Voters will go to the polls next Tuesday to decide if incumbent Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education Trustee Monique Bloom will retain her seat, or if a write-in candidate will assume the position.
Bloom, who was first appointed to the board in 2012, is running unopposed on the ballot.
“I think who I am and what my talents and experiences have been are the things that make me an asset to the board,” she said.
Bloom won her first full term on the board in March 2013 after being appointed in June 2012 to replace board Vice President Fran Langsner, who moved outside the school district.
She said she spent 14 years as a Wall Street executive, serving as the chief administrative officer of the commodities division of a global investment bank and trading company.
Bloom said she left the position to raise her family.
Although she left the workplace, she said, she began getting involved with the school district once her children began their education.
“I have served on every board on every school that my children attended and every committee within those schools where there was an appropriate spot,” Bloom said.
About four years ago, she said, she was offered a position at an education consultancy in New York City, where she currently serves as a partner and chief administrative officer.
“I spend a lot of time understanding the world of higher education,” Bloom said. “The world of standardized testing, what skills are relevant to students graduating college today, strategies for test-taking and curriculum.”
She said about five to six years ago, she co-founded a group called “Parents for Parents.”
“It’s a great group of parents that meet on a regular basis that discuss issues that are relevant to them when it comes to socialization, their kids and their kids at school,” Bloom said.
She is also a former United Parent-Teacher Council President.
Bloom said serving the Great Neck school district as a board member and in her various capacities has been a great experience for her.
“All of that has been incredibly gratifying,” she said. “I do think one has a responsibility to serve their community. I feel that deeply. I do and I always have.”
Registered voters living north of the LIRR can vote from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at E.M Baker School, while registered voters living south of the LIRR are required to go to South High School’s west gym to vote.
