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Overcast Malverne Board of Ed candidates square off
Field questions at Lakeview NAACP forum
Candidates vying for a seat on the Malverne Board of Education matched wits in a civil debate last week at a candidates forum hosted by the Lakeview chapter of the NAACP.
Two seats are up for election this year. First Vice President Karen Aker will retire on June 30, and candidate Michael Taylor, of Rockville Centre, is running against Kathleen Nolan-Kasal, of Malverne, to replace Aker for a four-year term. Three other candidates — Josephine Bottitta, of Malverne, Joann Krudis, of Lynbrook, and Sherwyn Besson, of Lakeview — are vying for the seat of Dr. Patrick Coonan, who resigned from the board early last month. The winner will serve the remaining three years of Coonan’s term.
Nearly 40 people turned out for the forum April 24, at St. Paul AME Church in Rockville Centre, where the candidates introduced themselves and fielded residents’ questions submitted on index cards.
“I’m an advocate for our community and I believe in our young people,” said Besson, a part-time business teacher in the Malverne School District. “If I become a member of the board, I will represent our students, you, the taxpayer, and be a watchdog …”
Nolan-Kasal, a New York City teacher and a mother of two, said that her life has always been about education. “I have always been interested in the school system, knowing that my children, when I had them, would be going to the Malverne schools,” she explained. “I also know there seems to be a disconnect between the community and what’s going on in the schools. … I would love to help open that conversation.”
Taylor, the founder and president of the Malverne Wildcats, a youth football program, and the coach of Malverne High School’s JV girls’ softball team, said his top priority would be service to children. “I love my community,” he said. “I love the kids.”
Bottitta, a mother of two and the director of business development and consulting at BHL Insurance, said she was excited to run for school board. “I have a flexible work schedule that will allow me to put the time in that’s necessary to be an active and effective board member,” she said, adding that she would bring a methodical, analytical approach to issues in the district. “The board absolutely has to work together.”
