Letters to the Editor, May 29, 2026

Proposition 3 defeat a ‘failure of leadership’

To the Editor:

Last week, the Katonah-Lewisboro School District community voted on next year’s school budget. Included on the ballot was Proposition 3, a $25 million bond to renovate the vacant Lewisboro Elementary School in preparation for the state-mandated 2028 universal pre-K program. While the school budget passed and two incumbents on the Board of Education were reelected, Proposition 3 failed by just 22 votes.

This narrow defeat reflected a failure of leadership. The incumbent trustees did not effectively communicate the importance of the initiative or clearly explain why the investment was necessary. 

Rather than taking a visible and proactive role in advocating for the proposal, trustees relied too heavily on the school district administration to make the case. That left a communication vacuum that opponents were quick to exploit, most notably Lewisboro Town Board member Rich Sklarin.

Sklarin led a divisive campaign against the bond built on fear-based fiscal rhetoric rather than honest engagement with the district’s long-term obligations and educational priorities. Instead of acknowledging that universal pre-K is a state mandate requiring local preparation, he fueled distrust around an investment intended to benefit future generations of families in our community. 

His approach amplified misinformation at precisely the moment when residents needed clarity and thoughtful leadership. Lewisboro residents should remember that Rich Sklarin helped derail a necessary investment in our children and our community’s future, and voters should respond accordingly in the next election cycle.

At the same time, the incumbents failed to engage directly and consistently enough with the public. Where were the “Talk Prop 3 with Me” coffees and community meetups? Why did supportive signage appear only on voting day? Where were the consistent social media efforts directly addressing misinformation and answering residents’ concerns? 

With a margin this small, a more visible and organized outreach campaign could very well have changed the outcome.

Elected officials have a responsibility to clearly inform the public about what is at stake in major community decisions. By failing to take ownership of the public conversation, trustees allowed Town Board member Rich Sklarin and others to weaponize misinformation and define the narrative. In doing so, they collectively failed the children and families this proposal was intended to support.

Jennifer Cayea South Salem

Reader urges ‘Vote your values’ in CD17 primary

To the Editor:

In the NY17 Congressional primary runup, there’s a reason that Effie Phillips-Staley has the endorsements of progressive champions and organizations — Ro Khanna, Jamaal Bowman, Zephyr Teachout, Bernie’s “Our Revolution,” The Latino Victory Fund, The Working Families Party and more, while institutional Democrat endorsements go to “safer” candidates. 

We’ve seen in race after race that progressive policies are popular policies, and people understand that we would be more secure if our warmaking dollars went to sustainable infrastructure and human needs, and yet party leadership cling to the worn-out belief that these things turn away voters and don’t win elections.

Early on, one could have been excused for supporting a candidate out of fear of losing to Lawler if that candidate stood against continuing the flow of bombs to Israel. 

There is no excuse for that thinking anymore; Lawler is toast regardless of who comes through in the primary. 

The economy is a wreck, the United States has precipitously transitioned from world-leading superpower to pathetic gangster state with a corrupt circus of leadership, world energy supplies have been disrupted and at very best will take several years to stabilize, synthetic fertilizer shortages threaten the food supply for a billion people and will raise food prices here in the U.S., and Mike Lawler is endorsed by Trump and has an excuse for his every new theft or abuse of power.

An elected trustee in Tarrytown with a career in nonprofits helping people, Effie is a solid choice. Effie has shown unique moral fortitude and clarity of principle — no waffling on tough issues — Gaza, abolishing ICE, universal health care. No matter whose petition you may have signed previously you can confidently vote your values in the June 23 primary (or voting early starting June 13) — for most of us, that’s a vote for Effie. 

Dan Welsh South Salem

The author is a Lewisboro Town Board member, but the views expressed here are his own.

KLSD outcome not anti-school 

To the Editor:

The May 19 vote sent a clear message. Voters approved the operating budget and the capital reserve drawdown but rejected the $24.5 million Lewisboro Elementary bond. That outcome was discriminating, not anti-school. It was a refusal to authorize new debt before the district has demonstrated a plan for the obligations already on its books.

Those obligations deserve closer scrutiny than they are getting. The district’s audited financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2024, prepared by PKF O’Connor Davies, report an unfunded Other Postemployment Benefit (OPEB) liability of $241,374,564 — nearly twice the annual operating budget, and the dominant reason the district’s total net position is negative $220,988,376.

Vision 2030, as posted on the district website, contains no measurable fiscal benchmarks. There is no published multi-year financial plan, despite the FY2023 external risk assessment flagging that gap. There is no OPEB pre-funding strategy. Staying within the state tax cap is a statutory floor, not a fiscal philosophy.

This town demands more than a mere vision. The voters have affirmed they require a fiscally sound plan and decisive modifications to the retirement benefit plans.

I respectfully ask the new board, within 90 days, to: (1) publish a multi-year financial plan with explicit OPEB projections; (2) adopt a policy assigning a defined portion of each year’s General Fund surplus to an OPEB designation within fund balance; (3) pass a resolution endorsing state OPEB trust-enabling legislation; and (4) open the next collective bargaining cycle prepared to trade fairly with current union members in exchange for plan-design changes affecting future hires only.

I intend to address the board during public comment at its upcoming meeting.

Sasha D. Burdett  South Salem 

At last, a candidate who is inspirational’ 

To the Editor:

It’s been a long time since I have been inspired by a political candidate. For years it was just choose the one who seems to share enough of my basic values, fall in line and vote. Inspiration was not part of the picture.

That was until I saw Cait Conley talk about the future of this country. Her passion, smarts and proven patriotism reignited something that has been dormant for a long time amidst the mayhem of our current political climate:

Hope.

She sees an America ready and able to work for everyone. Governed by fairness, not greed and grift. A place where we no longer have to turn away in disgust at another headline telling us how our president has corrupted every corner of this country while his loyal minion, Mike Lawler, rubber stamps his every unscrupulous move. And as the temperature of the NY-17 Democratic primary heats up, Cait makes her case with a positive message, avoiding unnecessary, unsavory and untrue attacks that only serve to damage the Democratic cause as we prepare to take on Mike Lawler in November.

Cait has the kind of grit and skill set that Lawler is afraid of: leadership in Army Special Ops, years of service at the highest levels of the federal government protecting us from terrorist threats. She is not another standard issue Democratic politician — the kind Lawler has beaten since 2022.

Go to her website and find out where you can see Cait speak and see for yourself how great it feels when someone running for office can actually inspire you again.

John Lloyd Katonah