By Joe Kellard
He succeeds Catherine Boddy, who is retiring, for a three-year term.
"I feel the vote really showed that the community overwhelmingly agreed with my positions," Hastava said.
It wasn't a pretty race. Hastava made an issue of Pozin's wife, who is a teacher at Hegarty School and the vice president of the teachers union, the Island Park Faculty Association.
Hastava argued that Pozin would have to recuse himself from deliberations and voting on almost half the budget items, and on matters pertaining to 60 percent of staff, including salaries.
Pozin argued that as a real estate agent in the village, Hastava had an interest in making property values a higher priority than educational concerns. On what was the election's main issue, the proposal to create a high school in the district, both candidates expressed reservations. Pozin emphasized its negatives more than its positives, while Hastava stressed that all options had to be explored before opting to create a high school.
When it comes to his immediate goals as a board member, Hastava said he will first look into the condition of the Hegarty School fields, which he said "look to be in deplorable condition. There has to be an answer to the drainage problem there, and I would actively lobby our legislators for state assistance for this problem to shift the cost burden, even if in part, away from the taxpayers."
Hastava vows to maintain and build on the current system "to ensure the each student achieves his or her highest potential academically, athletically and socially in a nurturing and fiscally responsible environment."
Regarding Island Park's support, by a 573-to-380 vote, for the district's $24.7 budget, a 4.9 increase over this year, Superintendent Dr. Ed Price said, "We're very pleased that the community came out and passed our budget by a three-to-two margin."
The budget, which was without any new major initiatives, will focus mainly on maintaining or improving various areas, including small class sizes, technology, arts and music programs, no-cut extracurricular programs, and maintenance of buildings.
"We will be continuing smaller class sizes because we think that is good for instruction," Price said. "And we have a multi-year technology plan, and we will be continuing to upgrade and improve our program. We do a little bit each year and try to keep it state of the art."
