By:Jonann Brady and Eileen Greco
West Hempstead residents will vote on whether to adopt a $42.9 million 2004-05 budget, a 7.2 percent increase over this year's budget. There are three three-year trustee terms on the ballot, but only one of those seats is being challenged. Incumbent Janice Caufield faces Douglas Martinez, while current board members Davis Whelpley and Martin Kaye are running unopposed.
In Malverne, board member Karen Aker is running unopposed, but voters will have a chance to vote on District 12's $35.2 million budget for 2004-05, a 6.2 percent increase over this year's budget.
Following are brief profiles of those running for school board in each community. Next week the Herald will have coverage of West Hempstead's May 5 candidates' forum, as well as candidate and budget endorsements.
WEST HEMPSTEAD
Janice Caufield
(PHOTO caufield)
Janice Caufield, a 17-year West Hempstead resident, has served on the school board for six years and has two children attending West Hempstead High School. A stay-at-home mother, Caufield is an active volunteer at the schools and a former PTA president.
"I have the time and I do a lot for the school system," she said. "I want to know what the kids are doing, and I need to help support them."
During her tenure on the board, Caufield said, the West Hempstead schools have made great strides, improving their Regents graduation rate from about 47 percent to 78 percent. The district also implemented full-day kindergarten, an inclusion program to help mainstream special-education kids and academic workshops for students who need extra help.
Caufield added that there is always room for improvement, and the board is always taking small steps to help each child "reach their highest potential."
While increasing state funding is always a big issue, Caufield said that on the local level, the district needs to focus on student discipline and ensuring safe schools. She would also like to see a greater push toward getting kids to chose more advanced programs and to take advantage of all the schools have to offer. "We have a good honors program and AP program," she said. "We need to help [some] kids choose to do things to make the high school better. Some kids drift through, and we need to encourage them to do better."
Caufield said that will take the work of parents, students and staff. "You need to get in there," she said. "Everybody needs to get on board."
Caufield said she is passionate about the schools and loves being a member of the board. "I've been doing this for a long time, and I enjoy what I'm doing," she said. "I don't just do it for my children; I do it for all children."
Douglas Rodriguez
(rodriguez photo)
Douglas Rodriguez, who ran unsuccessfully in a four-way race for a one-year term last year and is facing Caufield this year, says the board needs "fresh views and a new voice ... someone who doesn't plan on being on the board for life."
Rodriguez, who has two young children in the district, is a special-program coordinator for the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs, and he is active in the West Hempstead Civic Association and the PTA, and volunteers as a youth soccer coach.
He said that one area the district needs to improve is its communication with the community about taxes, test scores and other district matters. "We need more outreach to the community, more outreach to parents ... Right now, that's not there," he said.
Rodriguez said that in order to accomplish this, members of the board have to be more proactive instead of waiting for people to come to them with questions and concerns. He said there should be more advertising in the schools, better use of e-mail and technology and more board presence at community fairs and functions.
Rodriguez also said the district needs to work on identifying borderline and at-risk students and intervening before they begin failing.
He praised the district for improving security at the middle school and high school in the past year. He also said that to address concerns about non-resident students, the district has to set a timeline for re-registering students across the board. For example, he said, every grade may have to re-register every two or three years at an Open House Night. "I know it's a big task," said Rodriguez. "But we have to nip it early at the lower levels."
Martin Kaye
(Kaye photo)
Martin Kaye, a member of the board since 1991, is running unopposed for a three-year term. His four grown children all attended West Hempstead Schools.
Kaye, who works as a manufacturer of advertising specialties, is vice chairman of the Legislative Committee and the Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association. He has been active in lobbying Albany for more state funds for Long Island schools and for reforming unfunded mandates handed down to local schools from the state and federal governments.
"In my third term, I became committed to realizing we need to go the source of money and mandates and turn heads towards Long Island," said Kaye.
He said the district has made great strides in improving performance on SAT scores, the Regents graduation rate, adding AP courses and other areas. He is also proud of this year's budget. "This is a tight, economical budget," he said. "It's focused on delivering services. There's no fluff in that budget."
The main problem Kaye sees in the education system is the challenges of meeting federal and state requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. "We don't want to be strictly geared toward test-taking," he said. "There should be some sort of alternative assessment, looking at the breadth and depth of programs."
He, like other candidates, said that the constant comparison of test scores with other districts is "unfair" to districts like West Hempstead, which has a more diverse student body, including bilingual students and those with limited English skills.
Kaye plans to continue to lobby lawmakers to allow more flexibility and remove some of the more "burdensome mandates that come down and the deluge of paperwork forced upon us." He points to busing requirements and special-education programs that are required by law but not fully funded, and the Wicks law, which does not allow districts to contract out for building projects.
Davis Whelpley
(Whelpley photo)
Davis Whelpley is the newest member of the West Hempstead board, having been elected in last year's four-way race for a seat left open when Phillip Kaye resigned his seat. Whelpley is running unopposed for a three-year term.
A 49-year resident of West Hempstead and a retired treasurer for a multinational corporation, Whelpley characterized his first year on the board as a "learning experience," and said he is particularly proud of rising test scores in the district and the increasing number of Regents graduates.
Whelpley said he brings a hands-on approach to serving on the board, by being visible in the community and available to parents and residents. "I approach this job as being a support in the community," he said.
Whelpley said that every school district is in a constant battle for state aid, and pointed out that Nassau County is extremely competitive when it comes to test scores. "We have to perform," he said.
Whelpley believes discipline is important in the high school, saying, "We have to know every child is in a safe, conducive atmosphere."
He emphasized that he is eager to continue learning the nuances of serving on the board. "I'm proud of the good school system we have in West Hempstead and proud to be serving on the board," he said.
MALVERNE
Karen Aker
(Karen Aker photo)
A 31-year resident of Malverne, Karen Aker has served on the board since 1996 and is running unopposed for a three-year term. She has two grown sons, both of whom attended the Malverne schools.
Aker is currently retired, but previously worked at Howard Herber Middle School in the special-education department and the after-school program.
She believes that children should always be the school board's first priority, and that the most important issue facing the children today is reading. She would like to focus all of her time on the current reading programs to constantly improve them. While test scores have improved, she believes they can be better.
