Incumbent Mineola school board Trustee Nicole Matzer and educator Margaret Ballantyne-Mannion, both running unopposed for school board seats, touted themselves as committed educational advocates in a candidates forum at Mineola High School on Monday night.
Asked how they would weigh the balance between fiscal prudence and academic excellence, both candidates had similar responses.
“It’s important to be fiscally prudent. But if I’m every going to err, it would be on the side of academic excellence,” Ballantyne-Mannion said. “Sometimes you need to invest and take a risk so if I was convenience of the value of something, I would be favor of spending money.”
Matzer said, “We have to put excellence first. If this is something to benefit the students in our district, we have to take a hard look at it.”
The forum was moderated by former Mineola PTA District Council president Robin Bischoff, who posed questions to the candidates from the audience following the candidates’ opening statements.
“I am excited about the recent accomplishments of the district,” Ballantyne-Mannion said in her opening remarks. “The Mineola School District is at a tipping point and I think my educational background and professional experience would allow me to help advance the district’s mission.”
Ballantyne-Mannion, who is currently a Spanish professor at York College/CUNY, graduated from Brown University with a Ph. D. in Hispanic Studies. She said she is also a catechist in the special needs program at St. Aidan Church in Williston Park. A resident of Mineola since 1972, she said she and her husband, Luke Mannion, have been active in the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
She said one of their two sons, William, is currently attending Mineola High School.
Matzer said she and her husband, Eric, have two children attending district schools: Christopher, a seventh grader, and Sabrina, a third grader.
She has served as president of the Willis Avenue PTO and as co-president of the Mineola PTO District Council. Matzer also teaches catechism classes at St. Aidan Church. She and her husband have lived in Mineola since 1999.
“Our children are our future. It is up to us as parents and educators to ensure our children of the best educational opportunities,” Matzer said in her opening statement.
Matzer was selected by the board last year to fill out the remainder of Trustee Terence Hale’s term, which expires in May. Hale resigned after becoming the subject of a complaint from outgoing board Trustee Irene Parrino to the state education commissioner.
Ballantyne-Mannion filed her petition to run for school board following board Trustee Will Hornberger’s announcement that he would not run for re-election.
Asked whether they felt the school districts grade reconfigurations were beneficial, both candidates answered affirmatively. Third, fourth and fifth graders all attend the Jackson Avenue School now since the Hampton Street and Meadow Drive Schools were made K through 2 schools last year. Eighth graders now attend the high school.
“I remember feeling frustrated when I had a third grader who was doing things differently in class than his friends in third grade in other schools,” Matzer said, adding that she now sees a “consistency” in the work her daughter is doing with her classmates.
“I think there’s something to be said about there being more cohesiveness between the grades,” Ballantyne-Mannion said, adding that students advancing through the same schools from third grade on “helps with socialization.”
Asked how they would build awareness among parents in the school district about what’s happening in the schools, both said the school district needed to mount a campaign to inform parents about school developments
Responding to a question on the qualities required to be a school board trustee, Ballantyne-Mannion said the position requires a person to be “committed to the district, to the task” and to be “open-minded and flexible, putting the children of the district first always.”
Matzer said the job required the trustee to “cooperate and collaborate” with one’s fellow board members.
“We need to hash it out and be open-mineded,” Matzer said.
Asked about implementation of the state’s Common Core academic standards after the forum, Matzer said “Here in Mineola, I think it was rolled out fabulously.”
Ballantyne-Mannion said she concurred, adding “there’s so much support” among the district teachers for the new curriculum.
