Board of Ed weighs options for filling vacancy

The West Hempstead Board of Education is considering its options for handling the vacancy left on the board when trustee Tony Brita resigned last month.

While the board opted at its July 19 meeting not to leave the seat vacant until the next regularly scheduled election in May, it has yet to decide whether to hold a special election or appoint someone to fill the seat.

If the board decides to hold a special election — which could cost anywhere   from $3,300 to $10,000, depending on how many voting machines the district would use and for how many hours — it would have to ensure there would be candidates to run and taxpayers to vote. The election would be held in September and the person elected would serve the remaining two years of Brita’s term.

Board President Walter Ejnes expressed concern about the potential cost of holding a special election and said he was “leaning” against holding one. But Deputy Superintendent Richard Cunningham told trustees not to worry about the financial aspect of their decision.

“I think you should focus on the concept of what you want to do,” he said, “not the cost.”

Appointing a trustee would cost the district nothing — it would simply be a decision of the board and it would be temporary, as the appointed person would serve until the May election. For two board trustees, there is one major problem with this option: the public has no say in the matter.

“Who am I to appoint someone?” asked Trustee Rudy Schindler of his fellow board members. Schindler and Trustee Cynthia Di Miceli, both of whom were elected to their first terms in May 2010, said they would rather allow the taxpayers to elect their own representative to the school board seat. But the board proceeded to pass a resolution instructing district administrators to find potential school board candidates that the board could consider for appointment, should it choose that option. The resolution passed 4-2, with Schindler and Di Miceli against.

“We were asked to reach out to a few people to gauge whether or not they might be interested if the board decided to make an appointment,” Superintendent John Hogan told the Herald, “but they really haven’t decided yet. They just want to make sure they know what all their options are and they want to have as much information as possible.”

As of press time, it was unclear how soon the board will make a decision on the matter.