FALLS SCHOOLS: Longtime city detective entering race for school board

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Francis J. Coney Jr. sits at his desk during his last week on the job as a city detective. Now retired, Coney is seeking a seat on the Falls school board.

March 2, 2010

By Paul Westmoore The Niagara Gazette Tue Mar 02, 2010, 06:11 PM EST

Francis J. Coney Jr., the city detective who cracked a large number of murder cases over his 42-year career, has announced his candidacy for the Niagara Falls Board of Education in the May 18 election.

Even though he retired in November, Coney said, “I still want to continue serving my community. For the past several months I have been considering how to do that and decided to try to do that as a school board member.”

Coney, 69, said a primary reason for his decision to run is “four of my grandchildren. Three of them go to Maple Avenue Elementary School and one is at Niagara Falls High School.”

He also has a son, Frank Jr., who is the dean of students at Gaskill Preparatory School and a daughter, Angela Santiago, who is a theme specialist at Henry J. Kalfas Magnet School.

And though he might not be dealing with tragic life and death issues on the board, Coney said he believes a good school system and a good education can counteract crime by setting all children on the path to a great future.

“With my knowledge of the community and many of its families, with my desire to remain of service to our city and with love and concern for my and everyone else’s grandchildren, I feel I am qualified to be able to take on this new service role,” he said. “As a police officer, I worked with a lot of families and their kids. A lot of people came to me for advice and help when their kids were having problems. They’d ask me to make sure a son or a nephew, for example, kept going to school and I’d talk to them.”

As a city resident, Coney said he has a vested interest in the Board of Education and helping kids be successful.

“I’ve lived here all my life and I’m going to stay here all my life,” he said. “So I want to make sure everything is going well for as many people as possible. A lot of that depends on a good school system.”

Coney said the upside of retirement is he will have time to do the job right.

“Being a board member is a lot of work. I could never do it if I was working. Now I have the time to dedicate to it,” Coney said.

He should have an idea about that since Coney has attended many board meetings since he left the police department.

Coney said he is circulating petitions and has well over the 100 signatures of registered voters he needs to be placed on the May ballot.

It appears he may face some stiff competition. Six other people are circulating petitions for the two board seats that will be up for grabs.

The five-year terms of board President Russell Petrozzi and member Christopher Brown will end June 30 and will be taken by the winners of the upcoming election.

While Brown is not running for re-election — he believes in two-term limits — Petrozzi said he will run for a third, five-year term. He is the vice president of Capitol Cleaners which has businesses in Niagara Falls, Lewiston and Grand Island.

Other potential candidates who have picked up petitions to run for the board are: Johnny Destino, Kenneth A. Pawlukovich, Jason A. Zona, Kenneth Hamilton and Robert Ventry Jr.

For a candidate to be placed on the ballot, petitions must be submitted to the school district clerk’s office in the central administration building at the former 66th Street Elementary School no later than 5 p.m. April 28.

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