Four seek two at-large seats on Board of Ed

Four candidates are running for two at-large seats on the Rockville Centre Board of Education in the May 16 election.

Newcomers Linette Genovese, a Long Beach school district guidance counselor; Janet Gruner, a past president of the South Side Middle School PTA; and Roxanne Rizzi, a New York City schoolteacher, are challenging incumbent school board Secretary Tara Hackett, who is running for her third term. The two top vote-getters will be elected to three-year terms, which will begin on July 1.

Linette Genovese

Genovese is a lifelong educator and a guidance counselor in the Long Beach school district. She is also a former member of the Rockville Centre district’s PTA executive board. Both of her children are South Side High graduates.

As a guidance counselor, she feels she brings a lot to the table, considering the increased concern over mental health, learning loss due to the pandemic, and plans to expand on security.

Genovese said she does not support accelerating all eighth-graders into algebra and earth science courses, and would prefer that alternative courses be offered for those struggling academically.

“Children need more options, especially at the high school level,” she said. “I think we need to re-evaluate how we’re implementing the IB program and Middle Years program in order to determine whether we’re going to bring in the Primary Years program.”

Genovese has also said she supports the recent efforts of the school board to hire a district director of security with a background in law enforcement, which she says has been shown to be effective where she works.

She said that she would also like students to be provided with scanable lanyards in order to enter the building, and for all other doors besides the single point of entry, to be alarmed.

“I’m pleased that the district has plans to expand on security,” Genovese said. “If anything, we cannot be too safe.”

She has addressed the school board about a number of issues. Most notably, in February 2021, she vehemently criticized the absence of plans to reopen schools a year after the start of the coronavirus pandemic. “I felt like there wasn’t a plan to bring students back,” she said. “It needed to be talked about.”

Genovese said that if she is elected, she hopes to bring the district back into the limelight as one of the top in the state.

Janet Gruner

Gruner is a lifelong Rockville Centre resident with deep ties to the community and school district. She attended St. Agnes Cathedral School and went on to graduate from South Side High School in 1995.

She has three children in district schools — one at South Side High School, one at South Side Middle School and one at Riverside Elementary.

“I can truly say I had a great experience at South Side,” Gruner wrote in an email. “I was a two-sport varsity athlete for four years and was fortunate to be part of three state championship soccer teams. I was also lucky to learn from many excellent teachers. Their mastery of their craft, their care for their students, and their enthusiasm for their profession left a lasting impression on me.”

Gruner was a social studies teacher at Great Neck North High School for over 10 years, leading a variety of classes at both the Regents and AP levels. “I developed and implemented co-seated AP and Regents level social studies courses, and worked alongside special education teachers to modify curriculum, instruction, and testing for a variety of learners,” she wrote. “Eventually, I turned from teaching to focus on my growing family and become more actively involved within our town and school community.”

She served as president of both the PTA Council and the Middle School PTA. She has also worked on the RVC school district’s arts and curriculum committees, and has helped with book fairs, teacher appreciation lunches, school dances, and the Riverside carnivals. She is also on the board of the St. Mark’s Cooperative Nursery School, and is a Girl Scout troop leader and an intramural and travel soccer coach.

“If elected, I want to encourage continued innovation and differentiation that will allow all learners to make the most of their education, while engaging in thoughtful and constructive conversations about what is best for students,” Gruner wrote. “I want to help foster an environment that enables all students to maximize their potential and take pride in their accomplishments both inside and outside of the classroom. And finally, I want to build trust by encouraging open communication and by working toward strengthening the partnership between students, teachers, administrators, and parents that is at the heart of great schools.”

Tara Hackett

Hackett has served on the board since 2017, and has held the title of trustee, secretary, vice president and president. In her professional life, she is the director of major gifts for parent fundraising at Hofstra University.

“My current and past experiences in Higher Education and Human Resources, in addition to my Board tenure, continue to prepare me for all facets of a Board member’s roles and responsibilities,” Hackett wrote in an email.

She previously served as president of the Hewitt Elementary School PTA, and spent eight years as the Hewitt Fair raffle co-chair. She created the Tiny Doors Campaign, and built and restored dollhouses that were raffled off for charities supporting children.

“Over the past six years, I have served the community with fidelity, honesty, and dedication to the children of the Rockville Centre School District,” Hackett wrote. “We have made great strides in students’ academic achievement with 99 percent of our students graduating with a Regents diploma, 90 percent of our students graduating with an advanced Regents diploma, and consistent growth in our IB diploma graduates.”

During the pandemic, she said, the district went through its own transitional periods, with the addition of Superintendent Matthew Gaven, new administrators, and increased academic support, including programs and partnerships focused on mental health, security enhancements and procedures, new technology and equipment, the introduction of an integrated co-teaching model and, most recently, the expansion of universal pre-K.

“Now more than ever, we must continue to grow and move forward,” Hackett said. “I believe my experience and historical perspective, coupled with my board and professional experience, is the perfect combination in celebrating what makes Rockville Centre the stellar school district that it is while continuing to support initiatives and programs to propel us forward. We have truly created a space where every child can learn, achieve, connect to their interests and abilities, and be supported. Being a board member means understanding every aspect of what makes a school district run efficiently, effectively, and with specific goals in mind.  It also means recognizing that we can always improve and do more for our students, so my mission is to consistently identify these areas, question and challenge ideas and work collaboratively to achieve our goals.”

Hackett added that, if elected, she would like to continue the board’s curriculum review cycle and conduct a deep dive of longitudinal data to get a clear, factual assessment of the program and its results, including post-high school data from alumni, to evaluate where students are landing in college and career.

“Exploring these outcomes will inform decision-making across our PK-12 District,” she said.

“I also think we will need to canvass opportunities to grow our facilities, ensuring that this includes a strategic and informed process that embraces community input.”

Roxanne Rizzi

Rizzi is a New York City school teacher who moved to Rockville Centre in 2012. With more than 20 years of experience as an educator, she feels she would be an asset to the Board of Education.

“My vision is for RVC to be a top school district on Long Island again,” Rizzi said. “That’s not necessarily what’s happening right now. I want every child to walk into an RVC school and feel they will be successful at meeting and exceeding their goals.”

She said that one of her biggest concerns is special education, particularly the introduction of integrated co-teaching, which was implemented at the elementary level this year.

“It’s a great start,” Rizzi said. “Those classes can be so beneficial to every child.”

The district, she said, could still do more by bringing these classes into the middle and high school settings.

“Anyone who knows me will tell you that I go above and beyond for any child,” Rizzi said, “and that my first priority is to ensure every child gets the stellar and appropriate education they deserve. It’s not a one-size-fits-all model … We need to meet children where they are in order to get them to where they need to be.”

Rizzi said she wants to join the board in order to keep positive things happening, with the curriculum moving forward, and to make the community better for everyone.

Unlike the other candidates, she said that her son graduated from St. Agnes Cathedral school in June and decided to take a shot at Chaminade. When he got accepted, Rizzi recalled, he turned to her and said “Mom, please let me try.”

“People might want to hold that against me, even though I’m a product of public schools and I’m a public school teacher,” she said.

“Many people will say that I don’t have a child in the district … but I think this allows me to be competent and mindful of every child that sits in front of us, because I have nothing to gain by doing this.”

While she is a passionate educator and a local taxpayer, Rizzi said she ultimately believed she needed to run for the school board because “someone has to speak up for the kids.”

“I can make choices and decisions and bring up things that others may not,” she said.

The budget vote and school board election will take place on May 16, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., in the gym at South Side High School, at 150 Shepherd St. in Rockville Centre.