On Tuesday, May 20, Ithaca voters will be electing community members to fill four open seats on the ICSD Board of Education (BoE). All three current BoE members whose terms expire in 2025 are running for reelection: Dr. Jill Tripp, Erin Croyle, and Karen Yearwood.
The BoE has influence over all things educational policy and resource allocation in ICSD. Their work impacts students and staff, but also community members and taxpayers. For example, when last year’s school budget was voted down, the BoE played a crucial role in deciding which programs needed to be cut. Currently, the BoE is working to develop a new cell phone policy. BoE members serve three-year, unpaid terms. IHS and LACS have non-voting student representatives to the board, who are elected for one-year terms each year by the student body.
Dr. Jill Tripp is a retired school psychologist who has worked in every school in the district. She lists her priorities on the ICSD website as “transparent decision making, fiscal caution, and academic excellence for all.” This school year, she serves as the chair of both the Facilities Committee and the Human Resources Committee. Tripp is wrapping up her first term on the BoE, and declined request for comment for this article.
Erin Croyle, now on her second term on the BoE, comes from a journalism and disability rights advocacy background. This school year, she is serving on the BoE’s curriculum committee. As a Communications Specialist for the Center for Family Involvement, an organization supporting disabled individuals and their families, and the mom of three ICSD students, Croyle is passionate about using her life experience to help make the district a place where all students, regardless of ability, can thrive. She emphasizes providing opportunities for students with all sorts of interests, strengths, and career paths, not just those who are college-bound. Croyle described being on the BoE as a collaborative effort and “some of the most difficult and most important work” she’s ever done.
Karen Yearwood is running for a second term on the BoE after a long history of involvement in various sectors of public education in Ithaca. She has served as a member of the Equity & Inclusion Leadership Council (EILC), Executive Director of Village at Ithaca, community/PTA representative on ICSD hiring committees, board member of Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI), and board chair of BJM Academic Plus afterschool program. This year, Yearwood serves on the Finance and Facilities Committees of the BoE. She emphasized that it takes a while to get accustomed to the BoE, and it’s her civic responsibility to put the knowledge she’s acquired from her first term to good use. She views her job as one of listening and teamwork, emphasizing the impact of one-on-one meetings with staff and families at different schools in ICSD.
Both Croyle and Yearwood recognized that many community members are feeling dissatisfied with ICSD at the moment. They emphasized that they have the community’s best interest at heart, and would love to hear from them through public comment, email, or the “Let’s Talk” portal on the ICSD website. Yearwood encouraged high school students to reach out to their student representatives to the board and to speak to adults in their lives about voting in the election on May 20.
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