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Mostly Cloudy Baldwin School Board Candidates Run Unopposed, Again
Uncontested races becoming a trend in recent years
On Tuesday, before the Herald went to press the Baldwin Union Free School District held its annual budget and Board of Education trustee elections. Incumbents Mary Jo O’Hagan and Annie Doresca ran at-large and unopposed, virtually guaranteeing their seats for another three-year term.
O’Hagan is currently the board president and has served as a trustee since 1994. Doresca was first elected to the board in 2015, having edged out George Siberon by six votes. Both O’Hagan and Doresca ran for re-election in 2018 unopposed.
For the past four years, incumbents have been running for school board elections or re-elections unopposed, excepting in 2019, when incumbent Susan Cools won her first re-election and Tom Smyth won his first election, after Joel Press left his seat. In 2020, Karyn Reid ran for her third term with no opposition.
Uncontested races are not unique to Baldwin. In an interview with Axios, National School Boards Association Chief Executive Officer Anna Maria Chávez said, “Historically, we've actually seen where some school board seats have gone uncontested—sometimes for years.” The New York State School Board Association has attributed low community engagement to complacency resulting from the state tax cap legislation first imposed in 2012.
Uncontested elections, however, have decreased by almost 20 percent from 2018 to 2021 across Long Island, according to public records, with significant declines immediately after the state-mandated coronavirus protocols. Two years prior to the pandemic, incumbents were not only more likely to run unopposed, but districts had empty seats with no one to fill them. This increase in board candidacy is reflective of a greater statewide trend.
The USA Today Network-New York analyzed school board ballots from other suburban school districts across the state and found that over half of board elections are now uncontested, citing a growing concern among community members regarding school funding, student well-being, tax hikes, and social justice issues.
Baldwin, however, seems to be an outlier. The school district boasted no uncontested board elections from 2011 to 2018, at a time when others across Long Island were struggling to fill seats or re-electing incumbents that had been on the board for decades. Currently, all but one, O’Hagan, have been serving for six years or less.
Nonetheless, as increased numbers of concerned parents and community members across the state and Long Island have thrown their proverbial hats into the ring post pandemic, Baldwin has produced zero challengers for their last seven available seats.
Some residents attribute the lack of interest to transparency and communication gaps between the community and the district, mostly regarding fiscal responsibility. Jeff Barkan, the Co-President of the South Baldwin Jewish Center, said, “The district needs to justify their spending, and not by using slick advertising brochures touting the select programs that have worked.”
“You’re just allowed to state your concern, and you can’t have a conversation,” Linda Moreland Degen said about her experiences speaking at school board meetings. Elizabeth Douje, a parent in the district, was also concerned about election awareness and education. “Drive around town, there’s not one sign up in regards to the vote on Tuesday,” she said.
Other residents consider the lack of challengers these past elections as a sign of trust in the current board and administration and their handling of the pandemic. The school administration, lifelong Baldwinite Lori Thiesen Fitzpatrick said, “Kept our schools open this year. The learners got Chromebooks to use. The teachers were both remote and in class. This was not an easy feat.”
The Baldwin Board of Education could not be reached for comment.
The President of the Baldwin Civic Association Darien Ward expressed his advocacy for robust campaigning and voter education, and stated that in the past the BCA had hosted school board candidate forums for open seats. The BCA, however, has not openly asked about uncontested races. “Not sure if we have the manpower or interest,” Ward said. “. . . We have a rough time getting community involvement in the projects we already are seeking to address.”
