A five-way race for two seats in Mineola and a race for one open seat in Herricks between two high-profile activists are the two local school board races that promise to have significant impacts on their respective school districts.
Mineola School Board president Terence Hale and Trustee William Hornberger are seeking re-election against three challengers vying for their two seats.
In Herricks, Herricks Council of the PTAs Co-President Jonai Singh and civic activist Jim Gounaris are running against each other for the open seat being vacated by Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar, who cited conflicts with his mayoral responsibilities as his reason for stepping aside.
The Mineola race could develop into a referendum on the school consolidation plan that Hale and Hornberger have pursued over the past year. The consolidation plan will be a prominent issue in the simultaneous vote on the $84 million school budget on May 17, which include the first phase of that plan, including a $2.6 million commitment to upgrade the Hampton Street School.
Two of the school board candidates running for the first time, Gerald Magaldi of Albertson and Joseph Manopella of Williston Park, both have expressed misgivings about the course the school consolidation has taken.
Manopella, who also calls himself an independent, expressed doubts about the strategic direction the school board is taking.
“I’m not sure they are going in the right direction now with what you’re hearing and all the configurations,” Manopella said. “A school has to close. I absolutely realize that. But we have to make sure that we minimize the disruption this will create throughout the school district.”
He said he’s undecided on whether a second elementary school should close, as is called for under the school board’s consolidation plan
As executive director of Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, Manopella said he feels he has the expertise to address the school district’s fiscal issues.
“We deal with cuts also and we’ve been dealing with cuts for a long, long time. So this is nothing new as far as what I do,” he said.
“I like to think that I am more than qualified to take a look at the financials,” he said.
Magaldi said thinks the community is not being consulted by the school board on the issues.
“I think the community needs to be more involved. The community needs to be more represented,” Magaldi said. “I’m concerned about the budget and how that’s going to be spent now with the closing of Cross Street.”
Magaldi, who said his two sons attended the middle school and then Chaminade High School, described himself as an independent candidate.
He said he wants to get involved because he‘s curious about decisions being made, “like closing certain schools, where’s the budget going, and consolidation.”
Magaldi has taught religious classes at St. Aidan on Sunday for the past 13 years. He’s also coached baseball in Mineola and Albertson little league, but said he doesn’t consider himself representing parents in the district.
“I have no allegiance to anyone in the district. I’m a concerned citizen. I pay taxes and that’s my concern,” Magaldi said.
He declined to comment on the district’s proposed leasing of the Cross Street School to Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove.
An executive in the cash management department of Signature Bank, Magaldi holds a masters degree in international marketing from St. John’s University.
The third challenger in the Mineola race, Albertson resident Veronica Levitan, could not be reached for comment.
Hale and Hornberger remain solidly behind the school consolidation plan.
“We’re going ahead,” Hale said after one recent board meeting.
Hale and Hornberger have both criticized board member John McGrath for his efforts to undermine the consolidation plan, most notably with his “Herrneola” proposal that the Mineola School District merge with the Herricks School District.
McGrath has said he wants to amend the consolidation plan by limiting it to closing the Cross Street School.
McGrath said he could “almost guarantee” that the race will be about configuration, but declined to endorse any of the challengers.
“I’m happy to see that there were enough people interested to run and I think it’s going to be lively campaign season,” McGrath said. “This is going to be their opportunity to tell us they like what’s going on or they want to see something different.”
Voters in the Herricks Schoolk District will have a choice between two candidates who are both civic activists, and who have children in the district schools.
Singh is running with Christine Turner, who is running unopposed to remain school board president. Along with her long-time PTA service, Singh is past president of the Herricks Indo-US Community, a non-profit Indian American organization and was inducted in the Women Roll of Honor by the Town of North Hempstead last year.
Gounaris has been active in the PTA and is currently a member of the Herricks Advisory Board. He is also a trustee of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association’s Educational Foundation, which manages a $3 million scholarship fund for students of Hellenic descent.
Ehrbar encouraged Singh to run for his seat and has endorse her as an “independent voice” in the school district.
While both candidates are viewed as educational advocates, Gounaris has earned the reputation as a fiscal conservative who was a vocal critic of the Herricks Teachers Association for not accepting a wage freeze for district teachers next year.
In the East Williston School District, incumbent school board president Mark Kamberg is running unopposed for re-election to his seat.
