Vote for Vincent Vanderlip: Trustee of the West Seneca Board of Education

05/17/2025

Good morning,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported me in my role as a West Seneca Board of Education Trustee. Serving my community in this capacity has been an honor and privilege. I made the difficult decision not to seek a 2nd term and will step away from the Board of Education at the end of my three year term come June.

I wanted to share my gratitude and provide a brief overview of my experience. Three years ago I was encouraged by friends and family to throw my hat in the ring and run for School Board. I knew full well what to expect in doing so. My eyes and heart were wide open to the challenge of an election and to the task of helping to guide our school district through turbulent waters.

I was blessed in year one to serve on a Board which included two wonderful educators in Jan Dalbo and Diane Beres. Jan’s heart was always with the students and staff. Diane’s experience and wisdom about education was unmatched. I learned what it meant to be a Trustee while servings we these great ladies.

In my second year, I watched with great admiration as two of my fellow trustee rose to the forefront and exhibited what it means to lead. Liz Gates and Molly Dana demonstrated the integrity, courage and determination rarely seen in this day and age. These leaders stood strong in the face of adversity and did what was right for our district in the wake of opposition. Liz is a born leader, consensus builder and community oriented thinker. In Molly you have the strongest of advocates for public education I have met. She bleeds and breathes for students, teachers and schools. Sitting among them and serving beside them was an honor.

That same year, we welcomed two other outstanding educators, parents and advocates of public education to our BOE.
Sarah Piowarczak and Laura Sokol Scott are another pair of thoughtful, committed and powerful women who place the community’s needs ahead of their own. They brought with them intelligence and insights that made our Board even stronger.

I would be remiss not to mention the elder statesman of our BOE. Ed Bedient has served our community as a Trustee of this Board for nearly a dozen years. Ed is a voice for students and staff. He cares with his whole heart and isn’t afraid to say what he is thinking. I respect him for his track record of serving his community.

Last year this group met their most important responsibility in hiring a level five leader as Superintendent. This was the mission of our Board and the task we signed up for. That process which yielded a number of top tier candidates from WNY and beyond resulted in the hiring of current Superintendent Dr. Lisa Krueger. West Seneca Central School District now has a visionary, competent and experienced expert leading the organization.

This year, with a triad of new BOE members working with Dr. Kruger, our School District is heading in a positive direction. Lorene Barulich, Marla Greenberg and Jeremy Maloney are good, smart people with diverse backgrounds set which allows for multiple perspectives on any given topic. I am happy to have served beside them and wish them well moving forward.

I walk away from this role feeling far more confident for the future of this organization than I did when I entered. However, I do caution our community that school districts are fragile organizations who relay heavily on dedicated volunteers to steer the ship.
A school board is made up of 7 individuals who make major decisions for an entire community.

My belief is the people who sit on local school boards have a greater impact on a community than does the person sitting in the Oval Office on Pennsylvania Ave.

As of this posting, we have one candidate on the ballot and others who are seeking write-in votes. Please take 10 minutes next Tuesday and have your voice heard. Whomever takes on the role of Trustee will have to work together with the rest of the Board and our Superintendent to raise expectations for each member of the staff, the students and the parents of this District. Board members cannot be myopic. They must look at the big picture and be strategic in their thinking. They shoukd not simply go with the flow either. They should be inquisitive critical thinkers who stand up to the status quo.

I am thankful for the opportunity to serve my community and support our students. The time spent serving as a Trustee has been a positive experience. While being on the Board is neither for the timid nor the weak, it is a rewarding challenge.

Lastly, I want to thank my family for supporting me these last three years. Taking this path has not been easy on them. I am blessed to have an amazing wife, four incredible children. We will continue to support our School Community and look forward to a prosperous future for the students and staff of the West Seneca Central School District.

Thank you for your support. God bless!

Respectfully,

Vince Vanderlip

01/20/2025

10/18/2024

Good morning, I wanted to share the link to this week’s first Public Forum on the Redistricting/Reconfiguration Process which has been restarted in the West Seneca Central School District. For nearly 20 years our school district has been attempting to solve the issue of balanced enrollment in our elementary and middle schools. This has led to inequity of services and misuse of facilities. One Board of Education after another have attempted to solve this problem. Some of the best people in our community have volunteered their time and talents over the years to help create solutions. Each time those ideas have been met with resistance. My mission as a member of this Board of Education is to provide students with the best possible education and experience. This process is a means to that end.

It you live in our district, work in our district have a child, grandchild, or just want to better understand WHY we must take these measures and understand HOW we are going to proceed. Please take time to watch this video and feel free to ask questions.

I am serving on this School Board for the students, staff and taxpayers. I am fully invested and here to be your voice. Listen, learn and lead.

This meeting outlines the goals of the potential redistricting of the West Seneca Central School District. Dr. Lisa Krueger and Tony Day host the event.

05/17/2024

Thank you West WSW Sports Boosters for stepping up again and delivering a Homerun for our community!

05/17/2024

Good morning, the West WSW Sports Boosters are not only for parents of athletes in the high school or even just athletes. This group of volunteers work to raise money for the entire West Seneca school community.

Their latest donation of funds to help purchase scoreboard for the softball and baseball diamonds improve those facilities for everyone. These are amenities the school district did not need to purchase and therefore provide relief to the school budget and relief to tax payers. However, they cannot do this alone. They need the help of parents and alumni to plan, facilitate and contribute to the fundraising activities. Also know this group puts the FUN in fundraising. The Meat Raffle, 5K and Golf outing are awesome events which help build community and relationships.

Please consider getting involved!

12/12/2023

Tomorrow on Tuesday, December 12th those of you who make up the West Seneca Central School District community will have the opportunity to cast a vote on a very important Capital Improvement Project which will provide our students, staff and school community the resources needed to to keep moving forward in the right direction. A vote on improving our school facilities occurs tomorrow at West Seneca East Senior HS between 7am-9pm
Anyone age 18 and over living in the West Seneca School District is eligible to vote.

While there has been some loud opposition to the cost of this project, much of this comes as a result of misunderstanding the opportunity the Capital Improvement Process works and benefits the entire community.

Every 5 years every school district in NYS must conduct a Building Conditions Audit. These audit include everything from the parking lot, to the classrooms, to the roofs, bathroom and any area occupied by students during the course of their education. The State has dedicated funds available to support school districts in maintaining and improving school facilities.

This current project will provide new roofs for both East and West Senior HS AA’s well as Northwood Elementary. All three of these roofs are outside of their warranty and would cost more from the general budget to repair than it will to replace as part of the Capital Improvement Process. That is the result of this project qualifying for the highest amount of NYS aide possible which is .76 of every dollar spent.

Yes, the money coming from the State is indeed our tax dollars. However, if we fail to take advantage of the Capital Improvement process, that money will go down the road to OP or over to Hamburg, Frontier or any of the many schools vying for this money to upgrade their facilities.

If you know me, you know I have been advocating for West Seneca East to have a Baseball field for the last 5 years as they have gone without one for 6 years now. In that same timespan we have seen Depew, Cheektowaga, Frontier, Hamburg, Maryvale, Ken West and East, Salamanca, and Gowanda, Lockport, Niagara Wheatfield, all 3 Williamsville schools add turf baseball complexes … there are other as well. In the meantime, West Seneca East has no home field to practice on or play games. Beyond that, we have 6 school based baseball teams, with West Sr. being the only decent field to play on. The field at Allendale is under water and unplayable for most of the spring.

The only way this is going to change and we are going to make the needed upgrades is if those of you who care enough to invest in our kids, schools and communities SHOW UP tomorrow and let your vote be your voice. Those is opposition to this project will most certainly make time tomorrow. I hope those of you who beleive that investing in our kids, schools and communities show up at West Seneca East tomorrow between 7am and 9pm and cast your vote.

05/16/2022

Good evening,

Tomorrow is the day that the good people of the West Seneca Central School District will have the opportunity to cast their vote for the candidate they believe should be on the WSCSD Board of Education.

The vote takes place at West Seneca East Senior High School tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17th. The doors to the gym open at 7am and voting will conclude at 9pm.

To be clear on this election process, anyone age 18+ who resides in the West Seneca School District can vote. This includes folks who are in the neighboring towns of Cheektowaga, Hamburg and Orchard Park but pay WS school taxes. Additionally, please know that while the ballot says vote for two, you may vote for just one candidate. Doing so, is essentially providing me with two votes.

My goal from time I entered my name in this campaign was to discuss student achievement, access to school resources, and accountability for all. I had also hoped to share my beliefs about education, the budget process and what it means to be a benelovent leader. Only when this community comes together, communicates and collaborates will we be our best. I offer you this short video which captures these ideas.

Please share this video via text, email or any other means you have. Thank you and please cast your vote for me Vincent Vanderlip. I will earn that vote everyday for the next three years. Thank you!

05/10/2022

Good morning,

We are just one week away from the Budget Vote and Board of Education Election Day. My goal from time I entered my name in this campaign was to discuss student achievement, access to school resources, and accountability for all. I had also hoped to share my beliefs about education, the budget process and what it means to be a benelovent leader. Only when this community comes together, communicates and collaborates will we be our best.

With the help of my talented neighbors David J Riley and Benjamin Higgins, I offer you this short video which captures these ideas. Please feel free to share this video via text, email or any other means you have. Thank you and please Vote on Tuesday, May 17th.

05/08/2022

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing women who do the Lord’s work.

05/06/2022

I would like to thank Tammy Henson Sugrue for taking the time to send me the following message and thoughtful question:

“I think you are a very good candidate for our board. My question is how you will be objective, particularly with teachers’ contracts, with your wife working as a teacher in the district?”

I am sure there are others in the community who may have the same question and concern. I would like to get my answer on the record. The simple answer is I will recuse myself from any vote that directly impacts my wife Colleen. Those issues should be very few and far apart. However, to provide a deeper answer to Tammy Henson Sugrue’s question about decision making and objectivity. The only special interest groups I will work for are the students, families, tax payers and staff and in that order. All decisions I make will be based on what is going to be best for the kids of West Seneca. I will make decisions which build stronger home to school connections. To protect us taxpayers, I will be asking for a full audit of what money is paid out to whom and for what. Our staff, including all bargaining groups need better leadership, support and resources…not necessarily more lucrative contracts.
I firmly believe the way money is currently spent needs to be re-examined. We have Central Office administrators who have new offices (again) a BOE room which looks like CNN studio in the same building where classrooms have wires hanging from the ceiling and ragged carpets on the floor. We have Directors who are receiving $22K in stipends, but the East Baseball team doesn’t even have a field to practice or play games. The list of disparities goes on and on.

We have a solid School Buisness Leader in place, but he is not the one who decides how the money is spent. That falls on the Superintendent and the Board of Education. I believe my experience and understanding of our educational system will allow me to help make certain the money we pay in taxes goes to the betterment of our children and community.

I look forward to answering more questions and having active dialogue with members of our West Seneca community like Tammy. Please feel free to message me more queries. Questions are the genesis of learning!

05/01/2022

Yesterday, when posting my concerns with the condition of baseball field at West Senior, a friend of mine asked me to visit East Senior and drive the road from which High School students, staff and parents must travel daily. What I found was another example of the half measures, incomplete projects and disrepair.

The most troubling part of the road, is not the pot holes and cracks, this is WNY…the disheartening aspect is that they actually put a brand new section of roadway connecting two stretches which are not suitable for cars. The new section ends on both sides of the campus.

Who, how why, is this what we are left asking.