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Health & Fitness

Paul Wasserman for Briarcliff School Board

Higher Education, Better Government

Higher Education, Better Government

I am humbled to formally announce my candidacy for Briarcliff School Board.  As spending time with my family is paramount to me, I would never have decided to seek your support for this office had I not seen such troubling financial signs during the short term of this current Board.  

My passion lies in our Briarcliff educational system. But we can’t have a healthy educational system without healthy finances, as evidenced by the proposed firing of 5 teachers and 23 teaching assistants.   We can’t sustain 5-10% tax increases.I believe that budgeted expenses are overstated, that we have more money available to provide for our children’s education and reduce our taxes.

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We need to elevate the education of all of our children. We need to provide more opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), to prepare our children for rewarding careers in a rapidly changing century.  We need to address the short, mid, and long-term health of our educational system while maintaining the affordability and value of homes to our current residents

As residents of Briarcliff since 1991, Nannette and I believe in our civic responsibility here and we impart this belief in our children. Our oldest child, Danielle, graduated Briarcliff High School in 2010. Our son, Eric, is a junior at BHS and our daughter, Jolie, is in the fourth grade. We have had a child in Todd Elementary School for 15 of the last 16 years. In 2001-2002 we, along with other concerned parents, organized our community and succeeded in preventing the Millennium Pipeline, a natural gas super-pipeline, from being placed within 75 feet of our Kindergarten Playground.            

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Our family formed a foundation to fund the Children’s Library, Juliette’s Room, in memory of our daughter.  Reading, being informed, thinking for oneself, and standing up for what you believe to be right; these represent our family’s guiding principles.  Nannette was a Village Library Board Trustee and president of the Friends of the Library, helping to raise almost $1 million to expand our Village Library. She held PTA and class parent positions over the last 16 years and was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout Leader.

Personally, I have served on the School District’s Code of Conduct Committee, Facilities Committee, Budget Committee, Curriculum Committee, participated in the Finance Committee, and now serve on the Compact Committee.  I have coached Little League baseball, AYSO and WYSL Soccer, BMYL Lacrosse (when all I knew was how to tie sneakers), St. Ann’s basketball, co-founded the Congregation Sons of Israel (“CSI”) Basketball Program, and was a Trustee at CSI. 

I’ve been a C.P.A since 1979, a partner at a national accounting firm, the owner/president of my own accounting practice, and the CFO of several companies. I have a BS in Biology from SUNY Stony Brook, an MBA in Accounting from the University of Michigan, and MS in Taxation from Pace University. I am devoting this stage of my life to making the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District a stronger district.

Without question, we can do a better job overseeing our school system with the expertise and transparency that was promised to us and not delivered.  We need to attract and retain young families while ensuring that those who came before us, who struggled to create a viable path for us in Briarcliff, can afford to remain.

Sincerely,

Paul

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