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Monthly Archives: May 2017

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Life is filled with various milestones. When the students at Imagination Pre-School in Stony Brook graduate June 19, owner, director and teacher Eileen Hummel will also be stepping into a new stage of her life.

A couple of months ago, Hummel, who owns the pre-school with her husband Sol, sent a letter out to parents notifying them the pre-school will be closing after 20 years. The owner said it wasn’t a decision she and her husband were planning on making in the near future, but when Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the building’s owners she leases the space from at 380 Nicolls Road, decided they wanted to utilize the building for their own needs, and no longer wanted tenants, the Hummels decided it was time to move on.

It was in June of 1997 when the doors to the school officially opened. Hummel had 20 years of experience in the education field, which included seven years as a director and head teacher at a local private school. Through the years, she estimates over 2,500 have come through the school’s door not only for pre-k classes, but summer camp, too.

The location has been an ideal one, especially with Stony Brook University right down the road.

Imagination Pre-School owners Eileen and Sol Hummel participated in the 2016 Three Village Electric Holiday Parade. Photo from Eileen Hummel

“We chose it because at the time we felt it was a perfect location being on Nicolls Road, which is a well-traveled road, and we knew someone who belonged to the fellowship — one of my neighbors — and it seemed like a very good fit at the time,” the teacher said.

Danielle Short, 21, who is currently a junior at Salisbury University in Maryland majoring in respiratory therapy, was surprised when she heard the news. The former student, who also worked as a camp counselor at Imagination, said she still keeps in touch with a couple of people she made friends with there.

“I was surprised because the school was open for so long, and it’s a really popular school in the area — a lot of people go there,” Short said.

Elizabeth Avella, 23, who also attended the school and would often visit her mother who worked there, was also saddened by the news.

“It makes me sad because I went there — all my brothers went there, my mom works there, so it’s close to home,” she said. “It’s sad to see a place like that go.”

Hummel, who holds a master’s degree in early childhood education, created a pre-school where children can socialize and learn in a fun environment. She said one of her favorite things to do, and among the things she’ll miss most, is dressing up for holidays and special occasions. Through the years, she has played Santa’s helper and a leprechaun for St. Patrick’s Day, among other characters for the children.

“She dresses up for the holidays and everything,” Short said. “She’s always very spirited at the events.”

Hummel said in addition to missing special occasions with her students, she’ll miss the everyday running of the school, which included greeting parents and grandparents as they dropped their children off. 

“I loved owning a pre-school, and I loved interfacing with the families,” she said.

Eileen Hummel and Jenna Stimmel during her school days. Photo from Jenna Stimmel

While Hummel had created an entertaining environment for her students, who range in age from 2 to 4 years old, there was also a lot of learning going on both in scholastics and life skills.

“My philosophy is, especially for 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds, socialization is the most important thing,” Hummel said. “For the 4-year-olds, the academics to get them ready for school is as important as the socialization.”

She said 4-year-olds learned the alphabet and numbers. And no matter a child’s age, Hummel said she and the teachers felt it was important to teach good values, how to be polite and kind, and how to make friends. In addition to the basics, it’s most important for young students “to be able to love school and want to go to school every day,” she said.

Jenna Stimmel, 20, another former student who worked at the summer camp, remembers playing games at the pre-school. The former student said she met one of her best friends there.

“It’s so cool to have met someone in pre-school and still talk to them now,” Stimmel said.

For Stimmel, who is now a sophomore majoring in psychology at Binghamton University, it was a pleasure to work for her former pre-school as a camp counselor, and work with the children. She said it was heartwarming to see the kids look up to her as she had to her teachers and counselors.

“It was really cool to get to work with [the counselors] because I’ve seen them as a child and now I get to work with them,” she said.

Avella, who now works in the corporate design industry, remembers how sweet Miss Eileen was when she attended the school, and her first day of school when her teacher helped her get through the day.

“I remember my first day of school,” Avella said. “I was crying, and I remember the teacher Miss Denise was holding me all day, and she wouldn’t put me down.”

Like Stimmel, Avella made friends at the school and still keeps in touch with them and the teachers. When her mother used to be a teacher, she would volunteer to help her mother at the school.

Eileen Hummel dressed as a bunny for a holiday celebration. Photo from Eileen Hummel

“I’m glad I got the opportunity to go there,” Avella said. “You wouldn’t think pre-school would be so important, or that it would last this long. I mean, I’m 23, and I still talk to my pre-school teacher. That’s pretty cool.”

As she says goodbye to Imagination Pre-School, Hummel doesn’t plan to rest. She hopes to become involved with an organization that works with children on a volunteer basis. However, her school will always hold a special place in her heart.

“It was a huge part of my life the last 20 years, and I will miss interacting with the children, with the families,” she said.

Her former students hope she’ll enjoy her retirement.

“I feel like she’s been working so hard for so many years,” Stimmel said. “She was an incredible person to get to work with. She’s such an incredibly hard-working person, and I think that this retirement is well-deserved for her.”

Avella hopes Hummel will continue her career in childcare in some shape or form.

“I hope that she does what she loves still, and she can find a way to still incorporate kids into her life, and bring joy to kids, because I loved going there,” Avella said. “Everyone that works there is a family, so I hope she’s still able to do that. I hope she’s able to still bring joy to people’s lives.”

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Smith Haven Mall. Image from Google Maps

Suffolk County Police have arrested a Smithtown man for committing several acts of lewdness during the past week at the Smith Haven Mall.

A woman was inside Barnes and Noble May 13 when police said she allegedly observed a man masturbating while sitting at the table next to her. The woman fled and notified police.

Following an investigation by Fourth Squad detectives, Samuel Bartolotto was arrested May 14 at approximately 7 p.m. Detectives determined that in addition to the incident May 13, Bartolotto had also masturbated in his vehicle in the parking lot of the mall May 8 and May 12.

Bartolotto, 26, of Hurtin Boulevard, was charged with three counts of public lewdness and will be arraigned at a later date.

Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to call the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.

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With great admiration, many in the area are remembering a jazz music preservationist who recognized the importance of the American-born genre from its early days. Ann Sneed, 87, formerly of Stony Brook and founder of the nonprofit foundation International Art of Jazz, died in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 21, from cancer.

Sneed founded the International Art of Jazz foundation in the 1960s and organized concerts in the Three Village area, as well as surrounding towns. The foundation also traveled to schools to introduce children to the sounds of jazz throughout the state.

When Tom Manuel, trumpet player and owner of The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, decided to open his venue, he reached out to the music preservationist. He said for years he had heard about her from other musicians, who when they discovered he was from Stony Brook, would ask him if he was familiar with her.

Ann Sneed outside of The Three Village Inn before a campaign event for Assemblyman Steve Englebright in October of 2012. Photo by Maria Hoffman

“Ann used to produce these amazing concerts not just in Stony Brook but in the Three Village area, Port Jefferson, at the university,” he said in a telephone interview. “Some of the first jazz concerts at the university were produced by Ann. So, I always heard about her and was always kind of impressed that the oldest organization for jazz in the history of our country was founded right here in Stony Brook. What an amazing accomplishment.”

Manuel said Sneed’s health was failing when they connected, so the majority of their conversations occurred over the phone. The two of them would talk for hours about her life in music and her days running IAJ.

“She was there at the beginning,” he said. “There are so few people you can talk to like that now.”

Manuel described Sneed as spunky, bright, genuine and inspiring. He said he admired her for recognizing the importance of jazz music and preserving it.

“Everything she said was so powerful and so applicable today — that the music was so important, that the artists were so underappreciated,” he said.

Manuel was always in awe of her stories about all the musical artists she met, especially composer, pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington.

“She actually had a fairly well-established friendship with Duke Ellington, and that kind of floored me,” he said. “Not only just the fact that he was a jazz legend but Ellington was arguably one of the greatest American composers of all time, and so much of the jazz standards are Ellington compositions.”   

John Broven, music history author, also had the opportunity to meet Sneed when she lived in the Three Village area.

“For many years I knew Ann as the always-friendly ticket collector at Democratic fundraisers, but for a longtime had no idea of her background in classic jazz,” Broven said.

Sneed invited him to her home after she discovered his wife Shelley’s father was the founder of Golden Crest and Shelley Records of Huntington Station.

“It wasn’t until she asked me about three years ago to identify the valuable jazz albums in the large record collection at her Stony Brook home that I became aware of her deep involvement in the music,” he said. “As we browsed through the LPs with the red wine flowing, she brought alive revered artists as real people. She seemed to know them all, including Clark Terry, Marian McPartland, Billy Taylor and a personal favorite, Ruth Brown. Ann was a remarkable pioneering lady in the world of jazz, full of compassion for the musicians, and in a sense paved the way for today’s vibrant Jazz Loft facility in Stony Brook.”

In her autobiography “Miss Rhythm,” rhythm and blues singer Ruth Brown credits her participation in Sneed’s organization International Art of Jazz as being one of the opportunities that helped her get back on her feet after suffering with a career downturn and financial hardships.

“The work that she did, the pioneering work really that she undertook as the executive director of the International Art of Jazz, helped set the stage for the current level of appreciation that jazz has in our society.”

— Steve Englebright

Brown, who lived in Deer Park, wrote in her book how IAJ organized workshops in schools, from kindergarten to college, sometimes two or three times a week to expose children to jazz music.

In addition to her involvement in music, Sneed was also a member of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, and she was a familiar face at many campaign events for Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) where she was a volunteer manning the front desk.

Englebright said he knew Sneed for 35 years but when it came to her productions he was only able to attend one in the early years of IAJ. However, he said through his conversations with her about jazz and her productions he felt as if he attended all of her events.

“She had the great luminaries of the years when she was there (IAJ) from all over the country and all over the world,” he said. “She was the catalyst really for bringing so many of these people to our shores and to our community on Long Island. I think she lifted the level of our cultural experience rather significantly.”

The assemblyman echoed both Manuel’s and Broven’s sentiments about Sneed’s groundbreaking work as well as her paving the way for jazz appreciation even in present times. “The work that she did, the pioneering work really that she undertook as the executive director of the International Art of Jazz, helped set the stage for the current level of appreciation that jazz has in our society,” Englebright said. “Ann Sneed was well ahead of her time.”

The assemblyman said that it was after Sneed’s work with IAJ that she began to volunteer at his campaign events.

“I was so very privileged and honored that she spent a good deal of her time working to help me in my work with the public,” he said. “Often she was the person who would greet you at the door at the Englebright fundraisers, graciously show you in and make you feel that all was good.”

Matthew Barton, curator at the Library of Congress’ National Audio Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, said recordings of the jazz concerts that Sneed produced are housed in the Library of Congress. The recordings include performances by jazz legends such as Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Illinois Jacquet, Johnny Hartman, Thad Jones and more.

“There are more than 200 of the jazz concerts that Ann Sneed mounted with the International Art of Jazz in the Library of Congress’ recorded sound holdings,” Barton said. “The tapes include a wonderful range of the best performers in jazz over several decades. It’s a wonderful and fitting legacy for someone who loved jazz so much, and did so much for it.”

Sneed is survived by her two daughters Jan Sneed and Kathleen Lukens and two grandsons. Services will be announced at a later date.

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Maria Hoffman, Jane Fasullo, chair of the Long Island chapter of the Sierra Club, and George Hoffman attended the People’s Climate March in Washington D.C. Photo from Maria Hoffman

By George and Maria Hoffman

Two years ago the United States was the leading voice on global climate action at the Paris conference. Then came the November election and this week the new president will be deciding whether or not the U.S. will even remain in the Paris climate agreement.

Facing such a policy sea change, we decided to travel to Washington D.C. April 29 and join with more than 200,000 people from across the U.S. to show our support for continued government action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously warming
our planet.

At 2 a.m. our journey began, meeting a bus at Stony Brook University that was chartered by the local chapter of the Sierra Club. There we were joined by dozens of Long Islanders who like us were compelled to travel to Washington and take part in the People’s Climate March.

The bus was filled with college students, retirees and people of all ages in between, who joined together because of their concern about our planet.

We arrived at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in the early hours of the morning, converging on Washington with hundreds of other buses filled with people from other states across the U.S. There was a friendly, small-town camaraderie as we were given instructions by march organizers about the day’s events and where we were to meet up by the Capitol building.

It was heartening to see so many people who were willing to wake up in the middle of the night to travel hundreds of miles to the Capitol for the purpose of using the power of our numbers to show our leaders that the issue of climate change needs action now.

As the sun climbed the morning sky, the April temperatures started to feel like summer, eventually reaching a record 91 degrees Fahrenheit degrees. But the marchers were not discouraged by the heat and marched from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House with signs and banners supporting clean energy, staying in the Paris agreement and warnings that our seas were rising and the planet was in jeopardy.

As we walked to the White House, we noticed there were a lot of people carrying signs about the effect of climate change on honey bees. As beekeepers ourselves, we know that the effects of climate change—from extreme weather fluctuations to earlier flowering times—can have a devastating impact on both pollination and the survival of local bee colonies and wild pollinators.

One of the most powerful moments of the march happened as we passed the Newseum, the museum dedicated to the five freedoms of the First Amendment, and we saw etched on its facade the solid and simple words of the First Amendment that gave “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” To read this amendment carved in stone before us as we exercised the very freedoms made real by those words was profound and moving.

After the march was over and we returned to our buses for the long drive back to Long Island, many of us shared stories about the day’s events and how energized we were by taking part in a show of strength in our nation’s capital in support of continued action on climate change. 

After almost 24 hours from the start of our journey, we pulled back into the university. We were tired from our long march down Pennsylvania Avenue. But a spark returned as we spoke of that moment as we passed the Newseum and saw the words of the First Amendment. That moment seemed to be fundamental both to the day and to what it meant be an American citizen. We had peaceably assembled, and petitioned our leaders to accept the scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and to take action to prevent further harm.

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File photo

Suffolk County Police Third Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that seriously injured a pedestrian in Bay Shore early May 14.

Jonathan Esposito, of South Setauket, exited his vehicle, which was pulled over on the side of the eastbound Sunrise Service Road, just east of 5th Avenue, and was struck by a 2017 Volkswagen.

Esposito, 30, was transported to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore where he was admitted for treatment of serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the Volkswagen, Kristen Erlwein, 21, of Islip, was not injured.

Detectives are asking anyone with information on this crash to call the Third Squad at 631-854-8352.

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Edward Schmidt, above, in 2015 when he served as president of the Poquott Civic Association. File photo by Barbara Donlon

Former Poquott Civic Association President Edward Schmidt may be off the hook concerning charges of stealing funds from the civic group in 2015.

Schmidt, 24, recently received an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office for charges filed against him in 2015, according to his lawyer Tad Scharfenberg. Schmidt, who is also one of Poquott’s former deputy mayors, was accused of stealing more than $20,000 from the civic association in August 2015.

Edward Schmidt and friend at the 2014 Poquott Fish Fry he helped organize. File photo by Barbara Donlon

The adjournment notification means in October, two counts of petit larceny against Schmidt will most likely be dismissed. A felony grand larceny charge previously filed was already dropped in 2016. The charges were for incidents between September 2013 and May 2014, when the civic association alleged the former president used money for non-association expenses such as gas for his personal vehicle, clothing and dining at gourmet restaurants.

In a phone interview, Scharfenberg said Schmidt has always pleaded not guilty to the accusations, and while he has sent the civic association $10,000 in total, he never made an admission of guilt.

Scharfenberg also said Schmidt made a good business decision by sending the association money, as litigation would have cost him more in the end.

“I think it was an outrage that charges were brought in the first place,” the lawyer, and former prosecutor, said.

Scharfenberg said Schmidt was only 19 when he became president of the civic association and was organizing large events such as a holiday party and fish fry. He said he felt the former civic association president might have been too young to handle such large events even though the lawyer said the now 24-year-old is a highly motivated individual.

“He got a lot of the young people in the community involved in the events they ran,” he said. However, the lawyer said, “He didn’t keep good records.”

Scharfenberg said he believes Schmidt simply was caught up in the politics while he was involved in the civic association.

“[The prosecutors] did the right thing come the end of the day,” the lawyer said, adding Schmidt is ready to move on.

“He’s a good young man, and he’s going to go on from here,” Scharfenberg said.

Current Poquott Civic Association president Carol Pesek said the board would also like to see the community put the incident behind them, but the board members believe they followed the letter of the law.

“Our board represents the membership,” Pesek said. “We persevered undeterred by ongoing harassment from some who chose to ignore the facts despite being invited to view all of the financial records.”

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File photo

Suffolk County Police Fifth Squad detectives are investigating a crash that killed a Coram motorcyclist in North Bellport May 12.

Dayquon Boykins was traveling southbound on the northbound lanes, passing other motorists on Station Road approximately 200 feet north of the Woodside Avenue intersection, when he crashed into a 2010 Honda Odyssey minivan that was traveling southbound and attempting to make left-hand turn into a parking lot at approximately 4:18 p.m.

Boykins, 29, was ejected from the motorcycle, and pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The driver of the Honda, Stacy Washousky, 40, of Ronkonkoma, and her 11-year-old daughter were both transported by South Country Ambulance to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue with minor injuries.

Both vehicles were impounded for a safety check. The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the Fifth Squad at 631-854-8552.

 

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File photo by Victoria Espinoza

Suffolk County Police Seventh Squad detectives are investigating a crash that seriously injured a motorcyclist and his passenger in Rocky Point May 12.

Thomas Lowth and his passenger, Sherry Hansen, were traveling eastbound on Main Street when he collided his 2000 American Eagle motorcycle with a 2002 Hyundai being driven by Andrew Netusil at approximately 5:20 p.m. Netusil was pulling out of a parking lot on Main Street.

Lowth, 49, of Sayville, and Hansen, 45, of Rocky Point, were both transported to Stony Brook University Hospital in serious condition. Netusil, 20, of Miller Place, stayed at the scene and was not injured.

The vehicles were impounded for a safety check. The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the Seventh Squad at 631-852-8752.

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File photo by Rachel Shapiro

Kings Park

The Kings Park school district has only one seat available this year for a board of education candidate, and three residents vying for the opportunity.

Trustee Joe Bianco is looking to continue his work with a second term.

“I believe my experience on the board over the last three years has affirmed that given my background in accounting and law … I have the technical skills and experience to help the [board] address many of the issues it faces today,” he said in his candidate statement.

Bianco has worked as a lawyer since 1995 and has volunteered for different athletic activities  in Kings Park including the Kings Park Youth Athletic Association.

“If re-elected, the board’s first priority is to finalize a new contract with our teachers,” he said in an email. “Sustainable, predictable and equitable revenue streams and contracts are critical to our long-term success as a district and to the long-term security and empowerment of our staff.” He also talked about the importance of continuing the bond project and facility upgrades.

“We must continue to challenge ourselves, our administration leadership, our staff and our students to embrace new ideas and developments in a manner that stays true to the goals and values that are important to our community,” Bianco said.

Katy Cardinale is looking to unseat Bianco, a 10-year Kings Park resident herself.

Cardinale has volunteered for several district committees, including the facilities and legislative committees.

“Positive things are happening and the tone is enthusiastic and collaborative [in the district],” Cardinale said in her candidate statement. “I aim to continue the momentum in that direction.”

But Cardinale said she is concerned about state and federal overreach and its effect on the Kings Park district. She said the current board’s decision to not pass a resolution rejecting Secretary of Education Betsy Devos inspired her to run.

The candidate said she also thinks the board needs to protect school funding more vigorously.

“I feel that our school board needs to be very loud when it comes to protecting every last penny,” she said in her candidate statement.

J.P. Andrade is the third candidate looking to represent the Kings Park community.

Andrade is a Kings Park graduate and recently worked as a diversity advisor and surrogate for then candidate Donald Trump. He has been a television contributor for multiple news stations. He said he also volunteers for various Smithtown groups.

Where Kings Park is concerned, Andrade said his diverse background can be an asset to the board.

“My various work in the government, political field, and the community will be beneficial in serving this community,” he said. “I want to be able to bring some youth, diversity and innovation to Kings Park.”

Andrade said he wants to continue to keep a close eye on common core curriculum, calling the implementation a “disaster,” and wants to bridge the gap between the schools and the community.

“[I want to] ensure that the students are equipped with the best possible educational team, and to make sure they get the top-notch education they deserve,” he said.

Smithtown

In Smithtown three seats are up for election this May, with two of the three uncontested.

Long-time incumbent Gladys Waldron is hoping to continue her service, with no challenger looking to unseat her.

“I’d like to continue with the board, providing a financially responsible budget,” Waldron said in a phone interview. She also said she’s in support of many of the programs being expanded at the district now, including AP Capstone seminars and other educational opportunities for students.

“We’ve also replaced study halls with elective programs which has been a great success, and been able to maintain small elementary class sizes, all without piercing the tax levy cap,” she said.

Incumbent Vice President Joanne McEnroy is also looking to move forward with the district.

“Serving on the Smithtown Board of Education gives me a sense of pride,” she said in an email. “I love the place that I have called home for over five decades and in particular, I love our schools.”

McEnroy, who first ran six years ago, said she is proud of what she has accomplished so far.

“I am very proud to have lived up to the campaign promises … which was to balance fiscal responsibility with quality education,” she said. “We have remained within the tax cap while continuing to restore or build on our already outstanding educational program to make it even better.  The expansion this year of our full-time integrated co-teaching program so that it now encompasses kindergarten thru grade 12, is a source of pride and accomplishment for me as it was just one of the many program improvement goals that I hoped to achieve as a board trustee.”

She is also running unopposed.

Incumbent Grace Plourde is the third incumbent running for re-election; however, she does face a challenger. Newcomer Matthew  Gribbin has thrown his hat into the ring.

Plourde said simply why she’s running again.

“The job is not done yet,” she said in a phone interview. “I’ve been on the board six years and we’ve gotten through some tough times.”

Plourde referred to the state-mandated tax levy cap as one of the issues the district has had to work on to create a budget that still benefits the district and the students.

“It’s all about sustainability,” she said. “We have to make sure we go forward and match revenue to expenses to maintain high-quality programs while staying within the cap.”

Gribbin did not return requests for comment.

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Harborfields High School. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Harborfields

The Harborfields school district has two seats to fill this May and four candidates. The school runs an at large election, meaning the two candidates with the most votes will fill the two seats.

Vice President David Steinberg and Trustee Nicholas Giuilano’s terms are up, however only Steinberg has chosen to run again, with three resident challengers looking for a first term on the board.

Chris Kelly is running for a third-time, hoping to finally secure a seat. Kelly has been working in the market data business for the past 19 years, and said he wants to bring his professional skills to add something “unique” to the board.

“I deal with a lot of changing variables and big budgets, and I need to anticipate what the future is going to hold,” he said in a phone interview. “I see this aligning with the school district perfectly.”

He has volunteered for the Harborfields Get Out the Vote committee and the Parent Teacher Association.

Anila Nitekman said she moved from Manhattan to Greenlawn because of the strong reputation the district had.

She’s the founder of Tiny Bites Food Shears, and has worked for Cablevision, American Express, and the city of New York after 9/11.

“I have worked to develop and cultivate collaborative partnerships,” she said in a phone interview. “And I think I could create a unique opportunity to bring new partnership opportunities to the district.”

She said she wants to partner students with industry leaders to help kids with their future careers.

Steinberg said he is eager to continue the work of the board, which he said has been very successful lately, including the creation of a new technology initiative.

“The district has very strong momentum,” he said in a phone interview. “With a new superintendent and Tech 2.0, there is a lot of great work happening here. Why wouldn’t I want to continue to work with this community?”

He said the support from the community has been great, like the $50,000 recently raised for Tech 2.0 by a Harborfields organization.

Lauri Levenberg has been a district resident for more than 20 years, and said she has the insight to help lead the school in a positive way.

“The most important issue facing Harborfields is how to provide an education for the whole child while remaining fiscally responsible to the community,” Levenberg said in her candidate statement.

She works as a speech therapist in the Three Village school district, and has served on the board of religious organizations including Temple Beth El in Huntington.

Northport-East Northport

With only one seat available at large, this is a unique year for the district, as the board will see a reduction of two members thanks to a petition filed two years ago by United Taxpayers of Northport-East Northport to reduce the number of trustees.

The petition was made into a proposition which voters approved during last year’s vote to bring the board from nine members to seven.

Trustees Donna McNaughton, Regina Pisacani and Jennifer Thompson were all at the end of their terms, however due to the petition only one of the three seats can be filled. Pisacani and Thompson have both decided not to seek another term on the board.

Pisacani said the decision was not an easy one.

“I dedicated an enormous amount of time to my board of education duties,” she said in an email. “It was many hours away from my family and many hours away from my own professional development.  My motivation for joining the BOE was to assist in bringing change and stability to this school district.”

Thompson did not return calls for comment.

However McNaughton is still eager to continue serving her community.

“I still have a passion for it,” she said in a phone interview. “We should be taking enthusiastic 5-year-olds and making them into  enthusiastic 18-year-olds.”

She said the district is going in a positive direction, with plans like the recent bond approval which will see infrastructure and athletic facility improvements.

“We’ve had seven one-term board members, there has been a lot of instability and I want to continue to work with the superintendent to help bring his vision to fruition.”

The incumbent said the district will face many challenges in the future, including the ongoing LIPA lawsuit, decreased enrollment and more, and she wants to work to find solutions.

Challenging the current trustee is East Northport resident Thomas Loughran, an attorney who only recently got involved in the district board affairs.

Loughran said he started attending school board meetings in February when the board was able to approve the nearly $40 million bond.

“I’m a paralegal and my firm deals with school districts all the time so this is right in my wheelhouse,” he said in a phone interview. “My voice is beneficial to the board. I know community members and teachers within the district.”

The challenger said he has an extensive background that would lend itself to a positive collaboration with the board. He has dealt in his profession with legal matters, civil rights issues, discrimination issues and more involving school districts.

Huntington

In the Huntington school district things are business as usual, as two incumbents are running unopposed for another term. Vice president Jennifer  Hebert and Trustee Xavier Palacios are both running for third terms.

Hebert and her husband have lived in Huntington for 20 years, and have two boys attending district schools, as well as a third in college.

A Long Island native, Herbert worked as a public school kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts for several years and is currently the director of the pre-school program at St. John’s Nursery School in Huntington village.

She volunteers for the Huntington district in the Parent Teacher Association and has served as  president and treasurer.

Hebert has served on various district committees through the years, including the long range planning committee.

Hebert said in her candidate statement she believes in listening to all sides of every issue. She is particularly passionate about public school education and believes the learning experience offered to Huntington students should be the finest in the nation.

Palacios is an attorney and a Huntington district alumni himself. He and his wife have three children, including a daughter who was a member of Huntington’s Class of 2016.

In 2008, Palacios purchased and renovated a distressed property in Huntington Station where he established a satellite law office along with a community revitalization non-profit organization.

Palacios volunteered in each of the past two years to serve as the high school mock trial team’s legal advisor, training students in the art of courtroom skills and strategies. He has spent hours working behind the scenes with coaches and athletes to help spur participation and promote excellence in the Blue Devil athletic program.

Palacios said in his candidate statement he has strived to be a problem-solver and to use his legal expertise to contribute to solutions regarding pressing issues facing students, teachers and taxpayers.

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