Open Letter to the Voters of the Onteora School District:
My name is Tanya Davis. I am a mother of three, attorney, business owner, and candidate for Onteora Board of Education Trustee. My husband is an Onteora graduate, and I have been a resident of the Onteora District since 2001. My children have attended Bennett and Phoenicia elementary schools. My daughters are both sixth graders at Bennett, and my son is a freshman in the high school. One of my daughters is a special education student in a self-contained classroom.
I have focused my professional career fairly equally on education and the law. I have taught at every level from pre-school to law school. I have advocated for families with special needs kids, I am chair of the District-wide Special Education PTA, past President of the Bennett PTA, and current member of the NYS Bar Association’s Special Needs Planning Committee, Committee on Issues Affecting People with Disabilities and Estate, Trusts & Tax Committee.
Since I announced my candidacy for BOE, several people have asked me what my “agenda” is. My answer is that I do not have an “agenda,” but I do have goals: I believe that it is vital for the Board, Administration, and most especially the tax payers to work together to decide the best way to utilize resources to provide the best education for our kids. I think that we need to view ourselves not as three distinct communities who happen to share a school district, but rather as a single school community with a large geographic area and lots of diversity.
We all know that our school district faces a lot of tough current and future challenges. I believe that it is possible for us to not only survive those challenges, but to make decisions that will make Onteora thrive. It will take transparency, communication, cooperation and open minds.
My email address is tdavis@hvc.rr.com. I am happy to answer questions. I hope I can count on your support.
Thank you,
Tanya L. Davis, Esq.
Boiceville
