GENESEO — Tomorrow the community will elect three candidates to the Geneseo School Board, there are four candidates. Here is a brief about the candidates.
Michael Tenalio, a resident of Livingston County for more than thirty years, has a wife who has worked with GCS for over twenty years, and currently has two grandchildren enrolled at GCS.
“We intend to be a part of this district for a long time,” stated Tenalio, whose other credentials include serving as the previous Mayor of the Village of Livonia, the most immediate past President of the Kiwanis, the President of the Kiwanis foundation, and served on the Geneseo Town board for three terms. “I’ll be a good ear and voice for teachers and students alike, as well as the community at large,” said Tenalio.
Craig Phelps, whose current two-year term on the board ends this year, is seeking re-election.
“I’ll appreciate an opportunity to serve [on the board] again,” said Phelps, a graduate of GCS with the class of ’83, who has four children that all attended GCS starting in 1995. Phelps believes that this is an advantage that provides him with a historical and current perspective on the school as a whole.
Jennifer Mehlenbacher, also a former Geneseo graduate, currently has a freshman enrolled at Geneseo. Mehlenbacher states that she is concerned with the direction that public education is headed towards, and also displayed concern for the inequitable funding for public schools in the area.
“This group needs a little bit of a momma bear figure,” said Mehlenbacher, while at the Board of Education Budget Hearing meeting on May 7th, in which each candidate was introduced before the board.
Mark Hoffman, a past Vice President of the PTSA, currently has a daughter enrolled at GCS Elementary.
“We must provide the best possible environment that we can afford for them [the students],” stated Hoffman, who is looking to integrate more shared services amongst other districts, leveraging current technology that GCS has, and reducing unnecessary burdens on the staff, parents, and community.
The Board of Education election will be held tomorrow, Tuesday May 21 alongside the Geneseo Central School District’s 2013 budget vote.