In H-W, one budget, two seats, three candidates

Along with voting on their school district’s $103.24 million budget on Tuesday, Hewlett-Woodmere voters will also cast ballots for Board of Education trustees.

Three candidates — Teena Ditchek Korman, Scott McInnes and Cheryl May — are competing for two seats. Ditchek Korman is running for re-election, while current Trustee Howard Weinick decided not to run again. In the at-large election, the two highest vote-getters will win seats on the board. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Woodmere Education Center, at 1 Johnson Place in Woodmere.

Teena Ditchek Korman

Running for her fourth term on the board, Ditchek Korman, 56, said that as a trustee, her mission is to provide education that the community values while being fiscally responsible.

“I’m always thinking about the needs of the community and providing them at a low cost,” she said. Ditchek Korman attended district schools, and her daughter graduated from Hewlett High School. Her son attends the high school.

In 2001, when she began her first term, she pushed for student achievement to be celebrated, and now, at the beginning of each board meeting, students are honored for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, music and athletics.

According to Ditchek Korman, she has helped the district preserve the library media center at the elementary level, provided keynote speakers who have addressed students at no cost to the district, lobbied for the installation of automatic external defibrillators in all district buildings, supported the addition of an assistant teacher in the middle school to help students with the new math program that will enable them to take algebra in eighth grade, and helped preserve the 10-period school day at the high school when cuts were proposed.

After her son told her that his biology textbook was not available at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library, Ditchek Korman worked to ensure that every textbook for ever course offered at the high school was available for reference at the library. “It’s all for the students,” she said. “I want to keep our education intact.”

She said she believes her role is to represent her community. “Excellence in Hewlett-Woodmere does exist,” she said. “With our innovative style of teaching and college readiness, our students come back from college and tell us they were the only one on their dorm floor who was prepared.”

Ditchek Korman added, “I have a proven record and reputation for working very hard for my community, the students and schools. I’ve also been a constant advocate for what people want.”

Scott McInnes

McInnes, a 13-year resident of the district, said he has been an active participant at Board of Education meetings and wants to join the board to have a direct effect on what gets done. He will ask the questions that people aren’t asking now, he said.

“I can ask questions all day long, but unless I can have an impact on the decisions that are being made, it’s like sitting in the stands of a baseball game,” said McInnes, who has an elementary school-age child in the district.

McInnes, 42, said he would like to address the issues of self-imposed and administrative spending. “We don’t have the funds to spend on the kids,” he said. “We were looking at cutting the Discovery Program and decreasing the number of periods at the high school from 10 to nine before we looked at cutting administrative spending. The students have to come first.”

McInnes said that the 2011-12 school budget should be approved because it will provide students with activities and programs. “The current budget should be supported with a ‘yes’ vote by the entire community,” he said. “If the budget were to be voted down and we went to a contingency budget, it would have a real impact on our students and their programs. Anyone looking to send a message to the district should be voting to put two new trustees on the board.” (McInnes and May are running as a team.)

“I believe that the word trustee has a significant meaning,” McInnes said, “and you have to be held accountable to everyone in the district, including students, staff, parents and the community without kids in the district. We owe it to them to provide a top-notch education with a reputation to match, and to preserve their property values.”

Cheryl May

Her seven years of involvement with the PTA and her current role as Central Council co-president, May said, have created a good rapport with parents in the

community.

“Parents know me,” she said. “And with three kids in the district, I’m at every-thing.”

Each year, May said, she works tirelessly to get the budget passed. “I’m a strong supporter of the budget,” she said. “Currently, the [2011-12] budget will meet the programming needs of the children, but the only problem the district would face is if [Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s] property tax cap passes. But we don’t have a clear picture on that yet.”

May said she would like to see preventive services such as speech therapy return to the district, especially at the elementary level. “If a child has difficulty with speech, it’s important to address it in elementary school so problems don’t arise in middle or high school,” she said.

If elected, May said, she would like to examine administrative expenses in the budget. “It’s important to be realistic with administrative expenses,” she said. “Many of our administrators make more than Governor Cuomo, and before we look at cutting teachers or programs, we need to look at what we’re paying our administrators.”

Asked why someone should vote for her, May said her master’s degree in business administration and PTA involvement would benefit the district greatly. “I have a very strong financial background and experience working with budgets,” she said. “I also have a very good grasp of concepts and understand the issues affecting the community. It’s important to have someone with young children on the board that has a relationship with other parents in the district.”