Two seats, two candidates for the Shelter Island Board of Education

Two candidates — one incumbent and the other a newcomer —  are running unopposed and expected to win election for three-year terms to the Board of Education.

 It would take a write-in candidate with a groundswell of support to change that outcome and there’s no hint of that happening.

Kathleen Lynch

Ms. Lynch is in her 10th year as a Board of Education member, starting in July 2015, and is currently president of the Board. She was Board vice president in the 2018-19 school year and president in 2019 through the 20-21 school year, before stepping down from that role while remaining a Board member in 2023.

She returned to school to earn a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling. In July 2023, she was re-elected president, continuing throughout the current school year.

“I am most proud of cultivating  the incredible team we have. Our trustees are the most trustworthy, honorable and dedicated people around and I would call each of them a friend,” Ms. Lynch said, adding she’s pleased to have forged a solid relationship during her tenure with Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D.

“Securing him as our superintendent for the past six years has made all the difference in the growth of the district and locking down so many great achievements,” she said.

Perhaps most outstanding, was offering a pre-kindergarten program for 3- and 4-year olds, which, she said, has been pivotal in helping young families who are challenged with childcare, where both parents need to work, and gives the district’s youngest students a great head start.

If her colleagues nominate her to continue as Board president, she said she would be happy to continue in that role. “We are on a roll with our successes,” Ms. Lynch said. “Nobody wants to leave a winning team.”

Molly Kendall

The second candidate for a Board seat is Molly Kendall, a frequent attendee at Board of Education meetings. Ms. Kendall had been working in the hospitality business, and moved here when her daughter Lida was entering 3rd grade in September 2021.

They had lived in Manhattan so Lida could be near her father’s family. But as victims of COVID began to lose their battles during the pandemic, and refrigerated trucks outside hospitals began to fill with bodies, she felt she could not stay in the city.

More than 15 years ago, Ms. Kendall had lived for a few years on the South Fork, working in the hospitality industry. But it was Shelter Island that drew her to what she calls “this magical Island.“ She recalled boarding South Ferry to come to the Island with friends, often to Vine Street Café, and she said she felt relief when on Shelter Island driving around the Island, thinking,“This place cannot be real.”

Lida had felt like an outsider at school at first, and Ms. Kendall thought she had, perhaps, erred in moving to the Island. She considered transferring Lida to a private school or moving from the Island to Hampton Bays or Westhampton. But instead she started attending Board of Education meetings to familiarize herself with the school, hoping to find ways to ease her daughter’s situation. She became involved with the district, helping to save the school a couple of thousand dollars because of her knowledge and connections resulting from her work as a business administration consultant.

“It was a small amount but it felt like a huge personal victory — my entire goal was to be of service, so I felt it was a gift that I was able to give,” Ms. Kendall said. “My seat in the audience is comfortable and I have zero political aspirations. But I don’t like complaining and then doing nothing to be part of the solution. I really do like to work. I like to be part of fixing things if they need fixing.”

She has come to know students in all grades, she said. “I think they’re an incredibly special group and I want to be a positive part of their growing up here.”  When she heard there was an open seat because Board member Katherine Rossi-Snook opted not to seek re-election, and didn’t see anyone else seeking to run, “So I stepped up,” Ms. Kendall said.

Ms. Kendall is a business administration consultant for private clients and augments her working life working for South Ferry.

She called that job another serendipitous moment, noting during her commute to one of her jobs, she would watch deckhands and captains and felt jealous. “I’d hop out of my car like a tourist to listen to the water on the hull or catch some sun rays on my face before I’d have to go sit in an office. The crew were usually so nice, they would start off my day with such pleasant conversation that I thought I wanted to be part of this crew.”

It worked out that she was able to take on a part-time job as a deckhand.

Of course, she has ideas and dreams of how she could help further, “But I think it’d be foolish of me to jump the gun and declare anything before I notice more about what the community and kids need,” Ms. Kendall said. She believes she can  offer a helpful perspective, while respecting the need to do a lot of listening and learning.

“If I can save a couple of thousand bucks from a chair in the audience, I certainly hope I could do more on the other side.”

Voting takes place at the school gymnasium on May 20 between noon and 9 p.m.