While they agreed the district is in a good financial position now, the two Herricks school board candidates diverged slightly on its outlook at Tuesday’s candidates’ forum.
Challenger Andrew Apicos of Williston Park said the district could benefit from long-term planning for how to deal with tighter budgets under the state’s tax levy cap
“You’re doing the best you can with the situation and the cards that you’ve been dealt,” said Apicos, a biology teacher at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington.
He also questioned the use of reserves in the budget, he said.
Incumbent Trustee Juleigh Chin of Manhasset Hills, seeking a second three-year term, said she was unsure what reserve spending Apicos was citing.
Chin said this year’s $110 million budget with a 0.16-percent tax levy increase indicates a brighter outlook as the district has learned to navigate the cap.
It restores cuts she described as painful and adds new programs, she said.
“It’s not that it doesn’t hurt now, but we kind of learned how to live with it and we kind of learned to adjust and roll with those punches, but we don’t have these big reserves that some of our neighboring districts might have,” said Chin, a volunteer coordinator for Northwell Health.
This recently adopted budget puts the district in a “state of equilibrium” after major cuts in the tax cap’s first year, Apicos said, but the board should evaluate how to cut spending in the future without compromising programs.
Chin said Herricks already engages in budget planning and has maintained one of the lowest per-pupil spending levels among high-performing districts.
The candidates also had new ideas they would seek to implement in their terms on the board.
As a 25-year teacher, Apicos said he thinks the district could benefit from involving teachers more when making decisions and developing new programs. They could generate ideas that would end up saving the district money, he said.
“If you don’t bring the teachers to the table and ask them what kind of ideas they have for pushing forward, you may not be getting the best,” he said.
Chin said she would like to see more team-building activities for students and staff, as well as programs addressing social issues such as bullying and eating disorders.
For example, new teachers benefitted from team-building exercises they did before the current school year began, she said.
“I think that they felt part of a team when they did that, they felt part of the district, and I’d like to see more of that,” Chin said.
Apicos said he has lived in the district for 20 years and wanted to give voters a choice in the school board race.
While he thinks Chin has done a fine job as a trustee, he said he would bring a set of skills and experiences as a teacher that is missing from many school boards, he said.
“People make policy, but if they haven’t been in the trenches, sometimes they’re not going to think about all the possibilities, and sometimes the unintended consequences, of certain policies,” he said in an interview.
Apicos said one of his children has gone through Herricks schools and another is graduating from the district this year.
Chin said her passion for the district and the knowledge she has gained in her first term make her the best choice in the race.
“Expertise can only come with experience, and when we’re talking about the school board, you need someone with experience,” she said.
Residents will vote for the school board seat and the district’s 2016-2017 budget on May 17.
