Five run for school boards in Merrick, North Merrick

When residents in Merrick and North Merrick go to the polls on May 21 to vote on the budgets for next school year, they will also cast ballots for Board of Education candidates in both districts. The Merrick Board of Education oversees Birch, Chatterton and Levy-Lakeside schools, and the North Merrick Board of Education oversees Camp Avenue, Fayette and Old Mill Road schools.

The Merrick Herald invited the candidates running for seats on the Merrick and North Merrick boards of education to submit brief statements about their backgrounds and what they hope to achieve in their terms on these school boards. Below are their responses.

Each candidate is running unopposed.

Merrick

Gina Piskin

I have lived in Merrick for the past 21 years, and I am married to Ray Piskin. We have three sons: Alexander, 23, Brandon, 21, and Jake, 14. They went to Levy-Lakeside School and Merrick Avenue Middle School. Jake will be going to Kennedy High School next year, and Alex and Brandon are graduates of Kennedy. I have served as a trustee of the Merrick Board of Education for the past six years, and I am the current president. I graduated from Adelphi University with an honors degree in history, and I currently work as a public relations coordinator for CCP Solutions in Brooklyn. I am a past president of the Levy-Lakeside PTA and have been a member of the PTA executive board since 2001.

I believe that my primary responsibility as a Board of Education trustee is to make sure that the children of Merrick receive the best possible education in a safe environment while also being fiscally responsible to our community as a whole.

State testing is a concern to parents. I plan on discussing this with my fellow board members so we can take a stand as a district.

Sigal Negrin

I am a 17-year resident of Merrick, and I live with my husband, Elliot, daughter, Alix, and son, Benjamin. Alix is an eighth-grader at Merrick Avenue Middle School and Benjamin is a fifth-grader at Birch School.

I received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from State University of New York at Oneonta and a master’s degree in social work from Adelphi University.