By Brian Zanzonico
West Hempstead residents will consider whether to adopt a $45.5 million 2005-06 budget, a 6.09 percent increase over this year's budget. School board Vice President Vincent Trocchia faces opposition from David Scher, while Pamela Lotito is running unopposed.
Malverne is floating a $37 million budget, an increase of 5.10 percent over the current budget. School board Trustee Gregory Padmore is running unopposed, and Danielle Hopkins is running unchallenged for departed Trustee William Schuster's seat.
Up until 2003, the county based assessed valuation on 1938 construction costs, with 1964 land values added in. For the past two years, the county has set assessed value at 1 percent of a home's market value. This year, the county again changed the way it will determine assessed value, making it one-half of a percent of a home's market value. So a house worth $400,000 has an assessed value of $2,000. The Nassau County Assessor's Office said West Hempstead's proposed budget calls for a tax rate of about $330 per $100 of assessed value. The assessor's office said Malverne's proposed budget calls for a tax rate of about $302 per $100 of assessed value.
Polls will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at West Hempstead Middle School, 450 Nassau Blvd., and at Howard T. Herber Middle School (Malverne), 75 Ocean Ave., from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The following are brief profiles of the candidates for school board.
West Hempstead
Vincent Trocchia
Trocchia, a 45-year resident of West Hempstead, has spent 15 years on the school board. Trocchia is the owner of an air conditioning/heating business, and his children have attended district schools.
"West Hempstead schools offer strong educational programs, and I want to continue to be a part of the board so all kids can receive a quality education," he said.
Trocchia cites the establishment of a middle school, a nine- period school day at the high school and full-day kindergarten at Chestnut Street School as benchmarks of his 15 years of service. He also helped develop a sports council, which established homecoming.
David Scher
Scher, a mortgage banker who has lived in West Hempstead since 1992, has three children in private schools. If elected, he said he wants to wrest control of the West Hempstead Public Library from the school board, which signs off on the major decisions of the library.
"We need to free the library," he said. "The library bond referendum [to build a new library] was passed two years ago and no ground has been broken."
Scher also said that future budgets would benefit from a new voice. "We need to take a fresh look at the budget," he said.
Pamela Lotito
A former Rockville Centre teacher and six-year member of the school board, Lotito has two children, one of whom attended West Hempstead schools. She is a former PTSA president and a lifetime member of the NYSPTA.
Lotito said she is proud that the passing rate on Regents exams has risen from 50 percent to 77 percent during her time on the board. She also cites the success of the full-day kindergarten at the Chestnut Street School as a milestone.
"My highest priority is the quality of education of all children in West Hempstead," she said. "I look forward to working with my fellow board members over the next three years. Our involvement on school board as well as our involvement in the community clearly shows our sincerest efforts as advancement for public education."
Malverne
Gregory Padmore
A 21-year resident with two sons in the district, Padmore is running for his first full term as a school board trustee. He was appointed to a seat in 2003.
"We want a continuum of what we've done," said Padmore, the vice president of the school board. "What we've done, we're not complete. My commitment still remains."
Padmore said he hopes to improve community-school relations and is proud that state testing scores continue to rise. He also said that school board trustees have crafted a budget that will benefit students down the road. "With this budget, we'll educate children over the next 40 years," he said.
Danielle Hopkins
A mother of four young children who attend West Hempstead schools, Hopkins is making her first run for school board. A resident of Rockville Centre her entire life, she is the vice president of the Davison Avenue School PTA and also serves on Herber School's SEPTA.
"I want to see kids offered more programs," she said. "I want more enrichment and foreign languages at the elementary level. I'd like to see musical instruments [band] offered earlier."
Editor's note: The Herald was unable to acquire photographs of all the school board candidates as of press time, and elected to leave all images out. Comments about this story? Mal-wheditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
Malverne is floating a $37 million budget, an increase of 5.10 percent over the current budget. School board trustee Gregory Padmore is running unopposed and Danielle Hopkins is running unchallenged for departed trustee William Schuster's seat.
Up until 2003, the county based assessed valuation on 1938 construction costs, with 1964 land values added in. For the past two years, the county has set assessed value at one percent of a home's market value of $4,000. This year, the county again changed the way it will determine assessed value, making it one-half of a percent of a home's market value. So a house worth $400,000 has an assessed value of $2,000. The Nassau County Assessor's Office said West Hempstead's proposed budget calls for a tax rate of about $330 per $100 of assessed value. The assessor's office said Malverne's proposed budget calls for a tax rate of about $302 per $100 of assessed value.
The following is a brief profile of the candidates for school board.
West Hempstead
Vincent Trocchia
Vincent Trocchia, a 50-year resident of West Hempstead, has spent 15 years on the school board. His three children have attended schools
David Scher
David Scher, a mortgage banker who has lived in West Hempstead since 1992, has three children in private schools. If elected, he said he wants to wrest control of the West Hempstead Public Library from the school board, which signs off on the major decisions of the library.
"We need to free the library," he said. "The library bond referendum [to build a new library] was passed two years ago and no ground has been broken."
He also said future budgets would benefit from a new voice.
"We need to take a fresh look at the budget," he said.
Pamela Lotito
A former Rockville Centre teacher and six-year member of the school board, has two children, one of whom attended West Hempstead schools. She is a former PTSA president and lifetime member of the NYSPTA.
Lotito said she is proud that the passing rate on Regents exams have risen from 50 percent to 77 percent during her time on the board. She also cites the success of the full day Kindergarten at the Chesnut Street School as a milestone of her tenure.
"My highest priority is the quality of education of all children in West Hempstead," she said. "I look forward to working with my fellow board members over the next three years. Our involvement on school board as well as our involvement in the community clearly shows our sincerest efforts as advancement for public education."
Malverne
Gregory Padmore
A 21-year resident with two sons in the district, Gregory Padmore is running for his first full term as a school board trustee. He was appointed to a seat in 2003.
"We want a continuum of what we've done," Padmore said. "What we've done, we're not complete. My commitment still remains."
Padmore said he hopes to improve community/school relations and that state testing scores continue to rise.
He also said school board trustees have crafted a budget that will benefit students down the road.
"With this budget, we'll educate children over the next 40 years," he said.
Danielle Hopkins
A mother of four young children who attend West Hempstead schools, Danielle Hopkins is making her first run for school board. A resident of Rockville Centre her entire life, she is the vice president of the Davison Avenue School PTA and also serves on Herber School's SEPTA.
"I want to see kids offered more programs," she said. "I want more enrichment and foreign languages at the elementary level. I'd like to see musical instruments [band] offered earlier."
Editor's note: The Herald was unable to acquire photographs of all the school board candidates as of press time and has elected to leave the images out. Comments about this story? Mal-wheditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
