By:REBECCA SHALOMOFF
Next month, Five Towns residents will cast their ballot and choose who will sit on their school boards. But how do voters know about where the candidates stand on pressing issues? Will they even get to see what he or she looks like?
One way of getting to know school board candidates in Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence has been Candidates' Night. About a week or two before elections, the public has the opportunity to meet candidates face to face and to pose any questions or concerns. But the problem is: hardly anyone shows up.
"Candidates' Night falls short of the mark, with more reporters than district residents in attendance," said Richard Braverman, Hewlett-Woodmere school board president.
Braverman, who is up for his seventh term on the board, proposed that the hosts of the event, PTA Central Council members, cancel the annual meeting that receives such poor attendance that even candidates haven't attended. Instead, he suggests that candidates meet with members of local organizations and/or visit residents in their homes.
In doing this, Braverman hopes that more members of the community than the handful who show up at Candidates' Night will become informed voters and particularly, informed parents. This week, PTA members will meet to discuss whether or not they will hold the event.
"No one has shown up for years. So what's the point," said Linda Strohmenger, PTA co-president for Hewlett High School. "The problem is how to reach people. If anyone has a magic answer, we'll listen."
Administrators, board members and PTA representatives say over and over that they would like to see more parents and residents involved in the schools. Meetings are spent trying to figure out how to best reach the community. District letters, newsletters and e-mails are sent all the time. Committees, such as H-W's Bridge Committee, get formed for the sole purpose of communicating school issues to the public.
School officials and concerned parents said they do make tremendous efforts to inform the public, but the reality is not enough people are interested. School board and PTA meetings receive minimal attendance. That is, unless there is some crisis affecting the community, like the 600 people who showed up for a Hewlett-Woodmere wellness meeting addressing drug use among teenagers.
As for drawing a bigger audience to meet school board candidates, Stephanie Gould, who is up for her third term on the H-W board, does not think getting rid of Candidates' Night is the solution. Although she understands Braverman's motivation to reach more members of the community, she said people will inevitably be excluded. If someone opens their home to candidates, only those invited will attend. Furthermore, a home could only hold so many people.
"If I'm having people at my house, I wouldn't be thrilled if 200 people showed up," Gould said.
In addition, she said that even if residents don't show, at least reporters from local newspapers will be able to attend Candidates' Night, scheduled as of presstime for May 7, and inform readers about those who are running in the elections.
But Lawrence Candidates' Night, set for Wednesday, May 9, will make it impossible for either local newspapers to publish a story about the event because it falls after that week's deadline.
"Candidates' Night is the only opportunity candidates have to make themselves available to the public," said Bruce Scher, who plans to run for a seat on the Lawrence school board. "I think it is a disservice to the community by scheduling it too late for the newspapers to cover."
PTA representatives have discussed rescheduling the event, but no date changes have been made yet.
School Districts 14 and 15 will hold elections for school board positions on Tuesday, May 15 and candidates are beginning to announce their bids to unseat incumbents. This year, voters will have to elect candidates to fill three seats in Lawrence and two in Hewlett-Woodmere. Besides incumbents Braverman and Gould, newcomer Mary DeSetta is seeking victory in the at-large election in H-W.
In Lawrence, board president Frank Argento and trustees Syd Mandelbaum and Dr. David Sussman are up for re-election. Argento and Sussman, who is a past president of the board, have been members of District 15's school board since 1995. Mandelbaum has been a member for 12 years. Elected school board members serve a three-year term.
