Somers Board of Education Hopefuls Offer Their Views on Key Issues

Four candidates are vying for two seats in next Tuesday’s Somers School Board of Education election. Board President Lindsay Portnoy and fellow incumbent MaryRose Joseph have opted against seeking another three-year term.

The candidates on the ballot are Dominick DeMartino, Thomasine Mastrantoni, Daryl Mundis and Patrick Varbero, all with different backgrounds and areas of expertise.

The candidates hold similar views and concerns on raising math and reading scores, advocating for STEM classes, supporting special education needs, increasing school board and administration transparency and creating more opportunities for parents to speak openly about their concerns.

Voting for the election and on the district’s $106 million budget for 2023-24 takes place Tuesday, May 16 at the Somers Middle School gymnasium, 250 Route 202 in Somers, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Dominick DeMartino

DeMartino grew up in Somers and is a 1998 district graduate. After he earned a degree in computer information systems and business from Bentley University in Boston, he served 10 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve/Naval Security Forces and the Office of Navy Intelligence where he held top secret clearance status.

Currently, he is a partner in a recruiting business specializing in the telecom, IT and data center industry.

DeMartino and his wife Tathiana moved back to Somers 12 years ago. Today, their two children are in first and fifth grade. DeMartino also volunteers as a football coach and hockey referee.

He is running for the board because he wants to see a wider cross section of representatives.

“People on the board come from similar backgrounds and many from the community have complained their voices are not getting heard,” DeMartino said. “The board should consist of a mix of people from academia and the business community.”

A strong advocate of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, DeMartino wants to see improvement in reading and math.

“We need to focus on the fundamental subjects. It seems other school districts are advancing at a quicker pace,” he said.

DeMartino said he has heard from Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) parents who believe their kids are being left out.

“This happened particularly after COVID when special education programs were dropped and forgotten about when schools reopened,” DeMartino said. “We need to fight to get those programs back for our special education kids; they are the neediest.”

The district’s handling and hiring of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coordinator last fall who had just published a book on teaching racial issues was poorly managed, an issue DeMartino has criticized.

“The district hired a person that didn’t match up to the community’s values,” he said. “They brought in somebody who had published a book with extremist views that targeted and offended a large portion of the community.”

DeMartino recalled asking the administration and hiring committee about the DEI coordinator and being told they had no knowledge of the hiring.

“They take no ownership, they pass blame, they deflect and don’t answer questions. People go to meetings and it’s a complete waste of time.”

Keeping parents informed and involved is key, according to DeMartino. One obstacle has been holding meetings at times that are difficult for most working people.

“The board and the district need to schedule more events and meetings when more people can attend,” he said. “Then you will get a good cross section of the community involved.”

If he wins the election DeMartino said he would make it a point to be available to community members.

“I’m open to grabbing a coffee in the evening, taking calls on the way home from work. I consider myself very approachable.”

 

Thomasine Mastrantoni

Mastrantoni has lived in Somers for 20 years. She and her husband, Paul, have one child in Somers Middle School and another in the high school. Mastrantoni worked for 10 years at the Westchester County Department of Health and earned her master’s degree in library and information science. She is a middle school teacher in the Harrison School District and is a K-12 certified teacher and a library media specialist.

Mastrantoni said if elected she would fill the needed role of a practicing educator.

“I uniquely fill that voice as a regular teacher, a teacher in special education and in teaching English to gen ed students,” she said. “I can speak to how programs are being implemented.”

A former treasurer and trustee for the Somers Education Foundation, Mastrantoni is the current treasurer for the Somers Class of 2024 and is a member of the high school PTSA, middle school PTA, Booster Club and Somers Tuskers Arts Rising Stars.

Teaching DEI has been an issue that Mastrantoni said the district is handling well.

“But there is a great deal of misunderstanding out there,” she said. “We need to look at and learn about the differences, find commonalities and connections. DEI by design is a unifying process and the district did provide opportunities to learn about DEI. I’m not sure that all parents understood it.”

She noted that the three main responsibilities of school board members are to review and approve the budget, play an important role in evaluating the superintendent to ensure the district’s goals are being met and providing strong programs to each student.

“The board is an advisory group for all other aspects,” Mastrantoni said. “They don’t set curriculum but can evaluate spending and make sure the budget meets its goals in allocating funds.”

More effective communication is also needed between the district and parents, Mastrantoni said.

“That’s to ensure the system and policies that are in place address community concerns and give parents the ability to ask questions and file complaints,” she said. “I don’t see that happening here.”

 

Daryl Mundis

Mundis is a lawyer and Columbia University graduate who held a post for 20 years with the U.N.’s International Court of Justice’s criminal tribunals. He was subsequently appointed by the U.N. secretary-general as registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon where he oversaw 450 staff members in three countries and managed annual budgets of more than $65 million.

Mundis was also senior trial attorney at The Hague as a lead prosecutor at the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

When he retired in 2021, he and his wife Ruth moved to Somers with their three children who are in third, sixth and ninth grades.

Mundis is active in the district’s PTAs, is an occasional substitute teacher at Somers Elementary School and will be teaching international law at Manhattan College in the fall. He is concerned with what he sees as divisiveness between the community and school administration.

“There’s a real erosion of civil dialogue in this town and it plays out across the country affecting our schools,” Mundis said. “We see the inability for people to have civil discussions even when they disagree.”

Mundis cited a recent public interaction between a parent and the Board of Education, which prevented the parent from speaking about a school bus incident involving her disabled child.

“It sets a bad example for children when parents can’t sit down and talk to one another,” he said. “I see myself as good listener who doesn’t judge other people, someone who has been in a senior management position, building relations among a divided staff.”

Additionally, the incident reflects another concern Mundis holds about the safety and security of students, whether in school, on the bus, in the playground or on an athletic field.

“If the issues are about abuse and bullying and are the established results of staff or anyone who isn’t performing up to standard, they can expect their contract not to be renewed,” Mundis said. “I have a track record of holding people accountable.”

Rising inflation is an ongoing challenge for the district, and Mundis said his past administrative experience in handling a $65 million budget gives him the expertise to prioritize but stay flexible within the confines of a budget.

“There are 6,000 square feet of building in the district and we have to be able to pay for heat, electricity, buses that travel 680,000 miles a year and 190,000 meals for children,” he said. “It will be a real problem keeping within a budget to meet all those costs.”

More open and engaged discussions about DEI and Critical Race Theory between administrators and parents are needed.

“We have to do much more community outreach to the PTAs, hold more principals’ monthly coffees and go beyond that wherever we possibly can,” Mundis said. “Teachers and school board members need to talk to groups like the Lions Clubs. DEI is not just about race relations; it’s about fully ensuring every child has resources they need to meet their full potential. We are trying to look at the needs of the whole child.”

Mundis noted that Somers has a stellar record on how they approach and evaluate children with special needs, but he disagreed with an opinion that academic performance in the district’s schools are in decline.

“The lower grade level reading and math scores are both a result of the lingering effects of the pandemic and are isolated incidents,” he noted. “We need to look at the totality of the school district including performances in the fine arts and athletics. The district has been very solid across the board in places where it needs to improve and they have dedicated additional funds targeting grade levels in math and reading. They are on a very good path and we need to keep an eye on that.”

 

Patrick Varbero

A 1998 district graduate, Varbero earned his bachelor’s degree at SUNY Oneonta. He has been a sergeant with the Harrison Police Department since 2012, where he oversees a patrol squad of eight officers and is a member of the department’s K-9 Unit.

He is a certified canine trainer, holds multiple Department of Homeland Security certifications and is one of the first officers in New York to be certified in implicit bias/procedural justice. Varbero is also an instructor with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Varbero and his wife, Torri, have three children attending district schools, currently in second, third and sixth grades. He is a volunteer football and baseball coach and a SEPTA member.

“I’m running because I don’t agree with some of the changes I’ve seen in the district and I no longer want to sit on the sidelines and just watch. I want to have a say,” he said.

Varbero, who was a special education student when attending the district, said he is particularly concerned with the elimination of Learning Inclusively for Everyone (LIFE), a special education program that integrates classified students into regular classrooms.

“We need to see that (program) come back,” Varbero said. “It makes special education students feel less alienated. From what I understand there’s no LIFE coordinator anymore because they eliminated the position when they hired a DEI coordinator,” a position he supports.

“Everybody wants diversity, to be treated fairly and be included regardless of race, gender or learning handicaps,” Varbero said. “No one wants to be left out.”

He is critical of how lack of transparency played out regarding the dismissal and subsequent rehiring of a high school teacher last fall who introduced a book about opposing racism.

“We need common-sense decision-making because our peers are not taking accountability,” Varbero said. “We need someone on the board who will give parents a voice, give teachers a voice. Our teachers are our frontline workers and they should be able to speak freely without the fear of repercussions.”

 

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