Dear Editor,
My wife and I recently moved to Somers. Somers seemed like the place where we could get involved in a community and raise a family—and like so many others who choose to make Somers their home, we were drawn here by the promise of a top-tier public education system. Everyone we spoke with echoed the same sentiment: “The schools in Somers are excellent.”
Great schools reflect a great community—one that invests in its children, values learning and fosters open-mindedness. But now, just months into our new life here, we are increasingly concerned about the direction our schools may be headed, and we feel compelled to speak out.
The upcoming school board election in Somers has become highly partisan, with candidates supported by national political agendas and extreme ideologies that have no place in local education. We’ve watched this happen in other states, where political groups have targeted school boards to push divisive agendas: banning books, restricting discussions in classrooms and undermining the professionalism of teachers and administrators. And now it’s happening here in New York.
Last summer, Moms for Liberty, an ultra-conservative parental rights outfit, challenged a public school upstate. The group is fighting to remove “obscene” library books, insisting they are too dangerous to keep on the shelves. While the State Education Department ruled the books safe, Moms for Liberty initiated a lawsuit that could drag on for years.
Results like these damage both the quality of education in communities across the country and the sense of community cohesion that schools help build. My wife and I are worried that Somers could follow the same path.
Public education should be where students learn to think critically, engage respectfully with different perspectives and develop into well-rounded citizens. We are worried that if Somers’ school board falls into the hands of candidates more interested in culture wars than curriculum, it will erode the quality of education and tarnish the reputation that made many of us move here in the first place. This isn’t just about politics—it’s about protecting the values we thought made Somers special.
My wife and I are ensuring this is one election we don’t sit out—and I hope you’ll do the same. School board decisions impact everything from the books in our libraries to the way our kids are taught history, science and civics. They determine how supported our teachers feel, and how safe and welcoming our schools are for all students.
That’s why I’m urging my fellow residents to make your voice heard on May 20. I hope you’ll support Amanda Kandel, Chadwick Olsen and Rosalind Gallino. These candidates are committed to keeping our schools focused on students, not political agendas. They have the experience, integrity and collaborative spirit our district needs to move forward without division or distraction.
We chose Somers because we believe in this community. Let’s make sure our school board reflects the best of it.
-Robert O'Connell, Somers
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