Newburgh Board of Education President Christine Bello looks to address concerns and provide clarifications on her leadership and decisions going forward towards the new school year. Since being appointed on July 2, she has felt resistance and criticism from the district community over the course of the past several meetings. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 13 at 7 p.m.

Bello, speaking in her capacity as a district taxpayer, felt honored to be elected the new president of the board for the 2024-2025 school year while also serving alongside newly elected members. Five new members, including Bello, were elected in the spring. “We stepped into this on a volunteer basis because we love our community and we love our school district and we want the best for the kids,” said Bello. “We want them to have the best programs, we want them to be able to learn in a safe environment.”

In the previous school board election, Bello received 1,161 votes following the close of polls and affidavits accounted for, making her the top candidate. Bello’s niece Thomasina Bello, Mackenzie Bousche, Victoria Bousche and Fred Stewart were also newly elected to the school board this year. Victoria Bousche was appointed as her vice president on July 2. Alongside Bello and the other new members, the Newburgh BOE for the 24-25 school year is made up of Leticia Politi, Philip Howard, John Doerre and Ramiro Bugarelli.

Bello is a lifelong Newburgh resident and graduate of Newburgh Free Academy. She is the owner of Chris-Dian Florist on Broadway and served as a former member of the Newburgh City Council. She also served on the City of Newburgh Citizens Advisory Committee and Ethics Board. Her candidacy for school board was a first time bid for the position.

Since coming onto the board and now with the meetings on July 2 and 16, Bello said she has not felt welcome on the board, being spoken to in a condescending manner and not having pertinent information. During the course of the campaign leading to the election and future board appointments, oversight, accountability and transparency were promised by Bello and the new members but have been resisted since getting on. Bello said this is unacceptable to her.

Over the last few meetings, various incidents and proposed resolutions caused a stir within the community members gathered at the board of education auditorium. One incident occurred at the July 2 meeting, when Bello, on a hot mic, called a community member an a--hole. Bello apologized for that at the start of the July 16 regular meeting.

At the July 2 meeting, the board voted to extend the comment period to an unlimited time. Bello was not happy with the result and further expressed that commentators that night had not spoken to her or the new members ever and were condemned based on rumors. “We didn’t believe that it was going to turn into a barrage of slander. Just malicious things being said about us, and it was disheartening,” she said.

Bello said she feels that the board of education members should be able to speak with the district teachers. She has gotten public input about the reading program which she believes needs to be improved to increase literacy rates. “Our priorities are the education, the students, making sure they have everything, reviewing policies,” said Bello. “We want to be able to speak with teachers and see how they feel about certain programs and curricula that are there and are they working. Aside from being a teacher, they’re also taxpayers.”

During the July 16 meeting, a resolution was presented to the board to have meeting locations available in the Town of Newburgh and New Windsor. It was later voted down by the board. “I want more people to be engaged with what’s going on in the district and more people to come out and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to change the locations because it encourages more participation,” Bello said. “We have three municipalities supporting the district.”

A resolution on the July 16 agenda called for a request for proposal for a forensic audit which was later postponed. Bello explains that with a forensic audit, it can provide saving measures, identify waste, duplicative services or unnecessary spending and help the district budget better. “There should be no fear of a forensic audit. If it’s fine today, it will be fine after the audit,” said Bello.

The last board meeting saw a change in the seating arrangement at the board tables with the superintendent seated away from the board president. Bello clarified that she asked the superintendent to move a seat down so her vice president could sit next to her. The decision to seat in a different location was made by the superintendent, according to Bello. At the same meeting, a former teacher, Richard Desiderio, who was terminated, was granted permission to attend and speak at the meeting. In her opinion, she believed he was slandered by the public.

In the coming weeks, Bello hopes to call for a board retreat to help strengthen the communication and collaboration between the board members. “Our feelings are secondary to our mission, and our mission is the betterment of the educational system,” said Bello. “I believe that we can all work together. I want them [the public] to understand that we’re doing everything we can to work toward improving, making improvements within the district.”