Letter from Stacie Haynes

Further Thoughts on Schenevus Merger

We all know that emotions can often trump facts when dealing with heated issues that people care about. Despite this, I’d like to continuing sharing facts with the voters in the Schenevus Central School District, in desperation to improve our children’s educational programs and opportunities.

Right after I joined the school board in July 2018, our interim superintendent at the time informed us that the district was financially insolvent and we had no choice but to make some tough decisions moving forward, in order to ensure we were able to meet our public education state mandates. I was furious to learn how unfair and unequal our education system was and is. I was ready to protest in Albany and to fight for state aid that would equalize the educational opportunities our students deserve. I put forth a lot of effort in that advocacy, but my efforts went nowhere. We even have a state senator who lives in our district and we still can’t get state aid to equalize our education. This is no disrespect to our senator—it is simply to demonstrate how difficult it is to change New York State’s education system.