Residents will vote in contested elections for school trustees in the Great Neck and Herricks school districts next month.
School district trustee and budget votes will take place on June 9, rather than on May 13 as originally scheduled, in accordance with an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Residents will vote via absentee ballot, which will be distributed 14 days before the vote, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Candidates did not need to collect signatures in order to file, in keeping with social distancing regulations.
Districts were instructed to alert residents of the date of the election, as well as the date and time of the school budget hearing, which will be held by teleconference and made accessible to the public.
Great Neck Public Schools have already scheduled their public budget hearing for Wednesday.
The Great Neck Board of Education election features both a contested and uncontested race for two spots on the board.
Trustees Rebecca Sassouni and Jeffrey Shi were elected to the board for the first time in 2017. The two took the former seats of Lawrence Gross, who served on the board for 35 years, and Susan Healy, who served for 10.
Shi is running unopposed, while Sassouni is challenged by John Jahng, who currently serves on the District Advisory Committee, according to board President Barbara Berkowitz.
Jahng declined to comment at this time.
Shi defeated Nikolas Kron in the May 2017 election after candidates Grant Toch and Michael Golden dropped out. Sassouni won unopposed after her opponent, Ilya Aronovich, dropped out of the race.
In her second time around and in the midst of an unconventional campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sassouni, a mother of four and a lawyer, said she has lived in Great Neck for 26 years.
Sassouni touted the rest of the board, along with the staff, parents and residents that make up the school district. Sassouni said she is appreciative for the past three years of serving the community.
“The first three years flew by,” Sassouni said. “There was a gradual learning curve to go along with it, but it has been an experience I am grateful for and I hope that I am re-elected again this year.”
Sassouni touted her experience serving the community before being elected to the school board in 2017. She has served as parent co-chair for the Shared Decision Making Committee at Great Neck North High School and John F. Kennedy School, a past officer for the United Parent Teacher Council and chair of its legislative committee, and is the current president of the Sephardic Heritage Alliance Inc.
“I have been involved with the community in some very gratifying, meaningful, and important ways,” Sassouni said. “I have a very procedural mindset when it comes to the Board of Education, and I’m a strong believer that procedures have helped us more efficiently as a board the past three years.”
Shi agreed with Sassouni’s sentiments and thanked the community and the board for the past three years.
“[The board] works with a great team of administration, teachers, parents and residents throughout the district,” Shi said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be running unopposed and to continue serving the entire school district.”
Everyone who resides in the district and is registered to vote will receive an absentee ballot, according to Berkowitz.
Berkowitz said the ballots are not applications to have an absentee ballot sent to a resident, but rather the absentee ballot with a postage-paid envelope included.
Berkowitz said the district is sending out more than 30,000 ballots, which must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9.
In the Floral Park-Bellerose school district, the trustee seat currently held by Laura J. Trentacoste is set to end in June. Trentacoste currently serves as vice president of the board.
Efforts to reach the Floral Park-Bellerose board regarding the upcoming trustee and budget votes were unavailing.
The virtual public budget hearing will take place on Monday, June 1, at 8 p.m.
In New Hyde Park-Garden City Park, board Vice President Tara Notine and Trustee James Reddan are up for re-election.
Efforts to reach the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park board regarding the upcoming elections were unavailing.
A spokesperson for Sewanhaka Schools said that the district gets its board members from feeder districts. Sewanhaka therefore does not have an election in June.
There are two contested races for seats on the Herricks school board.
Tarantej S. Arora is running against incumbent James Gounaris. Bhajan S. Ratra is running against incumbent Henry R. Zanetti.
Gounaris, a Manhasset Hills resident, was president of the board from 2013 t0 2015. He is now running for his fourth term on the board.
Efforts to reach Arora and Ratra were unavailing.
Zanetti, a Williston Park resident who served on the Herricks PTA for over a decade, was elected to the board in 2017. He is now running for his second term.
Zanetti, who is now retired, was a U.S. Customs inspector who acted as chief of the cargo inspection branch at John. F. Kennedy International Airport.
He has two children in the Herricks schools.
While schools’ course of action for the summer and fall remain up in the air due to the pandemic, Herricks has begun tentatively planning for the next few months.
“We anticipate that we will be offering some summer programs, likely in a remote online format,” said Dr. Fino Celano, superintendent of Herricks Public Schools.
On Friday, Cuomo announced the formation of a state Reimagine Education Advisory Council. The committee, composed of educators, students, parents and education leaders, will help districts plan for reopening.
“We are interested in finding out more details of the Governor’s ‘reimagine education’ concept,” Celano said. “Our teachers have broadened their understanding of the technology tools available to them through this experience with remote education. They have gained new skills that will further our efforts to integrate instructional technology into the classroom when we return.”
The Herricks Board of Education will hold its budget hearing on Thursday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m.
