Chappaqua School Board Candidates: Q&A With Robert Fleisher

This is the third and final in our Q&A series of Chappaqua school board candidates. Fleisher, the interviewee, is running against Karen Visser and Victoria Tipp, with open seats open. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Patch: Tell us about yourself? For example, how long have you lived in the district, how many children you have in the district and what prior community involvement you have.

Fleisher: I have lived in Chappaqua since 2005. I was born in Bayonne, NJ and attended public schools from K-12. After attending Brandeis University and Columbia Business School, I lived and worked in NYC for 15 years prior to moving to Chappaqua for a better quality of life at the time my oldest son was approaching school age. My daughter (born in 2006 in Northern Westchester Hospital) and son are both in the district. She will be entering Kindergarten and my son will be advancing to 4th grade at Roaring Brook Elementary School next year.

My community involvement began by attending town board meetings addressing large public policy issues (e.g. Chappaqua Crossing) and following the actions of the school board. As I focused on the issues to a greater extent, I became much more concerned about the future direction of the school district and attended and participated in many more school board meetings during the most recent budget cycle.

Patch: Why are you running for the school board and what experience do you feel can help?

Fleisher: After watching and participating in the budget process over the past year and looking at the fiscal issues we face on a national, state and local level, I decided that I needed to get more involved. We have real problems that need to be addressed and the only way to make this a sustainable community is to work together to address these issues in a manner that all interested parties can find enough common ground to live with. I have had a very good experience with the school system to date and I want to find a way to make sure the ability to maintain that experience and the academic excellence of our district is preserved to fullest extent possible.

From the board’s perspective, I believe that my 20 years of experience working in the financial industry, my comfort and experience in working in a heavily regulated environment and the sense of urgency that I bring to the table to address these issues can all be assets to the community.

Patch: Fiscal projections given by the district show a tough picture on the expense side for the next five years, particularly with pension contributions. Do you think budgets in the coming years can be managed without significant job cuts?

Fleisher: I am very hopeful that this can be the case. It is always a tragedy to lose good teachers and staff. At the same time, without some level of change in Albany and a different understanding with school employees, job cuts may be very difficult to avoid. As someone who considers himself a fiscal conservative, I find it very frustrating to watch our budget and taxes go up while staffing levels and the educational opportunities for our children go down. I know I am not alone in finding that combination of events a poor and unsustainable outcome. In all cases, that doesn’t excuse the district in needing to do more with less.

Patch: On a related topic, what changes, if any, do you feel should be made to the state-mandated contributions from the district to pensions of teachers and other public employees? Would you support instituting defined-contribution plans?

Fleisher: Unless the state is determined to bankrupt its municipalities, some level of change in this area is unavoidable. We have already seen changes of this nature in other areas of government at the state and federal level. My first job out of college was with a pension consulting firm in the very early days of defined contribution plans. I have been an employee at a firm that converted their own defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan for all employees who had started after a certain date. I strongly believe it is a much more equitable system to all stakeholders for funding one’s retirement, though I am well aware that the conversion process and the valuation of an employee’s current benefits is not an easy undertaking. I think that the recommendation made by the Financial Advisory Group to the Board including the adoption of a defined contribution plan, increased and ongoing employee contributions and an increase in the retirement age are all worthy of strong consideration.

Patch: Do you believe that faculty and staff should contribute more towards the cost of their health insurance premiums? If so, what percentage would you like to see?

Fleisher: While I don’t have a specific number to suggest at this time, I believe that all employees should make reasonable contributions. Governor Cuomo’s suggestion that school employees should make the same contributions as state employees, 10% individual and 25% for family would certainly seem a good place to start.

Patch: Would you support repealing the state’s Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law, which keeps in place terms of expired union contracts during negotiations?

Fleisher: Yes

Patch: Would you like to see changes in the district’s curriculum? If so, what are some major ones that you would support?

Fleisher: While I do not have specific recommendations to offer at this time, this is an area that always merits careful monitoring for the continued excellent quality of our school system. It is certainly an important responsibility of a member of the Board to be involved with curriculum review and to make changes as needed to maintain the excellent quality of the schools.

Patch: What are your thoughts on restructuring the grade configurations of Seven Bridges and Bell? Would you support, as the board might consider in the future, making one middle school just for grades 5-6 and the other for grades 7-8? What about a merger of the two schools?

Fleisher: I believe that we all need to be very open-minded on this subset of issues. If it can be demonstrated that significant efficiencies could be created through a different structure than the one we have now while maintaining the quality of the educational program, it is hard to imagine any board member not being supportive.

Patch: What are your thoughts on the New Castle Town Board’s rezoning votes last month to permit a smaller amount of housing (111 units) at Chappaqua Crossing, versus the 199 that developer Summit/Greenfield proposed? During the contentious debate, members of the public were concerned that allowing for the previous proposal - there remains opposition to the 111-unit amount - would lead to there being too many new kids in the district, driving up costs. Do you believe that the approved limited rezoning, assuming Summit/Greenfield were to go with it, could have this effect?

Fleisher: I personally do not think Chappaqua Crossings is in the best interest for the current residents of Chappaqua and for our school district. In the narrow context of its impact on the school system, I have not seen data that suggests the development does not create additional risks. That being said, I believe the board has an obligation to look at all of this data objectively and I would certainly remain open to doing so as this project continues to evolve.

Patch: Do you support Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed 2-percent cap on annual property tax increases? Would you, as current board members called for in a resolution earlier this year, oppose it if reforms are not made to current state mandates?

Fleisher: As a matter of policy, I believe that we should have the ability to set out own tax rates through our elected officials and community input. In the context of the 2% cap, I am supportive of the resolution passed by the current board on this topic on January 11th of this year. I understand that the 2% cap can be a catalyst for mandate relief, but I would want to see the two issues tied together in a single piece of legislation.