Webutuck voters pass budget, elect new BOE members

WEBUTUCK — The North East (Webutuck) Central School District (WCSD) welcomed the community’s support as it held the annual district budget vote and Board of Education (BOE) election on Tuesday, May 18.

Running from noon to 9 p.m. last Tuesday, voters were instructed to head to the Webutuck High School gymnasium in-person, where the vote was being held. 

Featured in this year’s vote, eligible voters were asked to cast a ballot for the adoption of the 2021-22 WCSD budget and the election of four BOE members. Though this year’s event was held in-person, district voters were given the chance to request an absentee ballot prior to the vote.

In a press release issued the following day on Wednesday, May 19 — the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) reported that New York voters approved 99.2% of school district budgets. Furthermore, the release stated the initial statewide results gathered by the NYSSBA indicated “voters approved 660 school district budgets, while five were defeated.”

Webutuck was among the school districts whose budgets received voter approval. In fact, a total of 193 voters voted in favor of adopting Webutuck’s 2021-22 budget while 126 votes were against it.

For the BOE election, incumbent Jessica Diester received the majority of votes with a total of 245 votes, followed by former BOE member Joanne Boyd with 234 votes, incumbent Rick Keller-Coffey earned 209 votes and former Webutuck health teacher John Merwin (who also taught various other subjects during his 30-year tenure) garnered 179 write-in votes.

“Several people from the district, parents and teachers, felt there was a vacant spot and that I would be a good fit because of my background,” Merwin said after the results were tallied. There were only three candidates on the ballot for this year’s race, which had four seats up for grab on the school board. “This is not something I was looking for but if there’s a need and people felt I could be a positive influence, I was more than glad to help out.”

“I would like to thank the Webutuck Central School District Community for their continued support of our students and programs,” Superintendent of Schools Raymond Castellani remarked in the days following the district budget vote and BOE election.

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