Deirdre d'Albertis

As a mother of two students in the Rhinebeck Central School District and a resident of the area for over twenty years, I know what our schools mean to this community.

A wonderful public school education changed my life. After graduating from Hopkins Eisenhower High School in Minnesota, I went on to study at Barnard College and Harvard University. Since then I have committed myself to education in my career as a college teacher and in the community in which we live.

Investing time, energy, and resources in our local schools is a responsibility America takes seriously. I want to be sure that all our children in Rhinebeck have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

But these are difficult times for our country and for public education. School districts across the country are facing real challenges of policy and finance: most pressingly, new Common Core Standards and federal funding for Race to the Top will have a direct impact on the ways in which students are learning and teachers teaching here in Rhinebeck. So too, with the 2% tax levy cap, school districts in New York State are being called upon to make difficult budgeting decisions. The School Board must see to it that all members of the community are heard, that cooperation and fair-mindedness prevail, and that our children receive the very best education we can provide.

My work with the Rhinebeck-Rheinbach Exchange program, the Bulkeley Middle School Building Level Planning Team, PTSO, and the Rhinebeck Science Foundation has convinced me that when we cooperate as a community no challenge is too great for us to overcome.

Now, with your support, I want to do more to help our schools thrive in demanding times. I believe that discipline and fiscal responsibility are central to public service and I pledge to uphold both if elected. As a member of the School Board I would use all my experience as an educator to make sure our children succeed.

Please email me (dalbertisdeirdre@yahoo.com), to discuss your ideas. Come talk to me and my family--my husband Peter Gadsby and our children Walter and Daisy--at soccer or crew, dance or the next school concert.

And most of all, please remember to vote on May 21st!