by Mike Schnitzel
In District 13, Jeanne Greco-Jacobs and William P. Stris are seeking re-election. Joseph Conrad and Kenneth Cummings want to maintain their seats in Districts 24 and 30, respectively.
Jeanne Greco Jacobs
Jeanne Greco Jacobs, a 51-year-old attorney who practices in Malverne, is seeking her second three-year term on the District 13 board, where she serves as vice president. She has been a member of the high school board since last July.
During her time on the board, Jacobs said, she has focused on working with the administration and the community to give district children the best educational opportunities possible. "The goal is to continue to ensure that the kids accomplish all they can," she said.
A mother of three -- two sons at North High School and another at the James A. Dever School -- Jacobs is no stranger to the challenges faced by today's school-age youth. She said that two pressing issues she wants to address in her next term are attendance zones and prom scheduling. She is a co-chair, along with Dr. Maria Fletcher, of the high school district attendance zone committee, established to review the zones, which have not been updated in 40 years. Parents have voiced concerns that the zones, which some consider antiquated, are not fair, especially in light of the high school board's Policy 5110.
Policy 5110 was developed to establish a procedure by which waiver requests can be granted once a secondary schools is near functional capacity, the maximum number of students a school can accommodate while providing them with equal educational opportunities.
One typical parental concern was raised by Dever PTA President Ann Marie Paraszczuk at a November high school Board of Education meeting. Paraszczuk was worried that children who attended Dever would suffer from being split from their friends under the policy. In the current attendance zones, children from Dever are divided between North and Central high schools.
Jacobs, a PTA member at Dever and North and a member of the New York State Bar Association, said that a key to solving the situation is communication between the board and the community. "We will be taking recommendations from the community on this matter, and we are currently conducting attendance zone research," she said. According to Jacobs, that research is scheduled to be completed in June.
The scheduling of proms at the Central High School District is another subject that concerns school officials, parents and students alike. Jacobs, one of the board members who initiated the discussion, wants to hear from the community in order to come up with a plan that will "balance kids' desire to maintain the celebration of the prom and not have it conflict with the educational goals of the district," she explained.
Options the board is currently considering for the prom include making one uniform date for the three high schools and changing graduation to Sunday. Currently, each high school decides its prom date, and graduations are held on Friday afternoons.
Jacobs said she feels it is important to ensure that the district "operates in a fiscally sound manner, and that any issues that arise are solved with the help of input from the community." She said she believes the role of a board member is to make sure a strong administration is in place that can implement the board's decisions and address the needs of the children.
"I will do the best that I can for our children," Jacobs said. "Our children come first, and I will be sure that everything is done in a fiscally sound manner."
William P. Stris
William P. Stris, 62, is a fixture on the District 13 and high school boards. With 24 years of experience, 22 of them on the high school board, Stris is intimately familiar with happenings in the Valley Stream schools.
A retired art specialist for the New York City Board of Education, Stris is also familiar with the nuances of parliamentary rules and board procedure. So familiar, in fact, that he was awarded a Master Boardsman Award last year by the New York State School Boards Association. "I consider that one of the greatest honors I have received during my service [as a board member]," he said.
A member of the residency committee, Stris said he is committed to saving taxpayer dollars by making sure that only those children whose parents pay school taxes are allowed to attend Valley Stream schools. He also feels that schools should make an effort to keep the community involved in the education process, and he is passionate about the effectiveness of parent outreach programs. "I believe that all parents should be made to feel comfortable in our educational community," he said.
Stris explained that in all his years on the board, his main goal has remained the same: to provide the best education at an affordable cost to taxpayers. "Every school board member must be trained to monitor whether our schools are financially secure and poised to meet state and federal requirements," he said. "I'm doing the best job that I can."
Joseph Conrad
Three-term incumbent Joseph Conrad is a man familiar with Valley Stream schools -- he has five children who have attended them.
Conrad is seeking his fourth term on the District 24 Board of Education in hopes of furthering the progress he says the district has made. "There's still a lot to be done, and I still have a concern for the children and the community," he said.
Conrad, a Con Ed operating supervisor who works in Brooklyn, characterizes himself as "a bit out of sync" with the rest of the board. "I tend to question what might be perceived as standard operating procedure due to my experience in business," he said. "I can relate to what happens in a business sense in schools."
Conrad said that with soaring costs and escalating salaries, it is important to focus on maintaining quality education at a good value. "[Money for schools] is certainly for a good cause," he said, "but there are some big resolutions that have to be reached in order to keep the educational system under control so that people aren't driven out of their homes due to excessive taxation."
Children's safety is also high on Conrad's priority list. After the vandalism of a security camera at a District 24 school several weeks ago, he said he believes it is time to install better security systems in the district's schools. He added that parents and teachers need to continue to be vigilant and aware of activity around the schools. "If you see people who are not familiar around the schools, it doesn't hurt to politely ask what they're doing," Conrad said. "It's good to show awareness."
Kenneth Cummings
Kenneth Cummings is seeking his first full term on the District 30 Board of Education. The 48-year-old father of four joined the board in December after the retirement of Richard Eisenberg, who served for 21 years.
An associate human resources director at Trinity Church in Manhattan, Cummings would like to take a more active role in the community he has been a part of for 17 years. "I want to be able to continue on with the excellent programs that District 30 has, which my two oldest daughters benefited from," he said. "It's time to give back to the community, and this is my way of doing that."
Cummings said he thinks it is crucial for the district to maintain school programming while not hitting taxpayers too hard in the wallet. "We try to offer the community the programs that they want while keeping the tax levy at a minimum," he said.
Cummings began serving on the board with the stated goal of facilitating a partnership between the district and the community, and he said he would do his best to reach out to residents on another issue he wants to tackle, capital projects. "Our buildings are not new," he said. "They are at least 50 years old, and there will have to be a balancing act to get the community to support all the capital projects we will have to do."
Entering the fray at the beginning of budget season, Cummings hopes that once the budget process ends, more of the board's discussions will involve curricular, not monetary, matters. "My goal is to discuss issues that will help foster the education of our children," he said.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 265.
