Janet Benton

May 9, 2008
by Susie Pender

Janet Benton has lived in Chappaqua for 22 years. She has two boys in the Chappaqua school system, a fifth grader at Bell and an eleventh grader at Greeley. Her oldest son graduated from Greeley in 2006. She has a bachelor of arts from Pomona College in Claremont, CA and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She worked for General Foods in marketing before having her first son and has been a full time mother since then. She has served nine years on the Board of Education, three as president during the 2001-02 school year, 2005-06 school year and this last year.

Why are you running for your fourth term on the school board?

I really like the work. I find it interesting, challenging. It encompasses so many different things, overall governance, policy setting, financial oversight and audit function, complicated personnel issues, contract negotiations. I originally thought policy setting was the most boring, but now I find it fascinating.

I believe in the value of public education, of living in a community that values education and has a great sense of pride in what we can offer our children.

I work with great people, that’s part of the satisfaction, my fellow board members and the administration. The cooperation and teamwork is very satisfying.

My vision for this district is for each child to receive the best possible education in a way that is personally meaningful. I want every kid to be fired up and eager to go to school every day and completely engaged.

What were your major accomplishments over the last three years as a school board member?

The major accomplishment has been the shift in emphasis and direction. When I was first on the board, the issues were increasing enrollment, construction, new facilities, reconfiguration of the middle schools and redistricting. We have shifted from that to focus on teaching and learning in the district. What are we doing in the classroom? How can we do it in a better way?

For example, back then, when we did facilities tours, we were looking at the nuts and bolts of the buildings. Now we take learning walks to visit classrooms and observe education initiatives and practices. These scheduled walks may include conferences with teachers orchestrated around a particular theme. For example, when we started full day kindergarten, we did one on that. These learning walks are not spontaneous; I’m not sure it’s the board’s job to do that.

This change in orientation is a huge accomplishment and I’m very proud of that. I give David Fleishman and Lyn McKay a ton of credit for it. When David came it was a turning point; he got us focused back on teaching and learning.

How do you keep yourself informed about the views of the community?

By being a member of the community and various circles of parents in town. Parents are not shy about asking questions or talking about issues and I am happy to have these conversations. I go to PTA meetings and other gatherings. I have 10 people who I rely as sources. Board members get more information informally than through formal channels.

As president of the board this year, I was the spokesperson and responded to emails and comments. We don’t get all that much email, I would guess maybe 2 or 3 a month, maybe a total of 25 this year on a variety of issues. I respond and offer to speak with people. The board has not gotten many emails on the schedule change. I think parents sent their comments directly to Andrew [Selesnick, principal of Greeley].

I believe that is adequate for getting a read on the community.

It is always a surprise when so many people wake up late in the game. It’s just typical, until an issue affects you directly, it doesn’t reach a level of urgency.

I attended the January 14 PTA meeting [when parents expressed their opposition to the schedule change and the timing of its implementation.] I certainly heard the upset and the questions. It’s a real challenge. How do you read the community? There are loud voices and there are quiet voices.

When asked whether she would respond to two recent letters to the editor in NewCastleNOW.org critical of the school board, she replied: I know Stephanie Ippolito [the author of a letter critical of tenure decision]. I was thinking of calling her to find out what that’s all about. [As for the other letter, asking the board to slow down and postpone the schedule change because the teachers are not adequately prepared, by Mary McInerney, Benton said:] I don’t know her so I wouldn’t contact her. If it’s not written to me or the school board directly, I wouldn’t respond.

People are very vested in this school district. There are huge participation rates of involvement in PTA activities. I know in general people do communicate when they have something they think is important to say.

Silence means people are satisfied with the work of the school district.

What is your view of the proposed schedule change?

It is the board’s position that there have been a number of public forums. The process has been open, participatory and collaborative among the teachers. It’s time to move forward.

In hindsight, would you have done anything differently given the community’s upset with the schedule change?

We can always do better with communication; it’s on ongoing challenge. After the January 14 PTA meeting, Andrew [Selesnick] starting having more private conversations with parents. A lot of information was put on the high school web site. As he received questions, he posted information on the web site.

Email blasts could be more timely, we could use it better. In fact, I have been working for the last few months on a committee with Darlene Nicolosi, our director of technology, to establish an entire technology policy. How do you migrate from paper mail to email? We don’t want to lose anyone. The email database is not where it should be. It should be such an opportunity to communicate with parents. We’ll get there, we are just proceeding slowly and carefully.

What is the largest issue facing the school district in the next year? In the next five years?

Affordability. How do we continue to deliver a quality education with tax increases that we think are appropriate? I have a hard time seeing how budget increases can be less than 5%, when personnel costs are 75% of the budget. The good news is enrollment will be stable for the next five years. But we have record kindergarten numbers.

Next year the ongoing challenge will be how to make teachers more effective in the classroom. Professional development is key. I don’t think it costs money. I think it takes time. We’re lucky we have staff developers working for the district full time.

We need to hire bright, capable, energetic teachers and encourage them to work with each other on new techniques.

The schedule change will be assessed on an on-going basis by teachers themselves in their departments and administrative review. The superintendent and administrators will be in classrooms; there will be sharing at faculty meetings. This will be a significant portion of the conversation at Greeley next year.

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 board has written for both scoping documents to express our concerns and ask questions about the ability of the project to limit the number of children after resales of the units. We asked that they look at the other condominiums in town to see what kind of student populations they generate.

I have no position on the project personally. I don’t feel that’s our role as a board. We are here to educate every child in the district.

A group of 38 school superintendents has 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 school rankings). Superintendent Fleishman signed that letter and informed the board about it afterward. Should the board have been informed first?

The superintendents are trying to dissuade publications from ranking schools. These rankings are not in the best interest of the school or the community. These formulas are not necessarily an indicator of a quality school system. When this junior class graduates, which is the largest class in recent history at Greeley, there will be a smaller number [of students] taking AP courses at Greeley.

I would like there to be less emphasis placed on that ranking. There are other quantitative measurements, regents scores, graduation numbers. I could live without that ranking.

How can you as a school board member work to curtail unfunded state mandates?

We are kept informed about proposed state legislation by the Westchester School Board Association and the New York State School Board Association. Individual board members and administrators make calls to Albany and Susan Habermann goes up there on lobbying days.

Superintendent Fleischman’s contract with the district expires at the end of this school year. Why do you believe he deserves to be continue as superintendent?

The board is working to extend David Fleishman’s contract. He has performed well in all areas of his job. He has demonstrated strong educational leadership in exploring new teaching initiatives and structural change in the district. He has used excellent judgment in handling difficult personnel and student issues. David has developed good relationships with administrators, faculty and staff, board members, PTA leaders and community members. We are very happy with his performance.