A Message From 2020 Board Candidate David Leach

On Tuesday, June 9th the Jamesville-DeWitt community will elect three new school board members, with seven candidates running for these positions. These candidates are Kerry Coleman-Herrick, Michael Gilbert, George Gross, Michelle Kielbasinski, David Leach, Steve Theobald and Christine Woodcock Dettor. The school budget vote and Board of Education election, typically held on the third Tuesday in May, was postponed and then ordered to be held via mail in ballot. RamPage has reached out to all seven candidates with the goal to ensure that every candidate has the opportunity to address their qualifications, as well as what they hope to accomplish if elected.

My name is David Leach.   I am running for a seat on the Jamesville DeWitt Board of Education and I am asking for your support in the election which is being held on June 9 via absentee ballot.  

I have lived in the DeWittshire neighborhood for the past 26 years with my wife Megan.  We believe DeWitt is a great area in which to raise a family.  One of my daughters, Sloane, graduated last year from JD High School and my other daughter, Rori, is currently a sophomore there.  We believe the educational experience provided by the JD School District to our girls was and is outstanding.  As a member of the School board, I would like to do what I can to make sure other families have the same or a better experience. 

I am a lawyer specializing in litigation and I work in Widewaters with the firm Goldberg Segalla.  I grew up in Rome, NY and attended the Boston University School of Law.  My wife Megan has worked for Jamesville-DeWitt School District for approximately the past ten years.  She started as a substitute and has been a one-on-one Aide at Jamesville Elementary for the past 7 years.  We have been active in the School District for decades and know well the many issues our community faces.  

Our School District wants to give each student the very best education that they can.  We have to provide our teachers and students with the resources and programming that they need in order to produce well educated and well-rounded graduates.  I am confident that we will be able to achieve these goals even though there may be budgetary constraints on the horizon.  As I am sure you know, New York State’s economy is such that there may be fewer funds available to all School Districts, including ours, and we have to prepare for such a possibility.  In order to meet this challenge, I believe that our School District may have to operate in a more streamlined or efficient manner.  Through team-work I believe we can get through this period of uncertainty.  I will try, to the best of my ability, to help our School District operate in as fiscally responsible and transparent a manner as possible.

Another issue our community faces is security.  We need to make sure that our children, their teachers and all administrators are safe when they walk into one of our schools.  They need to be safe from acts of violence, bullying and all types of abuse.  Their health also needs to be protected.  We are going to have to prepare for a return to school and I anticipate that an awful lot will need to be done to make that happen.  I will work towards making sure that everyone that enters one of our schools is safe.  Thank you for your time and consideration

More Information:

Other candidate articles are located at https://jdrampage.org/

Detailed copies of the budget are available by contacting the district office. Residents are invited to attend the virtual budget hearing scheduled for Monday, June 1, 7:00 PM. 

Voting Ballots are available through the District Office and Due Back by 5:00 pm, June 9th, 2020. For more information call: (315) 445-8304 or email thauser@jd.cnyric.org

Complete candidate biographies and details of the budget proposal are available in the special edition of the JD Journal mailed to all district homes in April and reprinted online at:

JD 2020 – 2021 Proposed Budget inside Vote!

Max Fagelman, '22
Max Fagelman is the News Editor for Rampage. When he's not working on the paper you can find him doing photography or running on the track.