By Andrew Coen
Former Lawrence school board member Dr. Sol Blisko of Woodmere and Nahum Marcus of Cedarhurst are filing petitions for the May 15 school board race. Blisko will challenge Andrew Levey in a battle for school board president Dr. Asher Mansdorf's vacated seat while Marcus will take on Maribel Cancelliere of Inwood in a race for incumbent Pam Greenbaum's seat. Greenbaum is running as a challenger for Dr. David Sussman's seat in what will be a rare race between two incumbent trustees. The seven-member school board currently consists of four parents from the private-school community with Dr. Sussman, a public-school parent who votes with them; Greenbaum and Stanley Kopilow are the board's two public school advocates.
The activist group Advocates for Lawrence Public Schools (ALPS) supports Greenbaum and Kopilow and is hoping Levey and Cancelliere can win on May 15 so public-school backers to recapture the majority. Dr. Blisko and Marcus will attempt to maintain a majority on the school board who will fight for non-public school interests.
Marcus, who works in the compliance department for Bear Stearns & Company, has lived in district 15 for 13 years and sends his children to the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR). Marcus, who has a special needs child, said his wife initially was going to run for school board in order to fight for special education services for the non public school students that she does not feel they have received but was unable to since she needs to care for her sick mother. Marcus said he wants to fight for other private school families to get services they are entitled to while and improve academic performance for public school students. "I firmly believe that our public school system would be better if the funds were used better," said Marcus. Marcus will challenge Cancelliere, 33, who moved to Inwood seven years ago when she described the Lawrence Public Schools as still having a solid reputation, said she is running for school board in order to improve the district for her three children. She is a real estate agent in Far Rockaway.
Dr. Blisko, a dentist, will be making his third run for Lawrence School board. He won a special election to fill a seat vacated by trustee Gale Srulevich in November 2001 before stepping down the following spring. Blisko, whose children attend HAFTR, ran again in 2003 but lost to Greenbaum by 583 votes. He could not be reached for comment.
Levey of Atlantic Beach graduated from Lawrence High School in 1983 graduate and is a third-generation product of the District 15 schools. He is an institutional equities broker in Manhattan. He and his wife, Marla, a District 15 employee, have two young children who attend Lawrence public schools as well as 1-year-old twins. Greenbaum, a Woodmere resident who had two children graduate from the Lawrence Public Schools, was elected to the school board in 2003, replacing Frank Argento, who had a year remaining in his term when he stepped down in December 2002. In 2004 Greenbaum won a full-three year term on the board with a decisive victory over challenger Shlomo Huttler.
Sussman was first elected to the Lawrence school board in 1995 and served as president from 1996 to 2000. Last year when the school board became a majority of private school parents he was elected vice president.
Candidates have until April 16 at 5 p.m. to file all necessary papers to run in the May 15 Lawrence school board election. A "Meet the Candidates Night" to be moderated by the League of Women Voters will be scheduled prior to the May 15 election.
Comments about this story? Acoen@liherald.com or 516-569-4000 ext. 210.
