Mineola Boarad of Education incumbents Christine Napolitano and Brian Widman staved off a fierce challenge in Tuesday’s election from two opponents calling for change.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved Mineola’s $80.1 million budget proposal by 1,074 to 370 vote.
In the school board race, Napolitano and Widman won 56.1 percent of the vote, with a total of 909 and 800 votes, respectively. Challengers Joy Renner and Mark Swensen received 43.9 percent, with 693 and 644 votes.
“I think it was a very important mandate that the community feels that we are indeed heading in the right direction,” Napolitano said. “My promise is that we will continue to do so.”
She added that voters’ decision to approve the budget was also immensely important and “sends an equally strong message.”
“We can’t get things done if our taxpayers don’t support the budget,” she said. “We will continue to work hard to ensure tax dollars are well spent…and keep on working to improve our educational opportunities for kids.”
Though the candidates ran in pairs, the seats went to the two highest vote getters overall.
“To everyone that voted for me for Mineola School Board Trustee, thank you. For those that didn’t, I hope that I can earn your trust and support in the next 3 years,” Widman posted on his Facebook page. “And mostly, I’d like to thank my boys, Ray and Hayden, and my wife Stefanie, for putting up with the last 2 months and for all your support and encouragement.”
In advance of the election, Napolitano, a six-year incumbent and the vice president of the board, and Widman touted the district’s educational advancements and focus on technology with minimal tax increases in recent years.
Renner and Swensen had called on the district to slow its full-steam-ahead approach to technology, re-evaluate its finances and do more to educate parents about Common Core. They also accused the school board of rubber-stamping Superintendent Michael Nagler’s initiatives without sufficiently vetting them.
“I think the superintendent’s priorities, while they may be well-intentioned, stand to use some review,” Swensen said in an interview prior to the election.
Renner said in a text message Wednesday she was unavailable for comment. Swensen did not respond to a phone call several hours before publication Wednesday.
Board of Education President Artie Barnett, who decided not to seek re-election, laid his support firmly behind Napolitano and Widman. He also ran a pro-Napolitano and Widman Facebook page dedicated to what he called fact checking the statements of their opponents. He said called the election results a “mandate to continue on the course we’re on and not change things up.”
“I have to stop saying ‘we’ soon,” he added.
Widman, Napolitano and Barnett also frequently criticized Swensen and Renner for not attending board meetings prior to declaring their candidacy. Widman has regularly attended board meetings for seven years, he said.
Mineola’s adopted $89.1 million budget increases spending by 2.1 percent and the tax levy by 1.37 percent to $80.1 million.
The budget continues to invest heavily in technology this fiscal year and plans to provide iPads to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade, officials have said.
It is the eighth-straight year the district’s tax levy will increase by less than 2.5 percent.
“We remain lower than the rest of the county by far,” Nagler said at an April board meeting. “We’ve been able to [stay below 2.5 percent] four years prior to the tax cap being implemented — Mineola has flat-lined” its tax levy.
Among other enhancements planned for in the budget are the hiring of four math teachers, the creation of a robotics lab at Mineola High School and the installation of air conditioning in cafeterias, where exams are often administered.
Napolitano, who praised Barnetts’ achievements as president of the board, said the board members would select his replacement prior to the July meeting.
“Mr. Barnett is one of the most honest and intelligent men that I’ve come to know, and it’s a sad day for him to be retiring from this position because nobody fought as tirelessly as he did for this district,” she said.
Barnett said he is happy to return to being an activist, a role that allows him to express his views more openly.
“I said three years ago that when I took a position on the board, ‘I feel like I put on a muzzle,’” he said. “You have to be careful when you’re sitting on a school board or in any public office.”
“I’ve tried to be careful,” he added. “But some people might disagree.”
Now that the often heated campaign has come to an end, Napolitano said it is important for the district to move forward.
“There’s no point in rehashing what has happened,” she said. “That doesn’t help things — that doesn’t help the community. So we forget, and we move on.”
