Great Neck School Board of Education President Barbara Berkowitz and trustee Donald Ashkenase will run unopposed in this year’s school board election, district officials said Tuesday.
Berkowitz and Ashkenase were the only two to file petitions for the two open seats on the board. April 20 was the deadline to file to run for the board.
If elected, Berkowitz would serve her eighth full term on the board, which will vote for president and vice president in July. Berkowitz, who has been board president since 2006, said she would stay president if asked.
Berkowitz was appointed to the board in 1992 after the death of former board Trustee Connie McNicol left a vacant seat, and then won election in 1993. She served as board vice president from 2000 to 2003, and from 1993 to 2006, on the board’s Policy Committee, which writes and reviews policy recommendations.
She also founded the Family Math and Outreach Programs at E.M. Baker School and Good Ideas For Teens, a committee that explored teen activities in Great Neck, she said.
Ashkenase has served 11 terms on the board, and also served as board president from 1985 to 1987 and vice president from 1984 to 1985.
A public health professional, he currently serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Public Health. He got his bachelor of science degree in accounting from Brooklyn College and his MBA in hospital administration from Wagner College.
He has served as chief financial officer at both the Long Island Jewish Medical Center and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
In the 2014 board race, Great Neck resident Chris Huang challenged, and eventually lost, to incumbent trustees Larry Gross and Susan Healy. Gross received 1,494 votes, Healy 1,490 and Huang 864.
Huang, who worked as a business analyst at OpenLink Financial in Uniondale, said at the time he was running to make sure the school district would not slip in rankings among other Long Island school districts.
Berkowitz had criticized Huang in a letter to Blank Slate Media last year after he said all the board members were Jewish at an event held in May before the election.
She said in the letter the board’s decisions have never been influenced by religion, and that Huang’s comment regarding the religious composition of the board was incorrect.
Huang acknowledged at the time his reference to the religion of board members, saying they were in response to a question asked by a resident at the rally at the Great Neck House. He said he did not mean for his comment to be offensive to any of the board members.
Voting will take place May 19 in the multipurpose room of E.M. Baker School, at 69 Baker Hill Road, and the west gym of Great Neck South High School, at 341 Lakeville Road. Residents of the district will also vote on the budget for the 2014-2015 school.
Residents will also vote on the $216,697,754 2015-16 budget the school board adopted Tuesday.
During the 2014-2015 school year, there were 6,399 registered students among the 10 schools in the district.
The schools in the district include Great Neck North High School, Great Neck South High School, the Village School, Great Neck North Middle School, Great Neck South Middle School, the Elizabeth Mellick Baker School, the John F. Kennedy School, Lakeville School, Saddle Rock School and Parkville School.
