East Meadow Board of Education races heat up

An unprecedented five seats are up for grabs in this year’s East Meadow Board of Education trustee election on May 18.

Three of those positions are for full three-year terms, while the remaining two are one-year stints.
   
Winners of the one-year terms will hold their seats until the end of 2011. Former Trustees Diana DeVito and Al Semonella resigned from those seats last year before the end of their three-year terms.

Two candidates, Marcee Rubinstein and Joseph Parisi, are running unopposed for three-year seats. Rubinstein served a one-year term after winning in last May’s elections. Parisi was appointed to fill DeVito’s spot for the remainder of the school year.
   
As for the three other positions — one three-year and two one-year terms — candidates and their volunteers are on the streets, in front of the libraries and on the phones, rallying support around town.
   
Each candidate made a stop at Herald headquarters in Garden City last week to talk about their ideas and goals for the school board.

Abby Rothschild-Kaplan vs. Jeffrey Rosenking
   
Abby Rothschild-Kaplan, a lifelong East Meadow resident, is vying for a second three-year term. She is being challenged by Salisbury resident Jeffrey Rosenking.
   
Rothschild-Kaplan’s first term as a trustee began and ended with contract negotiations. The former East Meadow High School PTA president joined the board in 2007, at the culmination of a heated three-year contract standoff between the East Meadow Teachers Association and the school district.
  
Rothschild-Kaplan said she believed that  three years without a new contract was unacceptable not only for teachers, but for students and the community at large. That inspired her to try to make an impact on the school board. “I ran on a platform of change,” she said. “I was upset with negotiations. I felt the community did not have enough input and [that] the teachers and students were suffering something awful.”
   
Last month, Rothschild-Kaplan and her fellow board members unanimously ratified a new two-year contract that will take effect Sept. 1.
   
Jeffrey Rosenking, a newcomer to the public arena, said he decided to run for a three-year term because of the potential impact he could make. “I’m not doing it for fame and glory,” Rosenking said. “I’m doing it because it is the right thing to do. If I want to make an investment in my time and effort, I want to do things that make the biggest bang for the buck.”
   
Rosenking is an IT project manager at JP Morgan Chase. In his spare time he is a member of the National Civil Air Patrol and an Eagle Scout leader. Rosenking and his wife, Carol, are active in PTA and SEPTA.
   
Both candidates appeared pleased with the district’s fiscal state despite the troubled economy. The East Meadow district is proposing what are believed to be record-low budget numbers — an increase of about 1.7 percent and a tax levy rise of 1.3 percent.
   
“I believe they brought us a sound and fiscally responsible budget,” Rothschild-Kaplan said. “We are cutting nothing, and it is the lowest tax increase to the taxpayers.”
   
Rosenking said he witnessed the impact of austerity budgeting firsthand as a teen attending Levittown schools. And he noted that some Long Island districts are proposing larger increases while laying off staff and eliminating programs.
  
“The East Meadow administration has done an excellent job ... a great job in terms of planning,” he said. “How many different schools are ... increasing budgets while also cutting services?”

Steven Jacobs vs. Corey Fanelli
   
A battle for a one-year term on the school board pits a seasoned incumbent against a homegrown newcomer.
   
Steven Jacobs, a resident of East Meadow for more than 18 years, decided to forgo his three-year seat and instead pursue a one-year term. Jacobs, an attorney, explained that there is a possibility that his employer, a state agency, could relocate him due to budgetary constraints.
   
“I don’t want this community to have another resignation,” Jacobs said. “So, consequently, I decided I would go for a one-year seat.”
   
Corey Fanelli, a sophomore political science major at St. John’s, graduated from W.T. Clarke High School in 2008. He aims to be the school board’s youngest trustee ever.
  
“I’m not hiding the fact that I’m 20 — I can’t,” Fanelli said. “I think I bring fresh ideas, a new face and a unique perspective. I think that’s something people would like.”
   
Jacobs, like Rothschild-Kaplan, served on the board during tumultuous times that included contract negotiations, an adventurous superintendent search, the removal of a trustee and the resignation of two others. More positively, it also resulted in the hiring of current Superintendent Louis DeAngelo and several other top officials, a new two-year agreement with teachers and staff and the adoption of modest budget proposals.
   
Jacobs, who serves on the district’s Transportation Committee, explained that his experience during such a crucial time for East Meadow schools would serve him well in another year on the board. Before becoming a trustee in 2007, he volunteered for the Financial Advisory Committee and was involved in the planning of many capital projects around the district.
  
“I think this is the time for an experienced hand,” Jacobs said. “I think this is the time to say, Hey, these are really challenging times; we really need someone who has been there, done that. I think we need to heal the community a little more. Basically we are running in the right direction.
   
“Don’t mess with success,” he added.
   
Fanelli recalled being a student during previous teachers’ contact negotiations. He was an active member of several clubs and organizations, including the champion Mock Trial Team, and said he wants to give back while also advocating for students.
   
“Working together as a board, not as single individuals, I will learn from them collectively, and they will learn some things from me,” Fanelli said. “The fact I can provide a perspective that the other members can’t provide, it just completes the board and makes it well-rounded.”

Joseph Danenza vs. Robert Kushner
   
Joseph Danenza, a man of diverse skills, squares off against Robert Kushner, who has 18 years of school board experience, for a one-year seat.
   
Danenza is making another run for the school board after falling short last year against Rubinstein in a contest for a one-year term. His background includes technology, finance and education. Now working for the Nassau County Police Department, Danenza has a resume that includes teaching in New York City and working with major Wall Street firms.
   
“I believe I bring that wealth of experience,” Danenza said. “There are very talented people on the board now that do have experience in certain areas, but I think I bring that blend.”
  
Kushner is aiming for a return to the school board 12 years after he last served. Between 1978 and 1998, Kushner had three six-year terms on the board. Since then has regularly attended Communications meetings with his wife, Edith. He decided to make another run as he watched a contentious atmosphere develop among board trustees, especially throughout the superintendent search.
   
The pot boiled over for Kushner last year, when some members of the board, including Jacobs and Rothschild-Kaplan, voted to remove the Kushners from their post as election inspectors because they had signs on their lawns that supported two incumbents.