Former United Parent Teacher Council President Monique Bloom pledged to bring a “parent-centric” focus to the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education, after being sworn in this week as the board’s newest member.
“(Monday) night was very much a culmination of a lot of years worth of work and I’m very humbled by this appointment,” Bloom said following the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education year-ending organizational meeting at the Phipps Administration Building. “I’m looking forward to working for the students of Great Neck and I’m looking forward to learning a lot.”
Last month, Bloom was appointed to complete the term of former board of education vice president Fran Langsner, which will expire in May of 2013.
Langsner, who served on the board of education for 12 years, resigned from her trustee seat in June because her family moved outside of the Great Neck School District.
Although Bloom said she will have “big shoes to fill” in replacing Langsner, the prospect of becoming a member of Great Neck’s board of education has been exciting.
“I am hoping, along with my seasoned and eminently qualified board members, to mitigate the legislative and economic challenges that public school systems are facing today,” said Bloom, who served as president of Great Neck’s United Parent Teacher Council for the past year.
In addition to her leadership of UPTC, Bloom was a previous Parent Teacher Student Association president at Great Neck North High School for two years. She was also a former co-chair of the district’s PTSA shared decision making committee at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, along with Great Neck North middle and high schools.
“I have … created professional relationships within the district that have been meaningful to me,” Bloom said. “I believe it’s a very special place. I believe that the amount of time that the administrators and the educators spend really making sure that what they do is transparent to parents is really unlike any other district around.”
Bloom and her husband Jon have resided in the Village of Kings Point for the past 21 years. The couple raised daughters Nicole, Samantha and Colette – who all graduated from Great Neck North – in their Kings Point home, while their son Tyler will be a junior at the school next fall.
A partner in the Manhattan education advisory firm, Aristotle Circle, Bloom is also a current member of the Village of Kings Point’s architectural review committee.
“I have found this work for the school district and the parents of Great Neck to be immensely meaningful,” Bloom said.
For Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Dolan, the possibilities for Bloom’s tenure on the board of education are immense.
“I feel like we’re welcoming a friend,” Dolan said. “I just feel so luck to have had this year to work with you as the UPTC president. You’ve done a wonderful job, just a superb job at that.”
“I just can’t help but think,” he added, “that this is the next step in the growth of what you can offer to the school district.”
Bloom has yet to be named to any board of education committees.
“I know that despite any doubts that you may have expressed, you are most certainly up to the task (of joining the board of education) already,” Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education President Barbara Berkowitz said to Bloom during last week’s meeting. “There’s no concern about that and I know I personally am very much looking forward to working alongside you.”
In other business, Berkowitz was also sworn in for another term as the board of education’s president – a post she has held since 2006. Board of Education Trustee Lawrence Gross was also appointed as the board’s new vice president.
Board of Education Trustee Donald Ashkenase was also sworn in for his 11th term in office.
Dolan took part in a swearing-in ceremony of his own, along with district clerk Diana O’Connell and treasurer Carol A. Blach.
