Candidates for Hamilton Central board emphasize funding, enrollment and student supports at forum

Two candidates seeking seats on the Hamilton Central School District board presented competing priorities and agreed on several pressures facing the district, including declining enrollment and tightened school funding.

Travis Ames, a resident of Madison and former board member, said he would push for greater representation on the board, more public discussion of policy and fiscal oversight if elected. Ames said he supports exploring full-day pre-K and hiring a school resource officer (SRO) and described his campaign as grounded in representing parts of the district that feel unheard. “If you show up for me, I’ll stand up for you,” Ames said in his closing remarks.

Corey Duclos, an incumbent board member who has served since 2018, emphasized the board’s recent focus on equity and inclusion, expanded participation in the budget process and maintaining student-support positions such as social workers and a social-emotional learning (SEL) room. “I think the measure of society is based on how well we treat the least,” Duclos said, describing efforts to keep SEL and social-work positions in the budget as a priority to ‘soften’ schools rather than harden them.

Both candidates identified funding and enrollment as the district’s central fiscal challenges. Duclos cited shrinking enrollment and rising student needs, along with housing insecurity in the district, as drivers of budget pressure; he said the administration has worked with the village and Colgate University to encourage housing that could stabilize enrollment. Ames said state policy changes in the recent state budget — including a change he said affects how merger aid is calculated — are incentivizing consolidation and making advocacy and fiscal prudence essential. Ames urged the community to learn about these trends and support coordinated advocacy with regional partners.

On governance, Ames criticized recent board practices he described as insufficiently transparent — citing an early workshop he said was not broadcast and a policy-committee change that removed a community member — and recounted an incident in which he said a board member temporarily left while a community speaker raised a safety issue. Duclos disputed that characterization of the board’s transparency, saying the board has held open budget workshops and moved to make policy committee meetings publicly posted.

The candidates also outlined differing approaches to constituent engagement. Ames described reaching out individually to board members during deliberations (for example, on the SRO topic) and said he would continue one-on-one outreach and direct oversight of budget materials. Duclos said he favors channeling many concerns through administrators and using district services (for example, principals and BOCES pathways) to achieve efficient problem-solving while tempering expectations about the pace of change.

Neither candidate proposed a definitive new program requiring immediate board action; both emphasized advocacy, fiscal oversight and maintaining student supports as near-term priorities. The forum was moderated by Patrick Longo of the New York State School Boards Association and opened by Superintendent Bill Dalzeman. Voters were reminded of polling location and hours for the upcoming Tuesday election.