By NANCY HILER
Each of the four local elementary boards - Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick and North Merrick- select two of their trustees every year to serve on the Central High School District Board of Education. All trustees are volunteers.
The school board trustee elections, as well as the Bellmore and North Bellmore elementary school district budget votes and the Central District budget vote, will take place on Tuesday, May 15. The polling place for Bellmore residents is the Shore Road School. The vote will be from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the gymnasium. Parking has been designated this year in the lot behind the school closest to the gym entrance to accommodate the elderly and the handicapped.
Janet Goller
Incumbent Janet Goller is running for her fifth term as a school board trustee, bringing 12 years of board experience to the position, including as a trustee on the Central High School Board of Education. She has served as president of both boards.
Goller has devoted a great deal of her time to community service. In addition to her board work, she is a member of the Community Wellness Council, the Bellmore-Merrick Cultural Arts Foundation and the Wantagh United Cerebral Palsy Association. In previous years, she served local PTAs, including as president of the Bellmore Elementary Council of PTAs, co-president of Shore Road PTA, president of the Bellmore Special Education PTA, president of the Central High School District Council of PTAs, and vice president of the Grand Avenue and of Kennedy High School PTAs.
She has also been involved as a member of various local school district committees, including Special Education, Report Cards, Legislation and Budgets. Since 1997, she has been co-chairwoman of the Kenney High School Senior Fashion Show. She has earned numerous PTA and community service awards.
Goller is a financial operations manager for a major cheese importer, where she has been employed for 26 years. She holds an associate's degree in early childhood education. A lifelong resident of Bellmore and a graduate of Mepham High School, Goller and her husband have raised their three children in the community, all of whom went through the Bellmore Elementary and the Central High School districts.
"It's a labor of love," Goller said of her service on the board. She said that when she first ran in 1995, trustees were not visible, did not go into the school buildings and seldom interacted with other residents. "I came to the board with a different perspective, the perspective of a parent," she said. "I have always held true to that. I feel very strongly about making an effort to get out there, to be in touch with the community, to go into the school buildings. It's my PTA roots."
Goller said she thinks it's important to hear what the children, the parents, the teachers and staff have to say. "We need people to tell us their concerns," she said. "Otherwise, how are we going to know what they are?"
She added, "People know I'm approachable, and that when they ask me to keep what they say confidential, that I do." There's a trust there, she said, with members of the community as well as with the school administration, for which she is grateful.
The greatest challenge before the board in recent years, she said, is the budget process. "It's' a very difficult balance," she said. "We don't want to go out with something too hard for the community to manage. I'm a taxpayer myself, and I understand." She said the board works hard to maintain programs and low class sizes while keeping costs down. Referring to a published report on school budgets across Long Island, Goller said, "We have the 13th lowest tax levy in Nassau County out of 56 districts, the 20th lowest out of 122 throughout Nassau and Suffolk."
When it came to this year's budget, she said, unfunded mandates from the state had a big impact. "Three different auditors have to be hired, as mandated by the state, and that line item went from about $30,000 in previous years to about $100,000. That's a big percentage increase."
One of her favorite things about serving as trustee, she said, is witnessing children's accomplishments firsthand. For example, she said, she was impressed by the extraordinary efforts and enjoyed the enthusiasm demonstrated by the students when she attended the third-grade science fair at Winthrop Avenue School last week. One third-grade girl gave a presentation just as they do at the high-school level, she said, and some of the high-school students who were also there told Goller that they had found a "future Intel winner." "Now I felt connected," Goller commented. "This young girl was just so into science; that's what makes it all worth it, to see something like that."
The most rewarding experience, she added, is graduation. "When graduation comes, I know personally many of the kids, and it's just the greatest night."
Richard Narby
The current Board of Education president, Richard Narby, is running for his third three-year term as trustee. Narby is a teacher at Middle School 53 in Far Rockaway, Queens, as well as an independent college admissions/vocational counselor. With permanent state certifications in K-12 physical education and guidance, he has also been a summer and a substitute physical-education teacher in the New York City, Wantagh, Merrick, Bellmore and North Bellmore school districts, as well as a youth adviser and coach.
He is also an entrepreneur and consultant, having run successful sales and marketing and pet product sales companies. He holds a bachelor's in physical education and a master's in guidance and counseling from Long Island University. Narby and his wife have been in the community since 1963, and both of their grown children have gone through the Bellmore and Central High School districts.
Narby is a member of the Community Wellness Council Board of Directors and a soccer unit coordinator for the Police Activity League. He has served on the board of the Bellmore Jewish Center and as its youth adviser, the latter for 17 years. He has also served on the Youth Sports Consortium of the Bellmores and Merricks, as a program adviser for the Merrick-Bellmore Basketball League, and he has been involved in various PTAs over the years. He has also volunteered his time with the Athletes Helping Athletes program, the Special Olympics, and in service to children with autism and Down syndrome. Narby has been recognized for his outstanding commitment to youth and to the community with numerous awards.
"I feel I have an obligation to give back," Narby said when asked why he is running again. "I have always been involved and have no agenda. I just want to help out in the community as much as I can." For 21 years, Narby ran the PAL soccer program and has coached 45,000 children in basketball and other sports over the years, he estimated. "Watching all these kids grow up [motivates me]," he said. Almost anywhere he goes, he said, he runs into children or parents, and they come up to him and thank him, and he is pleased to know that he has made a difference in their lives.
When asked about the current budget, the state's unfunded mandates create a serious issue, he said. "For example, the state says here is $200,000, and then $100,000 of that must be spent in mandates, so it becomes a tremendous problem," he commented. "It's hard to explain to our constituents that the state requires us to do certain things, but doesn't tell us how to fund them."
As for school repairs, he said, "We could not push it off with a patch here and a patch there. We had to get it done. We don't have extra money, so anytime we have to do anything, we have to ask this of the taxpayers. I'm a taxpayer, and I represent the residents, not just residents [with children] in the schools, but I'm also involved with the senior citizens, so I understand the concern."
"It's a difficult task trying to keep the tax base low while maintaining quality educational programs for the children," he explained. "The taxpayers do support us, and I do thank them. I just wish more people would get involved." At recent budget workshops and presentation meetings, he said, barely a handful of people were present. "It's disheartening," he said.
The Board of Education "is trying to do the best we can," he added. "We are very conservative, very fiscally responsible."
Comments about this story? NHiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
