A pair of challengers along with a familiar face are running in the Great Neck Board of Education election on May 11.
Michael Glickman, a philanthropic adviser, social entrepreneur and advocate for change, is running for a seat against longtime board member Barbara Berkowitz, the president.
Separately, Grant Toch, a financial analyst and tax lawyer, is running unopposed for a vacant seat on the board.
Glickman has spent the past 16 years living in Great Neck with his wife, Sumi, a former finance executive, and three children. Two of his children attend North Middle School and one attends Saddle Rock Elementary School.
Glickman is the founder and CEO of jMUSE, a venture in arts and culture philanthropy that joins institutions, experts and philanthropists to create innovative content throughout the United States and Europe.
He has also served as president and CEO of the state’s Holocaust museum and has served as president of the board of directors for the Gold Coast Arts Center and its film festival.
In letters to Blank Slate Media in the past few months, Glickman criticized how the school district provided resources to students and teachers to learn throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Glickman said he wanted to see the board have more conversations with the community regarding decisions.
“When elected, I will continue to ask tough questions and work tirelessly to ensure that critical decisions are made in public view, with input from the community and clarity about where I stand on the issues,” Glickman said in an interview.
Glickman specifically called out the district’s lack of new technology for students as a reason to get fresh faces on the board. Glickman lauded Berkowitz for her service but said she is out of touch with the needs of the district.
“Under Mrs. Berkowitz’s control, the Great Neck school district has become rudderless,” Glickman said. “Its decision-making is less than transparent and its ability to communicate with parents is inconsistent and ineffective.”
Berkowitz, in response to Glickman’s comments, touted the district’s academic and fiscal achievements, questioning what Glickman would specifically do differently if he were to be elected.
“I am proud that the Great Neck Public Schools continue to have an exceptional record of academic achievement with students of varying levels of proficiency,” Berkowitz said in a statement to Blank Slate Media. “I am also proud of the district’s fiscal accountability, as evidenced by our continued Triple-A Moody’s rating and the undesignated under comptroller’s Fiscal Stress Management System (FSMS) which simply means that there is no sign of fiscal stress.”
“It’s regrettable that Mr. Glickman has chosen to engage in such negative attacks on me, none of which are fact-based,” Berkowitz continued. “I’m interested in reading precisely what Mr. Glickman proposes to do differently, aside from attacking both me personally as well as the school district.”
Berkowitz has served on the board for nearly 30 years since first being elected in 1992.
Before becoming a board member, Berkowitz served the school district community in other ways, including being a member and executive board officer for the E.M. Baker School Parent Teacher Association. She was also a member and budget chairperson for United Parent-Teacher Council and a member of Shared Decision-Making Committees at both Baker School and North Middle School.
Toch first ran for a spot on the school board in 2017, ultimately dropping out of the race before current Trustee Jeffrey Shi was elected against Nikolas Kron.
Now Toch is seeking to fill a seat left vacant when longtime Trustee Donald Ashkenase died in March.
Toch and his wife, Nicole, have spent the past 15 years in Great Neck with their three daughters. He has volunteered on the United Parent-Teacher Council for the past 13 years, along with serving as an alternate on the Great Neck Estates Zoning Board of Appeals and being a board member for Temple Beth-El.
Toch touted the importance of prioritizing programs and course offerings for students along with fiduciary responsibility.
“Our school system plays a critical role within our community, and the value it provides to our students and residents could not be overstated,” Toch said in a letter to Blank Slate Media. “As a community, we need to continuously enhance our public school’s offerings, reputation and stature.”
Toch serves on the Budget and Financial committees for the United Parent-Teacher Council and Temple Beth-El, respectively. He also stressed the importance of teachers and students having the resources necessary to the long-term success of the school district.
“I believe that I represent what Great Neck needs most on the Board of Education,” he said. “As an active parent in this community, I am committed to the long term success of the Great Neck Public School District.”
Last week, the board unanimously adopted a $252 million budget for the 2021-22 school year, an increase of around $11 million.
The budget, adopted by the board virtually via Zoom, is $252,194,682, an increase of 4.47 percent from last year’s $241,395,571. The projected tax levy increase is $4,214,577, or 1.98 percent. Originally, the board proposed a 2.25 percent increase in the tax levy.
John Powell, assistant superintendent of business and finance, said the proposed budget once again remained within the state-mandated tax cap.
According to the presentation made by Powell, $14.8 million in administrative costs makes up 5.9 percent of the budget, $34.6 million in capital projects makes up 13.7 percent of the budget, and $202.7 million for programming accounts for the rest of the budget.
The public vote on the board seats and the budget will take place on May 11, rather than May 18, due to a conflict with the final day of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which is celebrated seven weeks after the second Passover seder.
State law requires school districts to hold their elections on the third Tuesday in May but due to the conflict, the board asked for the date to be changed to May 11.
