By Andrew Coen
The Alliance for Lawrence Public Schools (ALPS), which, after being founded in 2002, endorsed candidates for the school board with many ads that offended the private-school community, is now out of the picture, and a new activist group, Lawrence Pride and Spirit (LPS), is in. The group, designed to relay a more positive message about the importance of a strong District 15 and passing the budget to avoid a fourth straight year of austerity, is offering two public-school parents, Michael Brooks of Cedarhurst and Thomas Rizzo of Inwood, in the hope of keeping the school board from being controlled by private-school trustees.
The two candidates running to claim more spots on the school board for the private-school community are Uri Kaufman of Lawrence and Michael Hatten of Cedarhurst. The current school board leadership team of President Frank Parise and Vice President Kathy Raquet will not be seeking re-election, leaving two open seats.
"We are a group of peaceful people who are trying to put the pride and spirit back into the Lawrence schools," said Janice Goorland, who served in the District 15 PTA for 30 years before helping to form LPS. "Nobody will read one bad word out of my mouth."
The school board currently consists of two trustees from the non-public-school community, Dr. Asher Mansdorf and Murray Forman. Trustee Dr. David Sussman is a public-school parent, but has a voting record that often aligns with private-school concerns, meaning that if Hatten or Kaufman wins, the ideology of the school board would change dramatically.
Kaufman and Hatten, who are running independently but support one another's candidacy, are planning a grass-roots campaign.
Michael Brooks vs. Michael Hatten
Brooks, a lifelong District 15 resident whose children have graduated from Lawrence Public Schools and who still has a son at the high school, said he is running to help bring the district back to its past prominence and to unite the people who live there. "I don't like how the community has been fractured," said Brooks, a developer and builder. "It's important for me that the pride and spirit of the Lawrence school district be restored."
Brooks, 60, said he would like to look at ways to reduce the operating budget without impacting educational and extracurricular activities, in order to improve the chances that the community will approve the proposed budget, which has not happened since 2002. He also said that through his contacts with friends in the yeshiva community, he has come to realize that they face the same challenges that the public schools do, with state-mandated expenses and rising energy costs, so he believes that common ground can be found. "I think we can co-exist and work together," said Brooks. "If we regain control [of the schools] by passing a budget, then we can have a round-table sit-down with the private [school parents] and speak about where money should be spent and what both of our needs are."
Hatten, a nine-year resident of Cedarhurst, has worked in education for over three decades. He is president of the Global Business Institute and a member of the New York State Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision Council. He has experience in both public and private schools, with his older children having attended the Levittown Public Schools and his younger children currently attending Yeshiva Toras Chaim of South Shore in Hewlett and the Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway.
"I have a secular background and a religious background, and I am proud of both," said Hatten, who served as a volunteer baseball coach at Division High School in Levittown for 13 years when he lived there. "I am intimately knowledgeable about the public-school environment."
Hatten, 61, said he decided to enter the race so he could use what he has learned in the education business to help turn around a school district that has struggled recently, with no budget passed since 2002. "I want the school system to achieve at the highest level," said Hatten. "It's to all our benefit that we have a school system that produces good outcomes and is functional."
Uri Kaufman vs. Tom Rizzo
Kaufman, 42, is a real-estate developer with young children who attend the local Jewish Community Center of the Greater Five Towns. He said he feels that the current school board is too focused on a small percentage of gifted students in the district, and should be concentrating more on improving performance among struggling students.
"You have a board that is elitist and is interested in the scholastic achievement of a small number of students," said Kaufman. "We can't even get average scores in reading and arithmetic, and there is something wrong with that."
Kaufman also said he will be focused on trying to make sure that whatever happens with the Number One School property, the baseball field will remain as open space for the community; reduce the amount of money spent on legal fees in special education cases; and be a trustee for the entire diverse district. "[I'd] like to get a school that is going to listen to everybody," said Kaufman. "I'd like to see the school board move in a different direction."
Rizzo, 47, a lifelong District 15 resident, has been involved with the schools for many years, serving on the PTA and the Shared Decision Making Committee at the Number Two School. He has a son who graduated from Lawrence last year and a daughter currently attending the high school. An inspector for the Village of Lawrence, Rizzo said he wants to use his knowledge of buildings and construction to help the district take care of facilities that have gone years without being repaired as a result of failed budgets. "You can only put off repairs for so long," he said. "If they have water leaking on their head, how can they learn?"
Rizzo also said he wants to make sure budgets get passed by the community, and that the board communicates better with the public about the importance of supporting the school system. "I think a lot [of dealing with the issues] is just sitting down and continue talking about the issues," Rizzo said. "We have to keep the lines of communication open."
"Meet the Candidates" night is scheduled for May 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Lawrence Middle School.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
