With the Glen Cove City School District Board of Education and school budget vote approaching next Tuesday, residents gathered Monday evening in the newly renovated cafeteria at Glen Cove High School for a different kind of candidates forum.
Three candidates, Robert Nosek, Angela Raimo and Maria Venuto, are running for two open seats on the school board. Laast month the board unanimously adopted a spending plan for the 2026-27 school year totaling just over $122.3 million, after addressing a multi-million-dollar shortfall through a combination of targeted reductions and the use of reserve funds.
Rather than hosting a traditional auditorium-style debate or formal question-and-answer session, the district and the PTA Council organized a more informal “Meet the Candidates” mixer, which gave residents a chance to speak directly with candidates in a conversational setting.
“It was their choice for this year to try something new,” Superintendent Alexa Doeschner said of the PTA Council. “They wanted to create a ‘coffee with the candidates’ feel where community members could come, have a more casual interaction with Board of Education candidates and be able to ask questions that were in a more casual setting.”
The district, Doeschner said, will evaluate whether to continue the format in future years or return to a more traditional one. She added that the goal was to give candidates an opportunity to “touch base with the community” and hear directly from residents.
Parents and community members spent the evening moving between tables and speaking one-on-one with the candidates about district finances, communication, curriculum and the future direction of the schools.
Adam Laird, who has a son in kindergarten in Deaasy Elementary , said the format allowed for more detailed discussions than a standard public Q&A.
“I think it’s a little bit better,” Laird said. “You can go back and forth with context and really get a sense of if they’re the right person for the job.”
He said he spent roughly 15 minutes speaking with Raimo, the incumbent school board president, about the district budget and recent cuts.
“I asked about mostly the budget,” Laird said. “How she feels about those cuts — how she could find ways to cut the budget, but not cut services.”
Raimo, he said walked him through some of the line items and explained how the district worked to reallocate funds while addressing a budget gap estimated at $3.5 million.
Carla Anastasio, who has two children in the district, said, “The pros of doing it this way is that you do have more one-on-one time with each candidate.”
Anastasio praised them for being approachable and willing to engage directly with residents, and said she asked them about the district’s long-term financial future. “We need some sort of a long-term plan of how we’re going to fund the district without ultimately cutting teachers and a lot of the programs and services that we really need,” she said.
Raimo, who is seeking re-election, said that many residents asked about how this year’s budget cuts could affect students moving forward.
“I think this was nice to have a little more intimate conversations with people,” she said.
She added that she would ultimately prefer a hybrid model, combining questions submitted by students with community interaction.
“I think it’s nice to get the students involved,” Raimo said. “But I think it’s also nice to have the questions from the community members.”
Venuto, who is also running for re-election, said that the attendees raised questions about curriculum, academic outcomes and voter participation.
“People don’t volunteer and they don’t show up for things and they don’t show up to vote,” Venuto said. “So any time I see a new parent, new face, and they’re engaged and they’re interested and they want to know how the process works, that’s great.”
Nosek, a first-time candidate, said the informal setting facilitated meaningful conversations with parents throughout the evening. “We talked about A.I.,” he said. “Some of the people were still concerned about the budget.”
Nosek said that improving communication among the district, schools and families was one of the most common topics raised by residents. “One of the things that I’m running on, really, is helping to enhance the communication that we do have in place now,” he said.
