Meet the newly-elected BOE members

They have plans for RCSD’s challenges

By Kate Slattery | Manor Ink

Town of Rockland, NY – Being a member of the Board of Education means you have many responsibilities for the populations you serve – meeting the needs of the school children, tax payers and parents, all at the same time.

The Rockland Central School District has recently added three new board members, Melissa Hess, Alys Mann and Jill Smith. Manor Ink sat down with each of them to learn about their goals for the future of the district. All three members are excited to bring to Rockland new ideas that focus on leadership, transparency and vision.

Melissa Hess

Melissa Hess made it very clear that one of her goals is to help bring unity and balance to the board. Hess has the hope that the board will be able to make facts available so that the community won’t be so dependent on rumor-based information.

“I really want to bring forth what community members, students and teachers feel are hot topics,” said Hess. “I really want to listen to everyone. I hope to increase transparency.”

Another one of Hess’s goals is to help the board settle teacher and support staff contracts. “I would really like us to come to an agreement with the teachers,” Hess said, “and I would like to focus on the administrators, teachers and students uniting and working together, moving forward as a group in the new district’s second year. I think that the students have probably done the best. They’ve assimilated quickest and I think, as adults, we can emulate them a little bit in adjusting to the transition.”

Hess believes that her career as a registered nurse has given her useful experience in many roles, including manager and educator. “I do think that professionalism and kindness go a really long way,” she added.

Jill Smith

Jill Smith served on the board of the former Livingston Manor Central School District. Her priority is settling the RCS teachers contract. When speaking of how much the teachers helped promote the merger, Smith said, “They were big advocates for getting this merger pushed through, and they fought for it, too. They were a big part of the reason that it happened, and I want to make sure that we are not pulling the rug out from under them.”

Smith is a huge proponent of providing appropriate opportunities for all students. “Some parents work a lot and just don’t have the time or the knowledge or the skill to kind of push their kids forward and help lift them up – that’s what’s wonderful about a public school system. That’s where our public school system should shine by supplementing and subsidizing what those students are lacking at home or elsewhere,” Smith said. “I am all about equity.”

As the parent of a special needs child, Smith is not only an advocate for special education, but also recognizes that there are kids who are not being challenged enough. She believes the district needs to look into offering AP classes, Associate Programs and CTE Programs.

Alys Mann

When speaking with Alys Mann, Manor Ink learned that her focus is on leadership. “I would really love to see a leadership team put together to create a positive environment for the kids,” Mann said. “I want to be part of cultivating that leadership team as something that can help provide our district with a path for establishing a vision for where we’re heading, a team that can help steward us to get there.”

Mann has had plenty of experience as a consultant in collaborating with groups of people having to come to a decision.

“Even when I disagree with somebody, I value what they say,” explained Mann. “Two things can be true at the same time, and they can coexist. I think that’s something that is really important to me.”

Mann believes in balancing the needs of the students with the concerns of the taxpayers. “There’s a balance between figuring out where there are short-term things that make sense to save money on, versus long-term investments that will provide real gain. I think I’d tie that back to establishing a vision – if you’ve got a really clear idea of where you’re heading and where you want to go, I think it becomes easier to prioritize those decisions.”

The Rockland Central School District Board of Education list of members, schedule of meetings, agendas and minutes can be found on the Simbli website here.

RCSD BOE: contract disparities, odd interim supt. deal

By Manor Ink Staff

Livingston Manor, NY – At the Rockland Central School Board Meeting on June 2, a contract for administrators was approved. Teachers, however, of the RCS District, a district that was formed a year ago by merging the Livingston Manor and Roscoe School districts, are still working under expired contracts. That means teachers are currently working under different employment conditions from one another, or under employment conditions that do not align with their former contracts.

Additionally, teachers from each of the former districts are being compensated at dissimilar rates for the same positions, same years of service and same educational status. They are also being compensated at a rate that is below that of other school districts in the county. All information regarding teacher contracts is available on seethroughny.net.

Administrators, on the other hand, were issued a contract that, upon first glance, appears to have a zero-percent salary increase. However, the contracts actually include stipends that were added to the salaries for the 2025-26 school year to compensate for the year of the merger. Those stipends result in defacto permanent raises of $10K, $20K and $30K per year, depending on the administrative position. The new administrative contracts add those payments to the base salaries for the years included in the contracts. So while it may appear that the RCS administration is not receiving raises, they are in fact receiving compensation that far exceeds raises typical for administrators in the area.

Lewis proposed contract

On June 16, a special RCSD Board of Education meeting was held. The original agenda for this meeting included a vote on a proposed contract for Interim Superintendent Keith Lewis to continue in that role for the months of July and August at a salary of $11,471. The contract also included a total of $68,706 to be paid to Lackawanna City School District for Lewis’ contribution to his health insurance.

Due to the fact that supporting documentation was not posted in a timely manner prior to the board’s meeting, a vote on the matter was postponed. At another special meeting on June 22, the proposal was on the agenda but was tabled. At press time, the vote had not taken place and was not on the agenda for the next meeting.