Ondek Throwing Hat in Ring for Peekskill Board of Ed
After unsuccessfully running for Peekskill mayor more than 20 years ago, George Ondek vowed never to run for public office again.
However, the cable television show host and local activist is so dissatisfied with the actions and non-actions of the Peekskill Board of Education that he has decided to seek one of the two seats that will be up for grabs in the May election.
“I feel I have to be part of the school board to make changes,” said Ondek, a 25-year resident of Peekskill and a disabled Vietnam veteran. “They need a voice to sort of offset the spending. I definitely feel I have a legitimate chance to win.”
Ondek has criticized the Board of Education for not approving a school tax benefit for veterans that has already been supported in Yonkers, Carmel and Brewster.
“They have been dragging their feet with the veterans benefit. That doesn’t seem very patriotic to me,” he remarked.
With a background in business and finances, Ondek said he would pay close attention to spending in the district. He questioned the district reportedly spending more than $500,000 on litigation regarding guidance counselors who were suspended for allegedly altering the grades of students last year.
He also said Peekskill was paying for three school superintendents after buying out James Willis last year, bringing in interim superintendent Dr. Larry Licopoli and recently settling on Middle School Principal David Fine to replace Licopoli in 2015.
“I don’t like all these layers of administration. There’s a lot of unnecessary positions,” Ondek maintained. “I would be looking to cut the fat out of the budget. And the cheating scandal, that was something that should have been settled out of court, internally, and not made a criminal case of it.”
The two current school trustees whose terms expire in May are board President Doug Glickert and former board President Joe Urbanowicz. Anyone running for the Board of Education has to obtain at least 100 signatures from district residents.
“I believe in quality education for a reasonable price,” said Ondek, who has one son, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. “We need to get higher academic scores in Peekskill and stop spending too much time on sports and other things.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
