Longtime PTA activist and college educator Patricia Navarra announced her candidacy for the Mineola Board of Education this week.
A resident of Williston Park since 1998, Navarra has served as District Council PTA president and Mineola Middle School PTA president. She also served on the Community Committee for Consolidation that defined options for the consolidation of the Mineola School District.
“I was there for many hours to help make a plan. We did quite a lot to plan for a strong financial and educational future,” she said.
Navarra said the time is right for her to run for a school board seat as her youngest daughter, Caroline, is graduating from Mineola High School this year.
“People have been asking me for a while and I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” she said of her decision. “This kind of volunteerism works so naturally with what I do for a living.”
Navarra has been a professor at Hofstra University for the past 13 years, teaching freshman writing students and courses in the school’s new Irish Studies program.
“I think I have a sense of the rigors of education,” she said.
Navarra is co-founder of P.E.A.C.E. – People for Excellence, Affordability and Commitment to Education – which Mineola school board Trustee Artie Barnett also helped found.
Navarra will be running for the seat currently occupied by Irene Parrino, who was elected to the board three years ago.
Parrino could not be reached for comment on her plans to run for re-election.
In addition to her PTA activism, Navarra is co- president of the Music Parents Association and describes herself as “a strong advocate” for arts education.
“We have one of the best music programs in New York State. I think we have some of the best programs on Long Island and I’d like to see them grow,” Navarra said.
She said she would also like to see the school district develop “more challenging” programs for the 80 percent of the students who are average achievers academically.
“I’d like to encourage us to bring up the scores in the middle of the classes,” she said.
In education activities outside the Mineola district, Navarra co-authored the application for Middle States Accreditation for the former Corpus Christi School and served on the CCS School Board. She has also been a Girl Scouts of America leader and a Police Athletic League coach.
In the district, she most recently coordinated a collaboration between Meadow Drive School and Hofstra University to supply and deliver supplies to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
She and her husband Paul have raised two daughters. Their elder daughter, Marygrace, is in her junior year at Marist College.
Her husband, Paul, works for the City University of New York as a grant writer and is an actor.
Navarra co-authored and acted in “Tony and Tina’s Wedding,” and met her husband while on tour with the show.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
