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No Pay, Long Hours, Yet Waechter Runs For Board Of Ed
Father of two finds himself unopposed
by James Shearwood
Robert Waechter, the father of two young children in the Putnam Valley School System, collected signatures, filed the necessary petition, and then found he was running unopposed for the seat on the Putnam Valley Board of Education being vacated by Edward MacDonald.
Unless something unexpected happens, Waechter will be elected on May 21st and take office on July 1st for a term that lasts three years.
"I’m looking forward to it," he said recently. "I can’t wait to get started." He added that he would have preferred that the taxpayers had more candidates from which to choose.
An eight-year resident of Putnam Valley, Waechter lives with his wife Christine and their two sons on Peekskill Hollow Road.
His older son is in the Putnam Valley Middle School, and his younger son is in the Elementary School.
Christine Waechter is a Teacher’s Aide at the Elementary School and joked recently, "I got my job first — so if he’s elected, I don’t want to read in the paper I was hired through the influence of my husband."
Concerned that this might be considered a conflict of interest, Waechter checked with the District Superintendent and was assured that it was not.
Teachers employed by the District cannot serve as their own employers.
Elementary School Teacher Barbara Parmly who was elected twice to the Putnam Valley Board had to resign in her second term before she could seek employment in the District.
As Co-President of the PTA last year, Robert Waechter has attended most of the Board’s meetings for the past three years.
In fact, Barbara Parmly was one of those who urged Waechter to run.
"It was a wonderful experience," said Parmly of her time on the Board.
While being a board member is widely known as a job with no pay and long meetings, Waechter said he is still "surprised why more people don’t want to be involved with the education of their children."
Parmly remembers Waechter and his wife first showing up at a PTA meeting the year before their oldest child was to enter the system. She says she thought two high school students had wandered into the wrong room, but the Waechters were there, she said, to see what role parents were expected to play in the school system.
Well, as it turns out, a large one.
"To regain the trust of the community" will be the primary job of the newly constituted Board of Education, said Waechter.
"This year we didn’t know the budget figure until the night it was adopted," Waechter said, "and so people feel something is being hidden."
Will he vote in favor of the budget on May 21st? Yes, he will, said Waechter.
Had he been on the board this year, would he have voted to adopt it? Waechter paused after that question and said that he might have fought harder to have some more things included.
He and his wife are very much aware of the tax burden. They admit they bought a modest home in Putnam Valley because the taxes were lower than some other places.
Yet Waechter feels the school budget should be driven "not by a number, but by what the children need."
He and his wife supported the decision to build the new high school, and feel that the expense of changing from a K-8 to K-12 system also has to be supported.
Once the building is fully occupied, he expects the increases will level off.
Barbara Parmly, who worked with Waechter as co-President of the PTA said, "People respect Rob because he listens; he’s thoughtful, and he’s genuinely interested in the town."
A partner in a cabinetmaking business located in White Plains, Waechter and his two sons also are weekend beekeepers. It remains to be seen whether he will bring with him to board meetings the honey, the sting, or the actual bees.
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