There are five candidates running for the Sag Harbor School Board in the June 9 absentee ballot election — two incumbents, Alex Kriegsman and Brian DeSesa; a former school board member, Sandi Kruel, and two newcomers, Helen Roussel and Ronald Reed. Three seats on the board, each carrying a three-year term, are up for grabs.
Mr. Reed, an artist and architect, is already a member of Sag Harbor’s educational facilities planning committee. He also sits on the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board. He is a parent of two students, who, he pointed out, are of mixed race, so he is “committed to advocate for diversity and inclusion and, of course, for the best education the school can provide.” Mr. Reed also said he would like to “bridge some of that gap” between the school district and the village.
“I believe my skills and experience would be valuable in current and future decision-making for the school, especially related to our district’s facilities and how educators teach moving forward,” he wrote. “The school district will need people who can help with the physical-spatial planning, and with my experience I will be able to assist with that."
Ms. Roussel has a background in environmental studies, works in the field of art conservation, and is the founder and part-time director of a nonprofit organization that advocates for more literacy resources in schools, particularly where special education students are concerned. A parent of three students, she has volunteered for the elementary school’s PTA and has organized workshops for teachers through the Peconic Teacher Center.
“I love the school,” Ms. Roussel said in an email. “There are issues, but I have some strategies that I would like to bring to the table.” She said she would “promote sustainable initiatives, including energy conservation and renewable energy projects with the potential to save taxpayers money and give students insight into the fastest growing industry in the world.”
“What’s relevant here is not only my experience resolving problems at schools that often lack resources and funding, but understanding the big picture,” Ms. Roussel wrote.
Mr. Kriegsman, the current school board vice president, is running for what would be his second term on the board. He has three children in the schools and is a former member of the Southampton Town Board of Ethics and the North Haven Planning Board. He is on the school board’s educational facilities planning and athletics committees.
Mr. Kriegsman is an attorney with a private practice, and before that was a federal prosecutor and a commercial litigator with an international law firm. Mr. Kriegsman’s wife, Beth, is a nurse at the elementary school.
“Information is changing every day. We’re going to need judgment, leadership, and experience in order to navigate this in a way that’s best for our kids and safest for our community,” he said.
Between 2000 and 2017, Ms. Kruel served four terms on the school board. She is a parent of three current and former Sag Harbor students, whose involvement ranged from special education to International Baccalaureate courses. She is the president of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, for which she manages 300 student-athletes and 35 coaches, and is a member of the athletics and Wall of Honor committees.
“I think the times we’re facing are going to be extremely difficult,” Ms. Kruel said. “Having watched this board over the last several years, I think it’s important that we as a community get somebody with some institutional knowledge on policy and procedure. I could be a part of that and make that better.”
Ms. Kruel said she would like to go “back to the basics” of school board management and step up transparency.
Mr. DeSesa has served on the board for about a year and a half, having first been appointed to a vacancy before winning an election for the remainder of that term. He has one child attending the school, and he is a partner in the Adam Miller Group, a law firm specializing in land use and development. He is finishing out a final year on the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals.
“I bring to the table alternative thinking, problem-solving, and solution-making — kind of a calm reasonableness in approaching any situation,” Mr. DeSesa said. He would like to see a greater emphasis on technology, career education, and shared services with other school districts.
“I enjoy serving the community in my role as a current board member, and hope to continue that from both a policy standpoint and a fiscally conservative standpoint, watching out for taxpayers.”