Fredericks, Couse re-elected to Pine Plains BOE; Cavey loses

PINE PLAINS — Waiting patiently for the results of this year’s Board of Education (BOE) election to be tallied, incumbent Pine Plains Central School District (PPCSD) BOE members Amie Fredericks and Chip Couse were pleased to learn they had been elected to serve another term on the board on Tuesday, May 17.

The PPCSD held its annual district budget vote and BOE election last Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School cafeteria. For more information on the results of the district budget vote, turn to this week’s front page.

Those voted onto the BOE in this year’s election will serve three-year terms on the board, starting Friday, July 1, and ending June 30, 2025. There were two open seats: incumbents were elected while newcomer Scott Cavey lost the election with the fewest number of votes.

Fredericks won her seat with the highest tally of 699 votes, followed by former BOE President Couse, with 693 votes; Cavey received 244 votes.

Re-elected to her third term on the school board, Fredericks said she just completed six years of serving the Board of Ed, having begun in July 2016.

“I am honored that the PPCSD community trusts me to sit in this seat for another three years,” she said. “We had a record number of voters come to vote and the community’s voice was heard loud and clear.”

Looking ahead, Fredericks said her goals for the coming year “fall under a larger umbrella of educating the whole child,” which she said means educating each child academically, physically, socially, emotional and developmentally.

Among other things she would like to do as she sits at the board table, Fredericks said she would like to create a robust mental health program that will be continuously evaluated and adjusted to best meet students’ needs; provide opportunities for students to be heard; allow students opportunities to learn outside the classroom setting with more hands-on experiences; and increase communication between incoming Superintendent of Schools Brian Timm and district families as well as between the BOE and families.

Prior to winning  his eighth term on the BOE, Couse had served 22 years as a trustee on the school board, starting in 1986 and taking a couple of breaks in service throughout the years. He also served on the BOE as its president for a number of years.

“As a young man, I was searching for where to do my public service,” Couse said. “The Board of Education was the right fit.”

Couse said he decided to run for several reasons. One, to help ease the transition as Timm replaces Superintendent Martin Handler (who plans to retire at year’s end) as the district’s sixth superintendent of schools this July, and two, because of the significant drop in student enrollment.

He added he wants to lend his experience to ensure Timm has a successful start to his new role; he also wants to help lead the discussion on properly allocating resources or “right sizing” the district’s adjustment to “the reality of a shrinking student body.”

Lastly, Couse said he wants to participate in the process of rebuilding the altered educational platform that was interrupted by COVID-19.

The BOE ratified the election results at its board meeting on Wednesday, May 18.

This article has been corrected to note that there were two BOE seats open and Scott Carvey lost the election to the two incumbents, rather than won as originally reported in the May 26 print edition. 

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