School Board Election Results Explained by CCNYS’s Nancie Orticelli

Recent school board elections indicate the national trend towards greater parent engagement is alive and well in the Greater Western New York Region. What is the history of this new movement in our region? Who are some of the groups leading the way? What fact might surprise you about this effort? Click the link below to discover the answers to these questions and more on this week’s State of Greater Western New York Report.

Nancie Orticelli joins us this week to talk about the recent school board election results. She’s the president of the Constitutional Coalition of New York State. Orticelli describes the CCNYS’s history. She explains how it started. She then mentions why it shifted from a single issue group to more of an umbrella organization addressing many issues. She also explains its role in working with other, more narrowly focused, citizen groups throughout the Greater Western New York Region and beyond.

In the second half of the show, Orticelli details how the parental engagement movement grew across the nation and how it manifested itself here in our region. She tells us how the issue is really a district-by-district issue. Some districts are already aligned with parent concerns. Some districts aggressively are fighting parent engagement. Some districts are open to involving parents more. It is this latter case that proves this movement does not need to rely solely on outsider campaigns to meet its goals.

Our guest happily answered questions from the live audience. In fact, these are probably some of the same questions you had. Would you like to be a member of our live audience so you can ask our guests questions? Click here to join the growing number of members who share your feelings on StateOf.GreaterWesternNewYork.com because then we can automatically send you the link to watch our shows live.