Mineola School Board candidate Gerald Magaldi dropped out of the race last week, turning the election into a four-person race in which Board president Terence Hale and Trustee William Hornberger are challenged by Verionica Levitan and Joseph Manopella
Magaldi cited conflicts with his position as an executive at Signature Bank in a letter to the Mineola District Clerk Donna Martillo.
“A couple of event were coming up on Thursday nights, and I would miss the meetings,” Magaldi said.
In withdrawing from the race, Magaldi expressed support for Levitan and Manopella.
“I think the other two candidates, Joe and Veronica, would be good board members,” he said, adding, “I really was the dark horse. Nobody really knew me.”
Magaldi said his views on reconfiguring the schools in the Mineola was consistent with the views of Levitan and Magaldi, who both oppose the school board’s current plan. The plan includes moving fifth graders to the middle school and eighth graders to the high school this fall.
“I agree with the closing of Cross Street. I don’t think you should have the eighth grade going to the high school and the fifth grade going to middle school,” Magaldi said.
He said students from Cross Street could have been moved into the Hampton Street and Meadow Drive schools, which will house grades Pre-K through 2 under the so-called “default” reconfiguration plan the board is implementing. While he agrees with the move to close Cross Street to reduce costs, he said he thinks the younger students about to make the transition to the middle school and high school aren’t prepared for that shift.
“I don’t think it’s good for the kids,” he said. “I see too much pressure on the kids making the transition to middle school or high school prematurely.”
The issue of moving those students into the middle school and high school has been one of the primary issues of concern among parents in the school district.
Magaldi has no children attending district schools. He has taught religious education classes at St. Aidan Church for the past 13 years. He has also coached baseball in both the Mineola and Albertson little leagues.
An Albertson resident, Magaldi is an advocate for the Meadow Drive School, which he said has been picked on by the school district
“We always feel here in our community that they pick on Meadow. I don’t know why there’s such hostility,” he said.
The issue of maintaining a balance between elementary schools north and south of Jericho Turnpike has been a primary issue throughout the discussion of consolidating the Mineola district schools over the past year. That’s one reason that Meadow Drive and Hampton Street were chosen by the school board as the district’s Pre-K through second grade schools in the district reconfiguration plan.
