In the Williston area, residents in the Mineola, Herricks and East Williston school districts will face propositions for Board of Education candidates and other capital reserve fund expenditures.
The Mineola Union Free School District recently approved a $110 million budget proposal for the 2022-2023 fiscal year with zero tax levy increases for the second year in a row. Between the current and proposed budgets, there is a 1.62 percent decrease in spending.
The proposed budget also includes a $9 million transfer to capital for districtwide purposes, including work on the middle-school gymnasium, Hampton Street student bathrooms, Willis Avenue upgrades and security camera upgrade, among others.
Also on the ballot is the establishment of a capital reserve fund with no tax impact. The district said in a community release that the board is “seeking permission to establish a capital reserve fund to pay for future facilities needs.” The goal is to fund the reserve for a maximum of $20 million over the span of 12 years.
Cheryl Lampasona, a current trustee on the Board of Education, is running unopposed for election to a three-year term.
Lampasona said she would help maintain the district’s recent success.
“It’s like a big wave that never crashes,” Lampasona said in an interview with Blank Slate Media.
Before her time on the board, Lampasona was on the Hampton Street School PTA where she served as president until her initial run for school board in 2016. She ran unopposed for Vice President Patricia Navarra’s seat after she stepped down.
Lampasona is currently a New York public school teacher in Queens.
Throughout her past six years and in the future, Lampasona said she is committed to “maintaining an enhanced curriculum while keeping taxpayers in mind.”
Lampasona said she was appreciative of the work the district administration has done to maintain Mineola’s high standards at the level where they have been for years.
“Superintendent [Michael] Nagler and his team are very innovative and we do a great job of combining all our voices together for the greater good,” Lampasona said.
Full-day pre-K and a dual language program up to ninth grade are a few of the accomplishments Lampasona said the district has implemented in recent years. She also has two children in the district and expects to be a trustee on the board after they graduate from high school.
“I’m on the board for everyone’s children, not just my own,” Lampasona said. “I really do love this district and all the wonderful things we do and the accolades we get. I love seeing it come to fruition, it really is a wonderful thing.”
Voting for Mineola will take place from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Jackson Avenue and Meadow Drive Elementary School on Tuesday, May 17.
In Herricks, residents will be voting on the district’s $125.3 million budget proposal as well as the seat currently held by Board of Education Trustee Juleigh Chin as she seeks re-election.
The proposal for the 2022-2023 fiscal year represents a spending increase of 1.99 percent from the current year and calls for a tax increase of 0.5 percent.
Over the last seven years, the district’s average tax levy increase has been 1.54 percent.
Breaking down the budget, 76 percent of it is devoted to programs and 13 percent goes to capital improvements, according to district officials. The district anticipates state aid of $16.6 million, an increase of $2.2 million from the current year.
Some highlights include funding for social-emotional learning programs, instructional technology improvement and updated facilities.
District officials previously said they plan to fund a partnership with Northwell Health for crisis intervention and underwrite additional social worker staffing at the middle school.
In terms of facilities, the proposal includes bathroom renovations at the Searingtown and Center Street schools, art room renovations at Searingtown and the high school, and technology classroom upgrades at the middle school.
The district also plans to complete an initiative to provide each student with a Chromebook, which has been at the center of its technology goals.
Chin, a trustee for the Herricks Board of Education, said if elected again she wants to keep Herricks on the path of success it has enjoyed in recent years.
“We want to maintain the level of excellence that Herricks has been known for and catapult us forward to becoming even greater,” Chin said.
Chin is currently running unopposed for her fourth three-year term. Her current seat is the only one up for election. In addition to her role as trustee, she has also served on the board as a vice president and president, specifically during contract negotiations with the teacher’s union and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to her time on the board, Chin has been a PTA president and PTA council vice president for a collective six years. She said she saw a chance to be on the school board as “the right time to move forward in my role in the district as well as in the community.”
In her current term, Chin said she prioritized getting through COVID-19.
“We were in unprecedented times and this was a very trying time, for obvious reasons,” Chin said. “Health and safety were paramount, but so was the educational, emotional and social well-being of our students and staff. I am proud of the work of the district through this time and stand firmly that we did well by our community.”
If elected, Chin maintains her commitment to keeping Herricks at its current level while also ensuring that the district finds the best replacement possible for outgoing Superintendent Fino Celano.
“I want to assure our community that choosing the right leader to be at the helm of our district is our top priority,” Chin said.
Celano, who has held the role since 2015, is retiring this June, at the end of the school year. The district previously announced that the board is in the final stages of finding his replacement and hopes to update the community in the near future.
Outside of being a trustee, Chin said she has been an adult leader of Boy Scout Troop 201 since 2011 and a strong supporter of both the Herricks Athletics Boosters and Council of PTA’s.
She is also a member of the United Way Community Impact Council, chairperson of the Herricks Korean Community and has been a member of the Nassau County Asian American Affairs Committee since its inception in 2019. She currently works in the Department of Community Services and Services for the Aging in the Town of North Hempstead.
Chin is a parent to two Herricks High School graduates, the younger having left the district in 2021, and believes serving on the board is perfect for her.
“I truly love my role with the Board of Education,” Chin said. “I can’t say how long I will stay on the board, but I have complete faith and trust that I am where I am supposed to be at this time in my life.“
Voting will be held Tuesday, May 17, in the gymnasium of the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
A pair of incumbents on the East Williston School District’s Board of Education are running for re-election in contested races.
Board of Education Trustees Tasneem Meghji and David Keefe are running for two-year terms on the board.
Meghji is opposed by Andrea Golub and Keefe is opposed by Ellie Konstantatos.
The district will also be voting on a $66.3 million budget, an increase of more than 3.5% over last year. The tax levy increased also increased to $58.1 million, or .68% from the 2021-22 adopted budget.
Another proposition on the ballot will be to authorize the district to undertake projects from the 2019 Capitol Project Reserve Fund. The projects will include North Side roof replacement, HVAC repair and installation along with renovations to the Wheatley auditorium and science lab.
Before being elected to the board in 2020, Meghji served on the Educational Advisory Committee for the East Williston schools, which advises the board and the district on educational initiatives. Meghji was elected to fill the seat on the board left vacant by Alan Littman.
Meghji said in a phone interview that her experience developing the budget for the past two years and helping guide the district through the coronavirus pandemic shows why she would continue to be a valuable asset on the board.
“I’ve always volunteered and running for school board was just a natural progression of my passion for volunteering in the school district,” Meghji said. “I feel like continuing to serve, I will be much more valuable than having a new trustee who has to learn how school districts work.”
Meghji touted the fact that roughly 3% of the increase to the district’s $66.3 million budget is coming from their capital reserve fund, rather than asking taxpayers to fund it all, resulting in an overall increase.
“We kept the budget below a 1% increase by using our appropriated fund balance and using reserves as well,” Meghji said. “So while the budget may have gone up by 3.5%, we’re not asking the public for that much money.”
Keefe was elected to his fourth term on the board in 2019 in an uncontested race. Keefe has served on the board since 2010, never running in a contested race until this year.
Keefe has served on multiple boards for decades, including state and local committees. Keefe taught in Hempstead for about 40 years, and was the union president in Hempstead for 30 years.
The election and vote will take place on May 17 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Wheatley Gymnasium.
