School board and budget elections will be held Tuesday, May 17. Baldwinsville voters will go to the polls to choose from four candidates for three open seats. All are full three-year terms.
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Victor Jenkins
Biographical information
Victor Jenkins is completing his ninth year on the Baldwinsville school board of education. He has been a resident of the community since 1980 and has two daughters who attended the Baldwinsville schools.
Victor currently works in the investment and trust area of Wilmington Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&T Bank. His previous experience was with Cigna Financial Advisors and as a controller for Xerox Corporation. Victor has extensive management and financial experience and holds several professional designations.
He currently serves as the president of the board of education and has previously served as president as well as vice president. His committee experience on the Board includes Audit, Insurance, Facilities, and Policy committees.
Victor is active in the community and serves as the co-moderator of the deacons for his church. Previous community activities include the YMCA Fundraising Committee, Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Foundation, and president of the Estate Planning Council of CNY.
Victor’s philosophy is to always put every child first and to see that the Baldwinsville schools are providing every possible opportunity for the children to be successful.
Why are you running for office?
I feel serving on the school board has been a good way for me to give back to the community. I’ve always believed in community participation, and I think my financial and management skills and work experience are a good fit for many situations encountered by the school board. It is great that we have a good cross-section of people.
The other reason I am running is that I feel my previous nine years on the board is valuable. As education becomes more and more complex, having experience in creating budgets, dealing with state mandates and dealing with other difficulties that arise have proven valuable.
Why are you the best candidate?
First, I have no personal agenda. I am trying to do what I think is best for the students in the Baldwinsville Central School District. I am not egotistical in my beliefs, and am open to new ideas and approaches. I think the best decisions we reach are through teamwork and collaboration. That has long been my decision-making style. Everyone gets a voice, and we work for consensus to find the best overall solution. I also try to gather all the facts I can to address any particular situation.
What are the major issues facing the district and what will you do to address them?
We’ve been through some difficult financial times, and we continue to have financial pressures with changing state aide and the tax cap on the budget. It is always a balance between being good financial stewards and maintaining the best possible programs for each child. I think I’ve learned many things about proper balancing and my financial experience in the business world has proven a very useful element. The way I approach this is to look very closely at the financial information for any inefficiencies, while monitoring expenses that are associated with the academic program.
Another issue is the continuing complexity of education; for example, curriculum changes, mandates, APPR — all of these take a while to digest and understand. My experience has been extremely useful in knowing how to approach these areas.
Potentially the biggest issue we face is being able to connect to every child in the school district. I believe, and many studies have shown, that the more connection a child feels to someone in the district, the better they will do overall. To this end I have been a long-term proponent of activities as well as academics, to involve the students in the whole educational process. I have promoted awareness programs. We need to keep looking at how to connect to these children in a dramatically changing social environment. Our focus should be, first and last, what is best for the students.
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Joan Reeves
Biographical information
I have been a member of the board of education since 1981. I served as vice president for 12 years and president for six years. I serve on the OCM BOCES Board of Education, am a member of the Board of Directors of the Central New York School Boards Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Onondaga Madison School Boards Association and a past member of the St. Mary’s Parish Council. I have been past president of the Baldwinsville Basketball Boosters and have been a volunteer for Baldwinsville Little League. I was awarded the Everett R. Dyer Award for Distinguished School Board Service from the New York State School Boards Association.
While on the board I served on numerous committees including but not limited to Long Range Planning, Facilities, Policy, Contract, Insurance, Transportation, Audit, Sustainability, Legislative, Negotiations, BCEPT, Anheuser Busch PILOT and Intermunicipal. I am a graduate of Baldwinsville schools along with my eight siblings and parents, Cecil and Dorothy Reeves. I attended SUNY Oneonta and Oswego, majoring in political science, and was formerly employed as an assistant manager for Reeves Farms and by Plainville Farms in charge of purchasing, regulatory compliance and product development. I raised three children, all whom are products of Baldwinsville schools: Lieutenant Commander Eric and Laura Reeves, Naval aviators in Anacortes, Wash., Jamie and Erica Banuski, project manager for Springfield, Mass., schools and special education teacher for the Gill-Montague Regional School District, and son Ryan, who passed away February 2012; as well as six grandchildren.
Why are you running for office?
I love children and I love my community. I believe all children should have the opportunity to reach their full potential; at the same time, being fiscally responsible and actively lobbying to benefit all. I have seen the district grow in all areas in my tenure, but also see ever changing regulations coming down from the state; not always in the best interest of students, parents, or taxpayers.
Why are you the best candidate?
I feel I have the experience and history, knowing where we are, where we came from, and where we need to go. I also have a large network of educators and board members to reference information and promote lobbying and advocating for students. I have a good track record, am a good listener and do what it takes to resolve and prevent issues that may occur.
What are the major issues facing the district, and what will you do to address them?
We all work together as a board and would like to see improvement in our reading scores and can always improve in other ways. We should be updating our Strategic Plan with the goals in the five major area; that is a living document where all stakeholder groups can buy into it. We are partially there and should finish it up in another year.
We have a lot of students under a lot of stress in many areas and we hope to be able to make resources available to help them work through some of the stresses.
District leadership would be another issue. We need to get it right. We as a board need to control the search, not an outsider.
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Steve Schweitzer
Biographical information
I have been a resident of Baldwinsville since 1993 and a member of the Baldwinsville Central School District Board of Education since 2010. My wife, Kim, and I have two children, a daughter and a son who both graduated from Baker High School in 2007 and 2010, respectively.
My educational background includes a bachelor of engineering degree from the State University of New York Maritime College and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I am a licensed professional engineer and a senior project management engineer working in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy technology.
My community service also includes 20 years with the Moyers Corners Fire Department, where I have achieved the rank of captain.
Why are you running for office?
The Baldwinsville Central School District provided both of our children with an excellent education and I want to do my part to give back to the community. This was my primary reason for running six years ago and still holds true today.
Why are you the best candidate?
I have 34 years of work experience, the last 17 years working closely with state government. My diverse background in the engineering field, state government and private business along with my demonstrated leadership skills as an officer and leader in the volunteer fire service offers a well-rounded experience base that is valuable to the board of education.
Having served on the Facilities Committee for the past six years, my technical background has been an asset in the planning and implementation of multi-million dollar capital improvement projects for the eight schools and many support buildings that comprise the Baldwinsville Central School District.
What are the major issues facing the district, and what will you do to address them?
I consider the highest priority issues to be (1) maintaining the highest quality of education and preparedness for our students in a very dynamic educational environment, and (2) maintaining fiscal health and financial stability during challenging economic times.
No one person can solve all of the issues facing the school district. I am a strong advocate for involving stakeholder groups (administration, staff, community members, etc.) in identifying and implementing solutions.
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James Stewart
Biographical information
My wife and I have two children in the district and we’ve resided in our home for about 16 years. I currently work as a solutions delivery manager for Telligen, Inc., a population health management company. I am also an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s iSchool, teaching various subjects in information management.
Why are you running for office?
With both of my children in the district, I am highly invested in their education, as well as that of all the district’s students. My desire is to utilize my teaching, information technology, management and leadership experience to help develop our students and staff.
Why are you the best candidate?
As an adjunct professor and working professional in management, I have seen firsthand the knowledge and skills colleges and employers are looking for. I feel I can make a meaningful contribution to the community by applying my experience to help provide all students the opportunity to succeed upon graduation.
What are the major issues facing the district, and what will you do to address them?
Like other school districts, our primary objective is to educate our students and provide them the opportunities to develop into the person they ultimately want to become. In order to do that we have to be sure we create environments that support the learning for all students and provide our educators with the tools and preparation they need to guide their students to their full potential.
