In the May 18 Roslyn School Board race, Cliff Saffron came within a votes of winning a seat. This time, he prevailed, coming in second with 967 votes. Dani Kline, the top vote getter in the Oct. 5 special election, led all candidates with 1,107 votes.

Now the two winners look forward to sitting on the school board at the most contentious time in the district's recent history.

When she ran for the school board, Ms. Kline stressed that education remained just as important an issue as the fiscal situation facing the district.

"Education and fiscal responsibility are not mutually exclusive," Ms. Kline said after the vote. "That message resonated."

After the election, both winning candidates were sworn in as board members. As the top vote getter, Ms. Kline will fill the seat of former BOE member, Michael Barkan. That term expires on June 30, 2006. Saffron will serve the remainder of Ellen Siegel's term, which lasts until June 30, 2005.

Ms. Kline listed her top priorities as making the board "more inclusive," namely by bringing the community into the decision making process "as much as possible" through the creation of various boards. Such committees would assist the board with the budget process, with superintendent and principal searches, with a Forensic Audit of school expenses, plus such pressing issues as security, the curriculum and ethics.

When asked why she did so well, Ms. Kline answered by stating that, "people trusted my integrity of terms in what I believe is important. I was not beholden to anybody."

A resident of Roslyn for eight years, Ms. Kline has served on, among other boards, the PTA Board at Harbor Hill and the Coordinating Council of Parent Associations. In the business world, Ms. Kline most recently served as senior vice president at Viacom, where she was responsible for the distribution, packaging and marketing of the many networks under the Viacom umbrella.

Commenting on his victory in the October election, Cliff Saffron said, "I didn't take anything for granted. That's why I campaigned as hard as I did. I am very grateful and humbled that the community has chosen to place its confidence in me."

Saffron added that he plans to "quickly attend" to the commitments he made during the campaign. He listed his top priority has "ensuring an appropriate structure to form a 2005-06 budget." That would include working closely with administrators to draft an appropriate budget, while also giving local residents the opportunity to review all budget items. Such reviews would be consistent with Saffron's pledge to have greater communication between the board and the community.

When he ran for the second time for a school board seat, Cliff Saffron said that changing circumstances, not simply the close result of the first election, was the main reason behind his campaign. He noted that he was the only candidate running in the fall campaign who had been actively engaged in the issues since early March. As an example, Saffron noted that in the spring campaign he had exposed Dr. Frank A. Tassone's travel and general expense provisions, many of which became the focus of the widening scandal.