By Andrew Coen and Dan Teigman
, the district's public-school supporters are revved up for next month's election, hoping to sweep all three trustee races and regain the majority.
The local activist group Advocates for Lawrence Public Schools (formerly the Alliance for Lawrence Public Schools), or ALPS, is back after a one-year absence, and has set a goal of raising $30,000 by the May 15 election. The three public-school candidates are incumbent Pam Greenbaum, Andrew Levey of Atlantic Beach and Maribel Camcelliere of Lawrence.
The seven-member school board currently consists of Dr. Asher Mansdorf, Michael Hatten, Uri Kaufman and Murray Forman, four parents from the private-school community; Dr. David Sussman, a public-school parent who votes with them; Greenbaum and Stanley Kopilow. ALPS supports Greenbaum and Kopilow, and its two other favorites, Levey and Camcelliere, would also have to win in order for public-school backers to recapture the majority.
The trustee seats being contested are those currently held by Grenbaum, Sussman and Mansdorf.
The public-school coalition candidates were announced at a March 30 fund-raiser at Minnesota's in Long Beach, which attracted an enthusiastic crowd of more than 300 District 15 parents, students and educators.
"We have an extremely large chance of winning this year, because this year there is a unified effort amongst all the communities within the Lawrence school district," ALPS President Bruce Scher said at the fund-raiser.
Scher added that it is vital for Greenbaum, Levey and Camcelliere to win next month, since the Orthodox school board coalition supports a school budget with no increase, which, Scher worries, could put 35 to 40 teachers' jobs in jeopardy, as well as a pre-K busing referendum that would add over $1 million in expenses. "We're facing a devastation of the school system," Scher said. "People have had enough."
Lawrence school board President Dr. Asher Mansdorf, who in 2001 was the first member of the Orthodox community to be elected to the school board, has announced that he will not seek re-election to a third term because he does not have enough time to devote to the job. Greenbaum will give up her seat to challenge Sussman, the board's vice president, while Levey will seek Mansdorf's seat and Camcelliere is hoping to replace Greenbaum. It has not yet been announced who will challenge Levey and Camcelliere.
Greenbaum, a resident of Woodmere, was elected to the school board in 2003, replacing Frank Argento, who had a year remaining in his term when he stepped down in December 2002. In 2004 Greenbaum won a full-three year term on the board with a decisive victory over challenger Shlomo Huttler. "I'm in it for the long haul," she said. "I'm there fighting for your kids. We must beat them and get them off the board."
Greenbaum declined comment on why she chose to challenge Sussman.
Sussman, who was first elected in 1995, said that during the past year, the school board has been a major advocate of the public-school community, reinstating weekend school and homework centers previously cut from the budget, and added that he hopes to win another three-year term to continue to serve the entire community. "I look forward to putting up my record against [Greenbaum's]," said Sussman. "I am a proponent of the entire system."
Levey, a 1983 Lawrence High School graduate, grew up in Atlantic Beach and is a third-generation product of District 15. He is an institutional equities broker in Manhattan who, with his wife, Marla, a District 15 employee, has two young children who attend Lawrence public schools. "I'm concerned about what's going on," Levey said. "I want true equality for the district. I want my kids to have the education that was afforded in this district as well as the private-school children to have all the advantages of a first-rate school system."
Levey told the crowd at the Long Beach fund-raiser that it is important for school board members to look out for the interests of private-school students in addition to being advocates for the public schools. "We, as public-school parents, we do have to take care of these kids," Levy said, referring to district students who attend private schools or yeshivas. "We need to open up the lines of communication in this district. It's the only way we can survive."
Camcelliere, 33, a seven-year resident of Lawrence, said she moved to the community because the district's reputation was still very solid. She is a real estate agent in Far Rockaway with three young children who attend district schools. "I just want to be a voice for our children," Camcelliere said. "I have four reasons why I'm running and their names are Ryan, Noelle, Massimo and all of your children. Come May, we've got to get our school board back."
The fund-raiser also was attended by some Lawrence High School students, including Nicole Locoteta, 17 , who said she came "because the public schools need help."
ALPS leaders are hoping for a record turnout next month, eclipsing even the voting totals five years ago, when more than 6,000 people flocked to the polls to help elect Rose Harris and Anthony Licatesi, who were opposed by private-school candidates Mel Lifshitz and Jay Gelman. ALPS rallied support in 2002 because of fear in the public-school community of losing control of the school board to non-public-school interests.
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