Dr. Whitney K. Vantine also expressed relief and appreciation to voters on approving the plan. We are "very pleased with the community voting to support our budget," Vantine said.

The board vote however carried a different story for the two incumbents who lost their seats to newcomers who had campaigned for changes.

Schaubert Top Vote Getter

Results of the board elections, which had grew in intensity as days edged closer, saw newcomer Dave Schaubert, who had been critical of district administration policies and spending, declared the top vote-getter to the board with 2,476 votes out of a total of 3,316 cast district-wide. He was followed by Lenny Palumbo, another new face who called for a change in direction with 1,865 votes.

Incumbent Louis Palmeri, one of the more vocal current board members who along with incumbent Ed Lilly, had both been highly critical in months past of board majority decisions, district communication functions, decision-making concerns and issue of "gag orders," won the third open seat with 1,707 votes cast.

Losers were incumbents Jim Leighton and Gretchen Baxter, who served as board president and vice president respectively, and who had both campaigned on their merits of district improvements, improving student performance and a greater openness to the community through increased parent teacher workings at all levels. Baxter took 1,468 votes in what some saw as an unexpected outcome, while Leighton took 1,371 votes to round out the count.

Reactions

The two expressed varying degrees of surprise at the outcome, while also coming away satisfied on a personal level on what they contributed to the district as board members. As Leighton and Baxter offered their thanks to voters, both said they intend to remain active in district in the future. Both will be also attending the next board session in June.

As Palmeri and Schaubert congratulated each other on their wins (Palumbo was not in attendance that night and unavailable for comment), a jubilant Palmeri declared, "The community has spoken. The board belongs back to the community now."

Schaubert added, "I look forward to working with the administration to work out the issues."

Board member Lilly, who joined with Palmeri and Schaubert in celebrating following the vote, offered some comments on the outcome of the board race.

"There were two important factors in this election," Lilly began.

"First, taxpayers and parents realized that the seven percent spending increase was used to quietly give big raises for teachers and administrators. At the same time, student programs were cut for lack of funding.

"Secondly," (noting the efficiency of the '04 registration/election process, under the direction of District Clerk Debbie Sherman), Lilly continued, "my efforts to clean up the election process were finally realized. For the first time at Lew-Port, we now have a system to identify voters."

With a new board, there will likely be some changes in both board and district functions over the next year.

Vantine Comments

Vantine offered his congratulations to the new board members and said he's looking forward to working with them. "I talked with Schaubert. We had a very pleasant conversation. I look forward to working with him and all the board members and administrators as we work for the benefit of Lew-Port students.

"Lewiston Porter is really a fine school system," Vantine continued "It doesn't mean that we can not improve. We can. I look forward to working with all the board and administrators to make this happen."