Examining School Issues
Dear Editor,
My name is Ed Drohan. I have been a summer resident of Sag Harbor since 1978 and mived peranntly (sic) into our residence here in Decembe of 2006. My three children were raised here in Noyac during the summers of their childhood and my family has always loved this community. Two of my children make their home in the Hamptons. My oldest son lives in Sag Harbor with his wife and our two-year-old grandson, who will attend local schools sometime in the future. We have become transplanted summer residents after 28 years of enjoyment and beautiful memories here in the community.
In the last two years I have been active in the Noyac Civic Council and I serve on their educational committee. I have attended almost all board of education meetings over the last year and six months ago was appointed to the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC). The Noyac Civic Council is a community organization, not a special interest political group. The council does not endorse candidates, and I would not accept their endorsement if offered. I feel it would be compromising to all concerned. I am running on a completely independent basis. An examination of my qualifications and agenda will bring clarity to my position with the voters.
I am a graduate of Gorton High School in Yonkers, N.Y., and I have a Bachelor of Science degree from Manhattan College. I have a business background and have spent over forty years in the data processing industry. I have been a salesman, district manager, sales and marketing vice president, general manager, consultant, business owner and general partner at various stages of my career. Currently I work as a partner for an information technology corporation that does subcontracting and project assignments for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and staff augmentation placements for end users.
I spent seven years as a consulting vendor manager for a large international bank and during that assignment organized and then chaired a group known as the New York Technology Round Table, composed of mostly financial service firms to compare best practices through shared data and benchmarking efforts. Some of the efforts of the BAC are dedicated to benchmarking with other educational systems in order to compare best practices and achieve cost and quality educational efficiency. To that end I feel uniquely qualified to serve on the school board.
The following highlights my agenda as a prospective member of the Sag Harbor BOE:
• Foster a positive mindset in the school district and bring the entire community into the education process.
• Take advantage of the wealth of experience within our 20 percent senior population.
• Advance the school district to recognize the 50 percent population of second home owner taxpayer base to participate in summer programs and student activities and be an ambassador of the town’s good will to this valuable asset who over time may transition into permanent residents of our community.
• Initiate benchmarks that compare and analyze the taxpayer base with the demographics of other school districts. This could be the beginning of real fiduciary responsibility. The financial success of our community is strongly linked to the business of the community. We are a vacation, recreational community, dependent on a strong summer seasonal business for our success. If the school district played a stronger role in recognizing and communicating with this valuable taxpayer base, the district could be indirectly adding needed support to our local business efforts.
• Encourage the school board to work harder through various committee and mindsets to deliver serious benchmarks to the educational system that will guide future strategy. Cost comparing information in exchange with other districts can be invaluable to all participants.
• Overhaul and transition the curriculum, preparing our students to be lifelong learners. This is, after all, the centerpiece of our mission statement. In the 2001-2008 seven-year time frame, the district budget grew from $13 million to over $26 million, while the enrollment was relatively flat. In 2008/2009, per pupil expense exceeds $30,000. The elective curriculum now exceeds 40 programs. We must realize we are in the midst of an information revolution, with bilingual skills a necessity in the future work force. More focus must be placed on computer science, language arts, Spanish and an upgrade and expansion of BOCES training programs.
• Bring about a slow and reasonable transition driven by a human resource effort in strategic planning, that would encourage the advanced training of teachers in multiple subject skills with improved incentive for teachers with course versatility. I would hope to increase student load and class size slowly with quality performance checks and balances along the way. This increased efficiency could justify the growth of the previously stated programs necessary to the district.
• Promote transparency. I, along with the rest of the public, would like to know the true role of the teachers’ union, TASH, in the Sag Harbor School District. I believe in the union practice of defending their teachers against injustice and support the union in their activity to negotiate equitably for their members in contract efforts. However, I feel there is a line that should not be crossed and that the administration should be able to manage the business of the school district unencumbered by any special interest barriers. I would hope that when these negotiations are over, there would be a forum sponsored by the school board, in conjunction with TASH, open to the public. The community needs an answer to this new and expensive contract in these trying economic times.
I encourage the Sag Harbor community to vote for me based on the principles I represent and issues I intend to address.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ed Drohan
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Drohan, Ed [MC????]
[JR: Too late to get the word out to the alumni. Maybe he won?]
[JR: Bad "luck" (I'm paranoid!) to have two typos in the first sentence. I'd like to debate: strategically, if government education is a good idea or is it propagandizing future voters in big government is good; and tactically, as the owner of a vacation home paying double education taxes in NJ, isn't that taxation without representation? Argh!].
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Dear John,
I believe that Ed Drohan is a member of the Class of 1961, and Colleen Carey is a member of the Class of 2004. (That article was published May 22, 2004)
[JR: Thanks, Mike. Much appreciated. Got a get new glasses. Google thinks strangely about what's "new"!]
Drohan, Ed [MC1961]
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