By Brian Zanzonico
It was quite a different scene a year earlier. With six candidates vying for three seats in 2004, one race was decided by a single vote. Incumbent Lorraine Ferrigno edged challenger Guibert, who filed a petition with the commissioner of the State Education Department weeks later to investigate what she deemed an unfair election. Guibert claimed that some residents "not domiciled" in the Elmont School District cast votes.
In January 2005, 17-year board member Deanna Doreson stepped down months after aligning with Ferrigno and abstaining from voting for president and vice president at the reorganization meeting. Their quest to oust Phillips from the board's presidency had taken a hit months earlier, when longtime board member and ally Carl Termini was defeated by Pamela Monteverde in the school board election. Guibert got a spot on the board when she ran unopposed for Doreson's vacant seat in 2005.
This year, the drama was back. In his first foray into school board politics, Frank Ragona pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent Elmont school board memory, beating three-term incumbent Kenneth Williams by 84 votes.
Ragona, Sewanhaka High School PTSA president, former Covert Avenue School PTA president and vice president of the Interschool Council of PTAs, credited constant campaigning for his win over a popular incumbent. "I got a positive reaction from a nice cross-section of the community - senior citizens, parents," said Ragona, who is also a member of the Elmont Dads Club and the East End Civic Club. "I think it reflects my involvement in the community."
Though the odds were against him, Ragona said he was confident he would earn a seat. "If I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't have bothered running," he said. "It was my credentials, my platform, and the fact that people know me."
The night of the election, he sat in the board room of the district's administrative building on School Road and waited for the results. After hearing them - which he called a "surreal" experience - he sought out Williams. "I thanked Mr. Williams for all his years of service, and I look forward to continuing the work he's done," Ragona said.
Williams did not return calls for comment.
In the race for the seat left vacant by Joy Madera, who opted not to run due to health issues, Pamela Byer defeated Patrick Nicolosi, 1,252 to 1,187. Byer, whose two grandchildren attend schools in the district, has held virtually every position on the Alden Terrace School PTA. It was her first run for school board.
"I'm very happy the budget passed - that's more important than anything else," Byer said. "The win is a continuation of what I've been doing [for years at Alden Terrace]."
This was Nicolosi's third straight defeat in school board elections. He lost to Madera in 2003, and to Robert Nori in 2000.
"I ran a clean campaign, and the people selected two good board members," Nicolosi said. "Hopefully, they focus on taxes, and put pressure on Albany to change the ways to fund education."
Hoffman wins seat on F.S. board
On each of the last 10 school board election nights, Helen Hoffman has driven to Franklin Square's designated polling place to find out for herself whether the budget was approved, and who won seats on the school board.
Last Tuesday, her name was called as one of two new members of the Franklin Square school board.
"It was very different this year," she said. "It was a surreal feeling. I'm happy Franklin Square voters have enough confidence in me to put me in."
In her first bid for school board, Hoffman, a past president of the Washington Street School PTA, the Franklin Square Interschool PTA and the Sewanhaka Central Council, garnered 148 more votes than her opponent, Alan Lahti. Hoffman will fill the seat vacated by the retiring Audrey Hulsart, taking office at the school district's reorganizational meeting on July 1, as will newly elected board member Pam Margaroli and new superintendent Dr. Tom Dolan.
"I'm going to try my hardest to live up to the expectations of people who voted for me," Hoffman said.
Lahti, who lost to John Randazzo by almost 700 votes in 2004, said he would not run for school board again.
Margaroli, who was PTSA president of H. Frank Carey High School when Dolan was principal in the mid- to late '90s, ran unopposed. "I'm very excited about the position I've accepted," said Margaroli, who will occupy the seat to be vacated by Dr. Roger Roess, who is retiring. "I look forward to working with the staff, administrators and community at large to keep the Franklin Square School District among the top on Long Island."
Photos by Brian Zanzonico/Herald
