Greg Bresner
May 9, 2008
by Susie Pender
Gregg Bresner has lived in Chappaqua for seven years and has two children in the Chappaqua School system, a boy and a girl who both attend Grafflin Elementary School. He has a bachelor of science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and has 20 years of financial experience in strategic consulting, investment banking and investment management. He is a managing director in corporate finance of a large investment firm in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Why are you running for the school board?
I have a passion for education and am familiar with the challenges of being a student in a high-performance district like Chappaqua, having graduated from the Great Neck school district on Long Island. The pros and cons are very vivid to me.
I am absolutely committed to providing our children with the best possible educational opportunities, but I also believe that we must be mindful of the ever-increasing property tax burden placed on our residents. I believe I can balance the two with the diversity of skills I bring to the school board. I will provide a fresh perspective and apply my analytical, technology and leadership skills to this challenge.
In particular, I will support a comprehensive, focused and measurable strategy for implementing and utilizing technology within the curriculum. I have a passion for technology and how we implement it in the classroom. To me, the most important decision is when to implement technology. Our teachers have a real challenge competing for student’s mindshare in an advanced multi-media age. I am committed to equipping and empowering our teachers with the necessary resources and professional development to inspire learning in the 21st century classroom.
What are your accomplishments?
My twenty years of financial experience has included strong operating experience in the areas of financial management, budgeting, accounting, auditing, team building, professional staffing and information technology. Throughout my career, I have had leadership responsibility for negotiating and executing complex transactions with multiple constituencies. As an investor and member of the board of directors of a number of companies, I have had the privilege to observe and experience best practices across the corporate spectrum.
In 2003, I helped co-found Chappaqua Residents for Excellence in Education, or CREE, a group of approximately 30 residents with financial backgrounds interested in the school budget. The purpose of the group was to help the school board and community by offering our financial expertise. We met with the school board and elected state governmental officials.
In light of the recent controversy about how the school board and the administration handled the decision to change the schedule at the high school, how would you keep yourself informed of the opinions of the community, the teachers and the students?
In a similar circumstance when considering such a major change, I would want substantial direct contact with the teachers. And I would want to talk to students directly. The teachers I spoke with were very divided on this. When you have this type of situation, it would be dangerous to make a decision by a simple plurality. From my business experience, a high majority of support is critical when undertaking initiatives that are so execution-intensive.
I would propose a more informal format for hearing from the community. Standing up at a microphone, stating your name and address at a school board meeting, is too formal, mechanical and intimidating. I would propose more informal coffee/donut type sessions where residents could speak more casually about their concerns.
I have spoken with numerous parents who feel their voices were not heard on the scheduling issue. To me, the greatest asset we have in this district is the strength of the partnership between parents, teachers and administrators. That partnership appears to be fractured, which does concern me.
What is your view of the proposed schedule change?
It is difficult for me to have a clear view here as I have not seen an empirical or analytical case as to why this is good for the high school. This is not a risk-less proposition. To me, sustaining excellence in a school is a greater challenge than achieving excellence.
The first thing we need to do is formulate a measurable assessment to quantify whether the new schedule is working. And we must be vigilant in assessing how it’s going. I would seek as much direct feedback as we can gather from administrators, teachers and students in evaluating the change.
How would you have done things differently if you had been on the board this past year?
Based on my experience, when you introduce a change or a new technology, the easiest part is doing it. The harder thing to do is to execute it successfully. I have seen many terrific initiatives fail because people underestimated the challenges of implementation or didn’t communicate as deeply as necessary.
From my perspective as a parent in the district, I understand the schedule change is supposed to take classrooms and make them interactive with dynamic exercises such as team work, case studies and other learning tools. I am concerned about how we can do that without a vast upfront and continuing investment in development, resources and training.
What is the largest issue facing the school district in the next year? In the next five years?
The largest issue facing the school district is how to sustain excellence in light of where our property taxes are. We have to make critical investments for the long term. The next two to three years will be difficult because of the economy. I have a strong fiscal background and have experience in maximizing value when you’re dealing with finite resources. I want to make strategic investments that directly impact the classroom experience. Seven years ago when I moved here, the school budget was $62,000,000. The budget proposed for this year is $107,000,000, over a 70% increase.
Given its proximity to the high school and the potential impact on enrollment if the 55 and over age restriction is not enforced, what is your view of Summit Greenfield’s proposal for the development of the Reader’s Digest property?
The Summit Greenfield proposal is an imminent threat to our school district and in my opinion, a disgraceful proposal. If built, it will turn us into a mediocre district overnight. I have seen thousands of transactions in my career and I have sincerely never seen one where one side (the town and school district) got absolutely nothing, not one benefit. The residential units could potentially add 500 children to this district and massively increase the property taxes of the current residents. It’s a cheap way to get into the Chappaqua school district.
A group of 38 school superintendents have sent a letter to Newsweek asking that they be dropped from the magazine’s annual ranking of schools based on the number of Advanced Placement courses taken. (see Superintendents rankled by high school rankings ). Superintendent Fleishman signed that letter and informed the board about it afterward. Should the board have been informed first?
At first glance, this appears to be a policy issue as it has been the past policy of the district to participate. To me, this is a board issue. The parents should have a say in that through their elected school officials. There are lots of other ways of evaluating a school district, how their students are doing in college, where they are going to college, but this is one measure of our district. It may not be a truly representative measure, but a measure nonetheless.
Superintendent Fleischman’s contract with the district expires at the end of the this school year. Why do you believe he deserves to continue as superintendent?
This really is a matter for the current board. It would be very unfair of me to offer any judgment of Dr. Fleischman on this issue without having had the extensive personal interaction, professional history and specific understanding of the mutual performance objectives available only to the current board members. On this matter, I respectfully defer to the judgment of our current board.
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