Incumbent school board trustees retained their seats and budgets were roundly passed in districts serving the Manhasset area on Tuesday during school elections, which had been delayed by state order due to the coronavirus.
The budgets passed despite the uncertain status of state aid for every district. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said school districts across New York should brace for up to 20 percent cuts to their funding from the state.
All district elections were conducted with absentee ballots.
In Manhasset, financial professional and school board President Patricia Aitken won another three-year term over professor and education strategist Evan Mandery. Of the 3,734 votes cast, Aitken won with 63 percent of the vote to Mandery’s 37 percent.
Concerning taxes, the district said earlier this year that it had chosen “to reduce the planned tax levy increase related to the proposed budget from 2.9 percent to 1.9 percent,” citing “the impact that the global pandemic has had on our community.”
Of 3,922 residents who cast ballots, 72 percent voted to approve the $100,659,820 budget, a $1.16 million increase from last year.
In Port Washington, incumbent Board of Education Trustee Rachel Gilliar and challenger Julie Epstein were elected to the board.
Voters also approved the district’s $163.2 million budget with 4,756 in favor and 1,901 opposed. The budget is a $2.7 million increase from last year, or 1.66 percent.
Epstein received the most votes out of any candidate in the at-large election with 4,068, while Gilliar came in second with 3,697. Challenger Adam Block and former Trustee Christina Nadolne received 2,921 and 1,782 votes, respectively.
Gilliar, a mother of four, received her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth before attending the University of Michigan law school. Gilliar’s work in the legal field led her to receive the Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association, she said.
“I’ve spent the past three years speaking to various parents, groups, stakeholders and educators, and tried to make them all realize that we are all on the same team here,” Gilliar said. “At the end of the day, we want to provide the best curriculum and education for our students. When all of the moving pieces come together, I am confident there is nothing we can’t accomplish.”
Epstein, a mother of two, touted her experience volunteering in Port Washington as the co-president of both the Salem Elementary School Home School Association and the Parents’ Council, and a member of the Weber Middle School’s Executive Board.
“In each of these roles I consistently questioned, evaluated and implemented new ideas to streamline initiatives,” Epstein said. “Parents’ Council has given me the opportunity to gain an understanding of the scope of the board’s responsibilities and the limitations put on school districts by the state of New York. I know that it is not a curricular board but rather one of governance, policy, budget and oversight.”
In Herricks, Trustees Henry R. Zanetti and James Gounaris kept their seats over newcomers Bhajan S. Ratra and Tarantej S. Arora.
The campaign, marked by the challengers critiquing the incumbents over the school’s budget and issues of transparency during board of education meetings, came to a head when Gounaris posted a photo of a ballot paper on Facebook, tagging Zanetti, with the bubbles next to Gounaris’ and Zanetti’s names clearly filled in. The image was captioned, “This is the correct way to fill out your Herricks ballot.”
Ratra and Arora then reported the post to the district clerk, the New York State Board of Elections and Nassau County Board of Elections requesting that they investigate the “unfair and unethical practices” of Gounaris and Zanetti regarding the election. Gounaris said the post was legitimate.
Zanetti received 72 percent of the vote, with Ratra receiving 28 percent. The other race saw Gounaris receive 72 percent to Arora’s 28 percent.
The proposed $120,534,523 budget was passed with 63 percent of the 4,924 ballots in favor.
Robert Pelaez contributed reporting.
