Fred Dewey is running for the school board? Yes he is!

I have been thinking about it for years, and have decided that this is the perfect time for me to join the school board, because our schools are incredible, and we need to keep them incredible and rapidly improving, in the face of significant cuts in state aid, and in the face of ever-increasing student enrollment. We need to continue improving the schools, while we continue to drive down the tax rate, and while state aid is going down. The only way to do that is by implementing efficiency gains throughout the school system. And my knowledge of the schools and how they run, gained from being a parent and weekly volunteer for the past 15 years, combined with my 20 years of running businesses, cutting costs, and driving efficiency gains, makes me the perfect guy for the job.

Below you can find my information statement which appeared in the VCS newsletter, followed by the opening and closing speeches I gave at the Meet The Candidates Night, followed by my answers to the questions that were asked at the Meet The Candidates night. If you have any questions about my stand on things, or what I intend to accomplish on the school board, please feel free to reply to this message. I will be a very open and accessible school board member.

How you can help:

- Make sure you vote for me this coming Tuesday May 19th, between 6 am and 9 pm, at the Victor school campus. Put it in your calendar and make it a priority. Wake up 15 minutes earlier than normal and vote on the way to work if you need to.

- Make sure your spouse votes for me this coming Tuesday.

- Forward this email message with your endorsement to everyone you know in the Victor School District and urge them to vote for me this coming Tuesday

- If you are a Facebook user, send a message to all your Victor/Farmington facebook friends, and post your support for me on your Facebook wall.

- If you are not going to be here this coming Tuesday, stop by the VCS Superintendent’s office on Friday or Monday during business hours and vote by absentee ballot

- If you don’t live in the district, please forward this to your friends and family who do live in the Victor School District.

Thank you very much for your support. We need people on the board who will fight for our children’s future, and I would be honored to serve you in that capacity.

Right now, before you forget :-) , please forward this message to everyone and block out time in your calendar to vote this coming Tuesday.

Your friend, neighbor and fellow parent,
Fred.




Candidate Information:

Name: Fred Dewey

Address: 1170 Strong Road, Victor, NY 14564

Years of residency in district: 15 years

Education: B.S. in Computer Engineering from RIT

Profession: Senior executive in technology businesses, including Sun Microsystems, Portal Software (now a division of Oracle), and most recently, the CEO of Complemar, a fulfillment company here in Rochester. Over the past 8 years, I have also been on the Board of Directors for 8 different early stage companies here in Rochester, and I am an executive coach who helps businesspeople to achieve their company’s strategic objectives.

Community Activities:
• Volunteer math teacher at Victor Primary and Intermediate, since 1999
• Mentor in the Volunteer Youth Entrepreneurship Academy
• Cub Scout and now Boy Scout Assistant Scoutmaster, leading several camping trips each year
• Youth Soccer, Basketball, Baseball and Softball coach
• Manager of my son’s two Victor rock bands
• Active member of the VCS Marching Band Boosters, co-producing the annual fundraising auction
• President of LifeStream Rochester, a non-profit that delivers high impact Leadership training
• Venture Coach at the University of Rochester Lennox Technology Center
• Frequent guest lecturer at the U of R Simon School and the RIT Engineering and Business Schools

Family: My wife Beth and I have 3 children, all of whom have attended Victor Schools since 1st grade:
• Kayla, Victor High School graduate (2005) and starting medical school at USC this Fall
• Amanda, Victor High School senior, and starting college at Santa Clara University this Fall
• Tyler, Victor High School sophomore

Personal Statement:
As parents and taxpayers in this district, we want two things: Highest possible quality/variety of education for our children, and lowest possible taxes. Victor has done a good job on both of these areas. But we must do more in both areas. Our children’s future and our personal finances depend on it. That is my why I am running.

I will combine my experience successfully growing and managing efficient businesses, my knowledge as an active weekly volunteer in our schools for the past 15 years, and my background coming from a family full of educators (mom and all 3 siblings), into the unique ability to help the district’s leadership continue to innovate its educational programs, while minimizing its expenditures and taxes.

The Board of Education needs someone who can form a bridge between the business and financial constraints of the taxpayers, and the needs of our children. I will be that bridge.



Meet The Candidates Night:

Opening Statement:

• Parent: 3 kids in district, all since first grade.

• Businessperson: I am a successful executive in variety of settings, including CEO of two different companies. I have sat on 10 for-profit boards and 2 non-profit boards. I’ve been chairman of a non-profit board. Guest lecturer at U of R and RIT. I’m a venture coach at Lennox. I was the VP of Technical Sales for a rapidly growing software company. I bought a bankrupt company and turned it around. I have managed the work of up to 500 employees. I know how to balance a budget and make the right tradeoffs.

• Educator: I have been volunteering a half day a week for the past 15 years, including teaching math and coaching writing, marching band, 3 youth sports, boy scouts, rock bands. I know the schools and their people and issues very well. I come from a family of educators. I have a major passion for education.

• I love Victor schools!!!! I am very proud of the innovation and the excellence. I want to keep the pedal to the metal. And I want to do it efficiently so that the tax check you write every year stays flat or goes down a little bit over time. That means reluctance in taking on new cost structure. And it means upgrading or replacing programs rather than always adding. Businesses always reassess the effectiveness of their investments, and schools need to that as well.

Closing Statement:

The world is changing rapidly. It is becoming more competitive every year. Our students need more than ever to be challenged and prepared brilliantly. We need our world class schools to stay world class. And the only way that can happen is if we continue our relentless drive to innovate and improve. I am passionate about that innovation and will fight for it.

But we also want our tax bill to stay the same or go down, in an environment where state aid is going down. The only way that can happen is by squeezing a dime out of each nickel, and making very good decisions about how to deploy our resources. So we need people on the board who know how to do that. I am such a person.

And that is what makes me uniquely qualified: I can combine my 20 years of business management and efficiency experience with the in-depth knowledge I have of the schools, staff, pupils and programs which I have gained from my 15 years of weekly volunteering in the schools. I can provide valuable input to the board that is based on my direct experience in the schools. That is what makes me uniquely qualified and I hope to have your support on May 19th.


Q: What are your thoughts about green technology and greening improvements here at VCS?
A: (My answers)
• Green tech is a critical business driver for our economic competitiveness, and a critical political driver because we must stop being addicted to foreign oil
• Most greening directly leads to cost savings, which is one of the main things I will push for as a board member. Green=efficient in almost every case
• We need to add green tech to every part of the curriculum from K-12. Students need to come out with a built-in working knowledge of green tech and the thinking that goes with it

Q: What is the biggest challenge VCS faces in the next 5 years?
• Continue innovating and improving at least at the same rate as the past 5 years and hopefully faster, while cutting costs

Q: Global Competence: How do we prepare students to be globally competent?
• Start teaching Asian languages, and stop being so Euro centric, since our competition these days is from Asia not Europe
• Much greater promotion of exchange programs and near mandatory international travel. Students should all get passports, and all get out of the country at least once during high school. Our future depends on it.

Q: How is the current board doing and what is your unique contribution to the board if you are elected?
• They are doing great. I want to learn from them, and be part of the legacy of greatness that we have here.
• Unique contribution is my ability to combine my business/efficiency experience with my direct knowledge of the schools. I will be the rare board member who spends time every week in the schools, with the students and teachers and staff.

Q: What is your involvement in PIE/PTSA/VOICE?
• Parents wanting to be involved and administrators/teachers welcoming parental involvement is one our greatest assets. And the strength of those three organizations plus the building councils proves that.
• My wife and I have been involved heavily in PIE, IB Boosters, and Building Councils over the years.
• I don’t know much about VOICE and plan to learn and build relationships with that group quickly.

Q: What if revenue goes down (major state aid cuts) and enrollment continues to climb?
• Need to find a way to do more with less. Businesses always find a way to cut costs without cutting service and quality. Schools need to do that as well. Victor is one of the few districts that has done some of this. We need to do much much more.
• Whenever in business I have had to cut costs and improve quality and service, the people in the business have stepped up and found a way to make it happen. That is possible in schools as well.
• Raising taxes is not an option. Our high taxes in upstate New York are literally killing our economy. Taxes have to go down not up. And we can continue to improve while continuing to cut costs.

Q: What is the one program you would add?
• Safe answer: Chinese and Japanese language, even if it means phasing out French. Asian awareness and competence is THAT important!
• Dangerous answer: Parenting classes. Here is your takeaway idea; Why do we spend 4 years on English, 4 years on Phys Ed, 2-3 years on math, science and history, 2-3 years on foreign language, and literally zero time on parenting, which is arguably the hardest and most common thing that adults have to do. There is a way to teach parenting without stepping into religious and philosophical issues. We need to put together a program that prepares our students for the most important job in their life.


Answers to Questions from the Canandaigua Messenger

What prompted you to run for school board this year?

Two reasons:

(1) I believe that the Victor School system is going to experience extreme financial pressure due to the very poor condition of New York State's finances which is the result of the from the Wall Street meltdown. That will mean decreasing state aid at a time that we are continuing to see our student population grow, and at a time when in order to make our graduates competitive in a brutal global economy, we need to continue to improve the depth and breadth of our programs. So we need people on the school board with experience in driving efficiency gains out of an organization, so that we can continue to grow our population and improve our programs, while dealing with decreasing state aid and decreasing the very high tax burden on our citizens. My experience in business and my experience volunteering in the schools every week for the past 15 years gives me the unique ability to support Superintendent Santiago-Marullo in achieving the above. My background is perfect the challenge we are facing.

(2) School knowledge: I have volunteered in 4 of the 5 schools in the system, and continue to volunteer every week in 3 of them. My inside knowledge of the teachers, administrators, students and parents will allow me to bring direct knowledge of the operation of our schools to the Board, which is a perspective that will be very valuable.


How do you see the role of a school board member?
Victor Central School is a $55 million dollar a year business. That means it needs to be managed as a business. It has customers (students and parents) that need very high levels of customer service, and it has shareholders (taxpayers), and it has employees (teachers and staff). The job of the school board members is to ensure that the business is run efficiently and effectively so that the needs of all three groups are met. In some cases their needs are competing, so we as school board members need to find win-win solutions and compromises that allow all three groups to get their needs met.


What is your chief area of concern for the coming school year and how would you address it?
We must continue to improve our schools at the same rate we have been, while continuing to drive each citizen's tax bill down, using efficiency gains to make it happen.


Will you tell your constituents the reasons for your votes?
Yes, absolutely. I am a huge believer in transparency in decision-making and I am clear that I am a representative of the voters, parents and taxpayers, and owe them communication and understanding about board business. The one exception to this of course is discussions and voting that occurs in executive session, which is sealed by board process rules.


Will you return calls or e-mails from the Messenger?
Yes, absolutely. There will be times when the board agrees that one of us is the spokesperson. In that case, I will return your call or email and refer you to that spokesperson (unless I am the spokesperson).