OSWEGO, NY – Voters in the Oswego City School District defeated the proposed budget by an unofficial tally of 1,956 no to 1,392 yes on Tuesday.
The budget lost in 9 of the 10 districts. In the Third Ward, the vote was 89 – 89.
Nine candidates sought three open seats on the school board.
One of two incumbents was re-elected.
Dave White garnered an unofficial tally of 1,459. That was good for third place.
Sally Nettles, the current board vice president, received an unofficial vote count of 781 (seventh place).
Newcomer John Dunsmoor was the second top vote getter with an unofficial tally of 1,467.
Sam Tripp, a former board member, received the most votes, unofficially totaling 2,109.
The unofficial vote totals for the other candidates are: fourth place – (1,214) Doug Buske; fifth place – (1,129) Tom DeCastro; sixth place – (803) Brenda Earl; eighth place – (541) Mary Ann Schultz; and ninth place – (384) Tobie McIntosh.
The first district didn’t report until just after 10 p.m. The last district tally was reported shortly before 11 p.m.
Tripp, White, Buske, and Dunsmoor battled for the top three spots most of the night. Earl was in the mix for a while before fading at about the halfway mark.
At about the same time, Dunsmoor edged ahead of Buske. He continued to pull away during the second half.
It was Tripp, White and Dunsmoor from the fourth district reporting until a surge from the Seventh Ward moved Dunsmoor into second place with one more district to go.
“I think the people are looking for a different philosophy on the board than what we’ve got currently, had for the past few years,” Tripp said. “The people have spoken by the huge turnout.”
He said he would look at programs, and “try to rebuild the district that we had in the past, get us back to where we were.”
He added he wasn’t surprised by the budget’s defeat.
“It’s back to the drawing board,” he said.
“It’s obviously a loud statement by the community. It’s back to the drawing board,” current board member Sean Madden agreed. “The voters obviously weren’t very pleased with what they saw. So, it looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
“We definitely have a problem with the budget,” White said. “We’ll have to look at it and see what we can do. Evidently, people were mad. I don’t know if they were mad because of the things that were taken out or there wasn’t enough taken out.”
“Obviously, people were a little upset with the way things have been going on the board and were looking for some changes,” Dunsmoor said. “They definitely didn’t like the budget.”
The board member-elect said he will work hard to acquaint himself with the issues facing the district.
“I want to educate myself about the issues and be ready to hit the ground running in July (when he’s officially sworn in). The public was very strong in wanting to have a change in the board,” he said. “I think I can make a difference.”
Voters unofficially approved the replacement of buses proposition (1,843 to 1,445).
However, the district’s request to establish a capital reserve fund lost unofficially (1,442 to 1,747).
The public library’s budget was approved unofficially by a 1,575 to 1,314 tally.
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Dave White is right: people were mad. However everyone needs to realize that what we were upset with was Maggie Tiballi and David Fischer. That is why I and 1955 other people voted no. Maggie is finally on her way out hopefully so is Fischer. The budget vote was not because people didn’t support the kids or education, it was because we vehemently oppose Mr. Fischer. It is time for him to pack up and head back to Buffalo. He is not wanted here. And if hes still around, the lack of trust in the school system will continue, and budgets will continue to be defeated
Congrats to Mr. Tripp, great job and I think that he will help lead the district back in the right direction as well. Congrats also to Mr. Dunsmoor, good to hear of some new blood on the board. Change is always good.
Sean agrees with Sammy. What a surprise.
Fisher must go! School Board: Go back to the drawing board and do right by the kids. Get rid of the rotating schedule. LISTEN to the taxpayers, we know what is best for the kids…they’re ours! Congrats to Chamberlain, Crist and Colucci on your 4% raises and extended contracts that were approved last night. 4-3 was really a surprise wasn’t it?
First I would like to thank all the people who trusted in my integrity and voted for me. You know that I AM NOT anyone’s lackey. In losing, I am still a winner, as one of my aims was the removal of
Mrs. Tiballi and Mrs. Nettles. I was a part of that. I also would have worked for the removal, no firing, of Mr. Fisher. I am not a quitter and will return next year and hope to have a part in the ousting of the third member of the “Fab Four”.
Can we get some reaction quotes from Maggie Tiballi about the defeat of the budget and her candidates Mary Ann and Sally? I can’t wait to see what excuses that woman Maggie makes.
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall last night so I could have seen the faces of Maggie and Fischer when their empire came crashing down.
What a shame that someone would read this article and then slam Sean Madden. More bitterness and negative energy expended! We all hope this will soon change. Congrats to all the winners!
If Tom DeCastro was for the firing of Superintendent Fischer, and made it clear to the voters, then he should have been elected to the board for that reason alone.
I want to thank all of you that supported me in this election. I also want to congratulate Sam Tripp, Dave White and John Dunsmoor. I believe a very strong message was sent to those board members who supported this budget and to Mr. Fischer that the community is tired of supporting a bloated bureaucracy of administrators and teachers on assignment at the cost of programs to our students and wasted dollars to our taxpayers.
Mrs. Tiballi stated at last nights meeting she contacted about 20 districts our size and found that our administrators were underpaid compared to those other districts. Mrs. Tiballi, how many administrators in their districts compared to ours, what are their job duties compared to ours, how many years on the job and how many teachers on assignment do they have doing their work for them? You forget to mention this info to the board members and the public!!!!!
To the new majority voting bloc of Mr White, Mr Tripp, Mr Hoefer, Mr Madden, and hopefully Mr Dunsmoor (?): I am greatly looking forward to what you have to offer to our school district. Thankfully, in one swipe, Tiballi, Nettles, Maxon and Tschudy have lost their control over our district and I could not be more happy about it. They are so very unwanted and have done lots of damage. To the new majority, I hope your agenda includes trying to renegotiate the OCTA contract to decrease the raise percentages, a significant reduction of administration, a concerted effort to fire or remove Mr. Fischer, and selling of the Ed Center. It is going to take a lot of work to clean up Maggie’s mess, but that is what all 5 of you were elected to do. Please do it.