New Elmont school board members look to promote transparency

The parents of children in the Elmont Union Free School District have a lot of critiques about the previous, and current, Board of Education.

Perhaps a change in leadership will help mitigate the criticism, with the re-election of well-known community activist Tiffany Capers, selected to be the board’s vice president, and Nancy Garlick, chosen to be the president. July 1 marked the beginning of Capers’ second three-year term as a trustee. Both she and Garlick have a long history of community engagement.

The previous president and vice president, Michael Jaime and Tameka Battle-Burkett, respectively, remain on the board.

“My highest priority is finding a permanent superintendent for the Elmont Union Free School District,” Capers said. “I will also be focused on rebuilding partnerships and relationships with the community and staff. We lost a lot of that collaboration in the past years.”

Capers is a full-time information technology professional with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She is treasurer of the Elmont Police Activity League unit, a group dedicated to providing sports and activities for local children.

Capers grew up in Richmond Hill in Queens, and raised her daughter Morgan in the Elmont school system. She moved to Elmont in 1999 and became involved in community affairs when her daughter entered school, including the Parent Teacher Association, Girls Scouts of Nassau County and local civic associations.

Previously, she served on the executive board for the New York Chapter of the Consortium of Information and Telecommunications Executives, an organization that represents 35,000 African American Verizon employees. She also served on the executive board of the Women’s Association of Verizon Employees.

Garlick is looking forward to pursuing the board’s continued goals for the school district.

“To make sure that the children of Elmont get the best education possible and remain safe while doing so,” Garlick said. “And have great opportunities for extra-curricular activities as well.”

Garlick is also the New York City director of the school nursing program. She is president of Elmont Toastmasters, where she served as district director 2017-2018. She started the elementary school level Toastmasters public speaking program two years ago, and still runs it today.

Garlick grew up in South Ozone Park, Queens, and her children grew up in Elmont. When her children started going to school, she saw a need and started helping their peers.

“I was inspired by the children that I saw in Elmont that go to school in the Elmont school district,” Garlick said. “I talked to them, helped them with homework when parents were working. I’ve always helped the children in my community. Now I’m doing it in a more official capacity.”

Capers said what she is hoping to change about the board can be summed up in one word: “transparency.”

The complete story did not run in the July 27 edition due to a production error.