School Budgets Approved in Local School Districts; New Trustees Elected
School budgets were approved in all seven districts in the Northern Westchester region Tuesday, while new school trustees were elected in Lakeland, Croton-Harmon and Peekskill.
In Lakeland, the $161 million budget, which carries a 2.5% tax increase in Yorktown and a 1.7% tax decrease in Cortlandt, was passed 941-339. A bus proposition also was approved 877-379.
Meanwhile, in the race for three seats on the Board of Education, Lakeland Education Foundation President Denise Kness and fellow LEF member Rachelle Nardelli earned seats with 774 and 707 votes, along with Vice President Glen Malia, who was elected to a third term with 741 votes. Incumbents Michael Cherchia and Scott Carey finished out of the running with 641 and 594 votes.
In Yorktown, the $97 million budget with an accompanying .52% tax hike was overwhelmingly supported 1,146-369.
In the Board of Education race, incumbent trustees Anthony D’Alessandro and Michael Magnani were reelected to a new three-year term with 994 and 922 votes respectively, while “The Tax Watchdog” Ed Ciffone came up short again with 574 votes.
In Peekskill, which had the lowest turnout, the budget was approved 409-220. In the four candidate race for two board seats, newcomer Richard Sullivan led the pack with 386 votes, followed by President Douglas Glickert with 339. Falling short were incumbent Joseph Urbanowicz with 302 and George Ondek with 188.
The Croton-Harmon budget was approved 530-130. In the four candidate race for three seats on the board, Patrice Davidson was the top vote-getter with 511, followed by incumbent Neal Haber with 438 and Todd Freebern with 400. Ann Marie Sasso finished fourth with 328 votes.
In districts where incumbent trustees ran unopposed, budgets were approved in Hendrick Hudson (616-224), Ossining (1,308-515) and Somers (950-302).
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
