Endorsements

Vote for Zukoff, Gargiulo, Hyland in North Merrick School District

Posted

Three seats are up for grabs in this year’s race for the North Merrick Board of Education. Two seats are being vacated by longtime Trustees George Haile and Linda Fuller. In the races for the open seats, Lissa Zukoff and John Pinto are going head to head, Jennifer Hyland is opposing Lori Spilabotte, and incumbent Wendy Gargiulo is being challenged by Paul Leavin.

Lissa Zukoff vs. John Pinto

The Herald endorses Lissa Zukoff in this race. She is running against a former longtime board member.

The mother of three –– in grades one, three and six –– is heavily invested in the schools. She has served as the Old Mill Road School PTA and North Merrick Special Education PTA president. Additionally, she has been the special-education chairwoman for the Nassau County Regional PTA.

At the same time, she is the Individual Education Plan secretary at Searingtown Elementary School in the Herricks School District. As such, she is responsible for preparing all of the curriculum paperwork for children with special needs. Through this experience, she has gained a solid understanding of the special-education system, which we believe would be immensely helpful to the North Merrick School District.

Finally, Zukoff has voiced support for introducing a foreign language program to North Merrick, which is the only one of the four Bellmore-Merrick school districts in which foreign language is not taught. Bellmore begins its program in first grade; Merrick, in third grade; and North Bellmore, in fifth grade.

We attempted to contact Pinto through the North Merrick district, but we did not hear back from him. The former trustee, the father of now adult children, served the North Merrick board admirably and honorably. Now, however, it is time for a new face and a new take on education in the district.

Jennifer Hyland vs. Lori Spilabotte

The Herald endorses Jennifer Hyland in this race. To be clear, we did not hear from Spilabotte, despite our phone calls. But we understand from sources that she is a highly concerned and active member of the North Merrick community.

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