Residents Meet The Candidates

With the Board of Education election on Tuesday, Bayport-Blue Point's Parent-Teacher Association Council hosted a Meet The Candidates forum to give residents a chance to better inform themselves on the candidates.

The Council holds these events when there is a contested race for the school board. This year board trustee Diane D'Angelo is seeking re-election, and Rita Palma is .

Volunteer moderator Ernie Smith asked the candidates questions formulated by district PTAs. Each candidate had two minutes to respond to the questions.

PTA Council President Kathy Kassebaum explains: “We collect questions from all the PTAs. The public comes to ask their questions either at the mic or if they do not want to speak, we give them a card to write a question that will be asked by the PTA.  For anyone at home that could not get to the meeting, they can watch it live on the internet and email us their questions. This way everybody can be involved."

Kassebaum emphasized how such events educate residents.

“It’s important for the community to have a forum to hear what the candidates have to say to make an informed vote," she said. "They can hear what is behind the name.”

Bayport resident of 38 years, Marlene Brennan, said she was hoping to make up her mind on who to vote for by the close of the event. 

“I am just going to hear what they have to say," she said.

Brennan said she is looking for someone who supports the initiatives of the district.

"I want someone who can come up with ideas on how to pressure Albany to change the way the state aid is distributed so that we can get more of our fair share of it," she said. 

The longtime Bayport resident thinks the Board of Education did a great job on the budget. 

"I was very happy with the way they managed not to gut the programs, but I am worried about next year and the year after and the year after," she said.

Michael Huffman of Bayport said he was curious about the views of the candidates.

“I am here to get information about the candidates, to see what they are interested in and what they stand for," he said.

D’Angelo and Palma answered questions from the audience, including those formulated by the PTAs (and even a few submitted through e-mail) for two hours.  They discussed their stand on numerous subjects, including state testing, budget, tax caps, curriculum, teachers and administrator salaries.

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