Previous Letters
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WHO TOOK OUR SIGNS?? - July 2026
Our Grand Island Garden Walk Committee has proudly hosted its annual Garden Walk for ten years, bringing neighbors together to enjoy visiting beautiful gardens, inspire a love of gardening and support community projects.This year we experienced a disappointing setback. At the close of our Garden Walk, committee members go out to collect the event signs that they had placed throughout the community only 12 days prior. We discovered that approximately 25 to 30 of our signs and their metal stands had been taken. While the signs themselves may not seem valuable to someone passing by, replacing them represents a significant and unexpected expense for our volunteer organization. It is through the generosity of our community sponsors that we are able to purchase these signs and print the posters that help make this annual event happen.
Most importantly, we would like to thank everyone who opened their gardens, volunteered their time, attended our Garden Walk and supported our event. Your generosity and enthusiasm remind us why this Walk has become a cherished community tradition!
Thank you, The Grand Island Garden Walk Committee
Update from New Grand Island School Board Members - July 2026
By Jim Mulcahy and Mike MadiganWe were sworn in as members of the Grand Island Central School District Board of Education on July 1, 2026, and participated in our first official meeting on July 6. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve and are committed to collaborating with the Superintendent, fellow board members, and stakeholders to support students, staff, and families.
Highlights from the July 6 Meeting.
The Board approved several items supporting district operations. We also introduced three motions for consideration in August, focused on improving transparency, fiscal responsibility, and community engagement. We are especially pleased with the motion to establish a Fiscal and Process Optimization Committee. In response to strong community feedback regarding spending (the failed public votes for the December capital project, and the May Budget and bus proposition), this committee will conduct department-by-department reviews of spending, staffing, contracts, and processes in open public meetings. It aims to strengthen educational outcomes, improve cost efficiency, and enhance the Board’s fiduciary oversight. Additionally it seeks to restore the public’s confidence in the BOE and it’s management of their tax dollars.
We also proposed:
A School Property Access Restriction and Appeal Processto balance safety, due process, and increased parent engagement.
Senior Parking Space Decorating Guidelines to restore student self-expression under clear, fair standards. The prior program was effectively eliminated following an administrative incident last year. Seniors decorated their spaces successfully this past year with no issues, and we believe they should not be penalized for administrative errors and shortcomings. The proposed guidelines will help prevent recurrence of past problems.
Significant votes:
Two significant personnel proposals were presented for approval. We believe both required more thorough discussion regarding necessity and cost. Unfortunately, the related contracts were not posted publicly in advance (public was unaware), and we, Jim and I were denied access to them, until minutes before the meeting (explained below). This limited our time to review and denied public review and comment. We support greater transparency on major expenditures and hope this lack of transparency ends.
The Board approved hiring a new position - a Public Relations Manager at $82,000 plus benefits (motion passed 4-2). We voted against it, believing the funds could be better allocated elsewhere and that this was the wrong response to taxpayers concerns regarding spending.
A proposal to rehire a retiring employee to train his replacement over a two year period with full benefits, yes for two years with full benefits and a $10K stipend, not two weeks!, this motion failed with three yes, 2 no and one abstaining vote - motion required 4 yes votes.
Onboarding Note:
At our first meeting, we lacked the standard onboarding information and system access required by Policy 2110, despite requesting it immediately after the May 19 election - the superintendent rejected our request and claimed he could not on-board us until July, a policy breach. System access was not granted until July 9, and orientation is scheduled for July 22. As a result we had no executive access to review and research the contracts and other materials we were expected to vote on during the July 6th meeting.
We have formally complained to the Superintendent and shared these concerns with the Board to establish clear expectations. We remain committed to working constructively with the Superintendent and fellow members for the benefit of our students and community.
Battery Energy Storage System Issue - June 2026
Environmental Review and the Tortured BESS Law Rulemaking.A handful of developers are seeking to install lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESSs) on Grand Island. A BESS stores electrical energy in rechargeable batteries during off-peak hours and releases it during high demand periods. The widely known issue related to a lithium-ion BESS is the risk of electrochemical fire that releases harmful gases and particulates, is extremely difficult if not impossible to extinguish, and can reignite hours or even days after the initial conflagration. In present time however, a properly designed BESS is considered “safe” when the components are manufactured, handled, installed, operated, and monitored in accordance with industry standards. See letter HERE.
Jim Daigler, P.E.
School Board Vote - May 2026
On May 19 the voters of Grand Island, like voters across New York State, will head to the polls to vote on the local school budget and for school board trustees. Politics today are fraught with anxiousness and agitation as the divisiveness that permeates our society seeps into every level of discourse, and school-related issues are no exception. But I’m asking the residents of Grand Island to rise above the rancor that accompanies most political contests today, and instead to put all kids first.The Grand Island Teachers' Association has a long history of endorsing candidates for school board trustee who express a willingness to prioritize the well-being of our students and our schools above everything else. We do our best to stay out of partisan politics at every level, and we seek to promote candidates who can focus on implementing sound policies that will move the school district forward to meet the many challenges of today’s world. This year we are endorsing Susan Marston and Liz Goss for school board trustee, and I ask for your support for these two candidates.
Our present school board faced a difficult task in crafting a budget for the 2026-2027 school year amid many challenging factors. They made the difficult decision to eliminate eight teacher positions to help deliver a budget with a tax increase well below the allowable maximum. Of course, I want as many teachers in the classroom as possible, because nothing has as much impact on the children’s education as the teacher in the classroom. However, the cuts made by the current school board put the district on sound financial footing to navigate the upcoming school year in a fiscally responsible manner.
The GITA is a member of NYSUT, the New York State United Teachers. One of NYSUT’s mottos is “Public Schools Unite Us”. In the last few days of the campaign, you are likely to hear negative comments about the schools, teachers, administration and some of the candidates. This is, unfortunately, the playbook of many of today’s politicians. I ask you to keep your focus on the challenges that face us, and on the need to prepare our students for the changing world they will inherit. We can’t be distracted by today’s culture wars and imaginary grievances when real work needs to be done to produce real results for those who really matter: the kids. Our public schools truly unite us; please join us in electing the right people for the job, the people who will sincerely put all kids first - vote “yes” on the budget and vote for Susan Marston and Liz Goss.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Grosso - President, Grand Island Teachers' Association
Comments on the survey from Superintendent Graham - February 2026
By now, I assume all residents of Grand Island received the survey from the School District about how and why you voted the way you did on their failed capital project. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU REPLY OR OTHERWISE RESPOND TO THIS SURVEY.There are a number of troubling aspects of this survey. It is clear the District refuses to accept the fact that the voters viewed the project as a colossal waste of money. When a project loses with 75.27% voting no and only 24.73% voting yes, with one of the largest turnouts for a School District vote ever, it should be obvious that the public was adamantly opposed to it. However, it appears they hope to be able to resubmit the same wasteful project for a revote. One may also ask where they got the funds to send out this survey. I’d be shocked if its all-in cost was less than $5,000. Such spending appears not only fiscally irresponsible but ethically suspect, as it subsidizes efforts to undermine a democratic outcome rather than respect it, This is a gross misuse of taxpayer money.
Requiring respondents to provide their email address as a mandatory field in the post-election survey, while simultaneously asking them to explain why they voted yes or no, creates an explicit, direct linkage between each voter’s personal identity and their precise voting choice—effectively stripping away the anonymity that New York Election Law fiercely protects for ballot secrecy. In a small, tight-knit community like Grand Island, where school officials, staff, and residents frequently interact through schools, sports, events, or local networks, this traceable data allows authorities to easily identify every “no” voter by name, email, and stated reason. Far from a neutral feedback exercise, this setup enables precise profiling of dissenters, opening the door to targeted intimidation tactics—such as selective follow-up emails, resource favoritism toward “yes” supporters, exclusion from district opportunities, or informal community pressure—that could punish opposition and deter residents from ever voting against district proposals again, eroding trust in school governance.
When I got involved in School District actions in the early 2000s about the 1999 capital project (nothing much has changed, btw) I would receive anonymous letters/parcels in the mail containing information of the goings on by the administration and Board. When I mentioned this to a friend, I was told that these folks were afraid of retribution. Since I didn’t have any children or grandchildren enrolled, I was pretty much untouchable, although the Board and administration did spread baldfaced lies about me. So, the chilling effect, as it was expressed in the previous paragraph, isn’t a conspiracy theory.
Where does this leave us? In my opinion there needs to be a serious housecleaning of the administration and the Board. The superintendent, by sending out this survey, has made his continuing presence untenable. If he was at all decent, he would resign, immediately. There are two Board seats open at this Spring’s election in May. The incumbents must be replaced. We spend too much money for it to be wasted the way the District is currently doing.
James Mulcahy
