By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
For months, the center struggled to find ways to make up the $60,000, which accounted for its entire budget. Part-time staff members were eliminated. Programs were reduced. The center, which over its 15 years had become a local institution, appeared doomed.
New life, however, is now being breathed into the Parent Center, whose office is at the Brookside School in North Merrick. The center recently received a state grant, secured by Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick), to keep it afloat financially. And it has a new executive director, Sheila Cohen, who succeeds Karen Azzata, whose title was coordinator.
Cohen brings energy and enthusiasm to her new post, as well as decades of experience working with parents, teachers and administrators. Born in Brooklyn, Cohen lived for two years as a child in Merrick before moving to Rockville Centre. She now makes her home in Freeport.
Cohen graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in advertising. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.
Cohen said of her post with the Parent Center, "It's such a perfect, comfortable fit for me."
Cohen served as director of the Nassau PTA from 1978-80. She was state chairwoman for legislative activity in 1980 and actively lobbied in Albany on the PTA's behalf. She was state PTA president from 1988-90.
During this time, Cohen first met North Bellmore Assistant Superintendent Marilyn Johnson, who was a founder of the Parent Center and recently recommended Cohen as its executive director. Johnson said Cohen is as an advocate for children. "She has enormous energy and focus," the assistant superintendent said. "She understands the mission [of the center], and she's excited."
From 1993-2001, Cohen worked for the Child Care Council of Nassau, an agency that trains child-care providers and helps parents find child care.
Cohen's home in Freeport falls in the Baldwin School District, and Cohen is now serving her second term as president of the Baldwin Foundation for Education. The group raises funds for the Baldwin School District through alumni and other contributors, and it offers grants and scholarships to teachers, students and schools. Cohen said the foundation has raised more than $100,000 for the Baldwin School District since it started in 1992.
SCOPE (the Suffolk County Organization to Promote Education) honored Cohen last Thursday with its Community Service Award for her work with the Baldwin foundation.
Cohen said she plans to apply for grants to keep the Parent Center afloat. By the end of spring, she also hopes to restart a popular Parent Center class that prepares students and parents for middle school, as well as Sense Around, a class that teaches pre-schoolers how to explore their world using the five senses.
Gail Volk, executive director of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Wellness Council, has worked with Cohen before. Volk was previously president of the Child Care Council. Now Volk looks forward to the Parent Center and Wellness Council potentially collaborating to develop programs that benefit the entire community.
Volk said, "Both organizations are looking inward to see what they should be focusing their attention on doing, while also looking at ways they can partner to bring important programs to the community."
Cohen said she welcomes community input on services people would like the Parent Center to provide. To contact Cohen, call (516) 771-9346.
