When Julie Epstein and her family moved from Cincinnati to Port Washington five years ago, the former attorney made the transition to full-time volunteer. Epstein said she is running for a seat on the Port Washington Board of Education on a platform based on improving communication, assessment and accountability throughout the district.
Epstein is running against incumbent Rachel Gilliar, Adam Block and Christina Nadolne for one of two seats on the board for three-year terms in the at-large election.
Epstein said the process by which new programs are implemented and old ones are analyzed should be broken down into a three-step process which begins with improving communication throughout the district.
“While communication can never be perfected, I think it can certainly be improved by some of the feedback I have heard from parents and people within the district,” Epstein said in an interview with Blank Slate Media. “I think we should implement a forecasting system where district representatives can provide updates on certain projects or programs throughout the district.”
Epstein said some of the complaints she has heard from district residents is the lack of acknowledgment and response to comments presented to the board during the public comment portion of meetings.
Assessment and accountability, Epstein said, are two important pieces in her platform, as they are determining factors to best analyze how aspects of a curriculum or project are being received by all stakeholders.
“It’s incredibly important to take the feedback from the teachers, students, residents, everyone to make a determination of what parts of a program are thriving and which ones need to be improved,” Epstein said. “Then it comes down to a matter of accountability and making changes or continuing to improve the program, following up every few weeks or every month.”
Epstein, a mother of two, touted her experience volunteering in Port Washington as the co-president of both the Salem Elementary School Home School Association and the Parents’ Council, and a member of the Weber Middle School’s Executive Board.
“In each of these roles I consistently questioned, evaluated and implemented new ideas to streamline initiatives,” Epstein said. “Parents’ Council has given me the opportunity to gain an understanding of the scope of the board’s responsibilities and the limitations put on school districts by the state of New York. I know that it is not a curricular board but rather one of governance, policy, budget and oversight.”
Epstein said she is in “full support” of the district’s proposed $163.2 million budget, which will be voted on by residents, and touted the work of the current board and everyone involved in reworking a budget that reflected the best interests of every stakeholder while remaining under the state-mandated tax cap.
“The board did a wonderful job in trying to do the least amount of harm in terms of cuts that had to be made, while still being mindful of the taxpayers’ wallets,” Epstein said. “With state laws, there will, realistically, be increases every year. But the reality is that the budget did the least amount of harm to students, staff and programs.”
Epstein said she believes the board and school district handled the pandemic “OK” but recognized that the circumstances surrounding the decisions made it difficult for her to truly judge how the board has fared over the past few months.
“I’m not really in any position to judge from my vantage point,” she said. “All I know is that now it is extremely important that we foresee as many possibilities as we can and try our best to anticipate what schooling could look like in the fall.”
The need for virtual learning and providing every student with the proper technological and educational resources is imperative, she said.
Absentee ballots for the election of two trustees and the budget vote must be received by the school district by Tuesday, June 9, at 5 p.m.
