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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
