By Kimberly Acevedo
Trustees Ruth Kaleko and Roy Lester are seeking re-election, but face challenges from Pat Gallagher, Lynn Gergen, Mike Robinson and Joe Sinnona. Long Beach Public Library trustee Bruce Snyder is running unopposed to maintain his seat on the library board.
School board trustees are elected for three-year terms. Currently, Kaleko and Lester sit on the board with president Steven Weitz, who was re-elected last year, and trustees Gina Guma and Norman Alpren.
The school and library board elections will be held on Tuesday, May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., at which time district residents can also vote on the proposed school and library budgets. The $82 million proposed school budget would represent an increase of 3.99 percent over the current year, and an expected 6.87 percent rise in the tax levy. The proposed library budget is 3.6 percent greater than the current one.
Voters will have an opportunity to meet and question all of the board candidates at two scheduled public forums. A candidates forum sponsored by the Long Beach Central Council PTA, the Long Beach Classroom Teachers' Association and ASPPG will be held on Monday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at City Hall (sixth floor). The League of Women Voters will hold a candidates forum on Monday, May 13 at the Long Beach Public Library at 7:30 p.m.
INCUMBENTS
Ruth Kaleko
Ruth Kaleko has served as a trustee for six years and is seeking her third term on the school board.
Kaleko owns a B.A. from Chicago University and a M.A. from Teachers College at Colombia University. She spent 40 years teaching English, reading and math.
She has worked as a volunteer teacher, reading to advanced first grade students at the Lido Elementary School, and a volunteer supervisor at the Long Beach Medical Center's emergency waiting room. She's a member of Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach, and founded the A & B Home Owner Association.
Her husband served 32 years on the Long Beach school board.
I just want to improve what is good, everyday, for the children in the Elementary schools, middle school and high school. I want to bring the gifted to a higher level. I want Long Beach schools to be the best in Nassau County.
Roy Lester
Lester is seeking his second three-year term on the school board. He owns a J.D. from the University of San Diego, and a B.A. from the University of California-Santa Barbara.
He is the head of the union representing New York State Employed Lifeguards, and competes nationally in the Swim Masters Kayak division. He is married with three children in the district.
I think in a lot of ways, the last three years speak for themselves. We brought stability to the district, not only from a business stability but finical stability and educational stability. In the last three years, we [school board] have worked together as a team. We might not have agreed at times, but we work together. Our budget increase, which is the real measure of how things are going, it's the lowest in the district. Educationally and financially, we have done really well.
CHALLENGERS
Joe Sinnona
Sinnona, a local Realtor, is seeking a school board seat for the first time. A graduate of Lasalle Academy, he holds a B.A. from Manhattan College, where he was an Education Major. He was a teacher at Junior High 141, Bronx, and has been an instructor at the American Real Estate School and for the Long Island Board of Realtors.
Locally, he has been a Parent-Teacher-Student Association member for three years; a Gold sponsor of Morning Madness; Sponsor, National Night Out; and Director of the Avanti Italian American Society of Long Beach. He has been a member of the Long Beach Historical Society, Long Beach Lions Club, Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, and the West End Neighbors Association. He has also been a Religious instructor at St. Ignatius Church, and is past president, Sons of Italy in Long Beach.
As a trustee I will work towards education reform, better relations with our teachers and administrators, be an active board member work with the city toward creating a recreational night life for our kids who are of the ages 14-17. I would want to work toward improving our students reading and math scores and I would like to work toward creating an alumni development and I would like to work towards lowering our taxes by offering tax relief incentives for our parents and seniors.
Patrick Gallagher
Pat Gallagher is a graduate of Long Beach High School. He has a B.S. from Indiana State University, an M.A. and Professional Diploma from Long Island University C.W. Post, and has served as an Adj. professor at Molloy College, Nassau Community College, Syracuse University, and Hofstra University. He was a teacher, chair of the Social Studies department, and a tenured Principal at Seaford High School for 33 years.
Gallagher has been a Long Beach Lifeguard for 16 years, including two as chief of the lifeguards. He has been director for the Wantagh-Seaford teacher center for 14 years, and served as on the Long Beach Arthritis Foundation committee for 10 years.
Associate tax assessor for the City of Long Beach, Gallagher is the co-founder of the Girls Long Beach Police Athletic League and a coach for the Girls PAL third, seventh and eighth grade teams.
I would call for an immediate comprehensive district education plan in partnership with the community. I would ask for the Superintendent, with the approval of the Board of Education, to format a task force for the immediate implementation of a K-12 inclusion program. I would ask the new high school principal to develop a positive school climate plan to present to the Board of Education and the community. Fiscal responsibility by maximum utilization of its educational resources.
Mike Robinson
A graduate of Long Beach High School, Robinson attended Dowling College in Oakdale and Nassau Community College. He is a part-time teacher's assistant at Lido Elementary School.
A sergeant in the Long Beach Auxiliary Police for six years, Robinson is also vice president of the Long Beach Lions Club; a PTA member for Long Beach High School, Middle School, Lido, West, East, Lindell Schools, and Blackheath.
Robinson is the past chairman of
the Long Beach Boy Scouts of America, past co-chairman of the March of Dimes Walk-a-thon, and a board member for the Long Beach Arthritis Foundation for five years.
Robinson has been the recipient of Outstanding Community Service Awards and Citations from Project Challenge, Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Long Beach Police Department, Senator Dean Skelos, Former County Executive Thomas Gulotta, Congressman Peter King, and the Long Beach City Council.
Lynn Gergen
A past contender for the Board of Education, Gergen is a graduate of Long Beach High School and attended Syracuse University.
For the last four years, Gergen has served as the Education Chair for the Central Council PTA and has been involved with the Budget Advisory Committee for five years. She helped create the District Curriculum Committee, the LARC Restructuring Committee and the middle and high schools Curriculum Research Committees.
As an active PTA member, Gergen has served as the past PTA president at Lindell School and the past vice-president for Special Education and for the Long Beach Middle School. She has introduced after-school Math, Science and Chess Clubs at the elementary level.
Gergen is married with two children in the district.
As a PTA member for the past
twelve years I have worked for fiscal responsibility and raising the
educational standards for children at all levels. Should I be elected School Board Trustee, I would strive to attain excellence in education through innovative curriculum while maintaining common sense taxes through creative financing (corporate sponsorship, hiring a grant writer, etc.).
LIBRARY BOARD
Bruce Snyder
Bruce Snyder has been a Library Board member for the last eight years. He owns a BA from Queens College and has done graduate work at the New School for Social Research at Adelphi and at Queens College.
As the current vice-president of the Long Beach Public Library Board, Snyder also serves as a board member on the Inter-Cultural Community Coalition. He was the past commissioner of the Pony League and a coach. Snyder is the president of the Long Beach Theater Guild, a participant on the Board of Du Jour and a Holocaust Board member. He is married with three children.
The root of the library is books.
Information is available faster and faster and in smaller and smaller types of the media. We have to be able to meet the needs of the public to utilize the new media. We also have to be more specific about how we use the branches. We rent them, so we need to find a way to take ownership.
