Five vie for three seats in Merrick District

Three seats up are up for grabs between five candidates in this year’s Merrick School District Board of Education election. Of the candidates, Susan Schwartz and Nancy Kaplan are seeking reelection, and challengers Dr. Pamela Banks, Segal Negrin and Eric Strezenec are vying for their first term on the board.

The three candidates who earn the most votes in this at-large election will each win a three-year term on the board. The vote will take place Tuesday, May 15, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School.

Dr. Pamela Banks

Dr. Pamela Banks has lived in Merrick for 35 years. She is widowed, and has four children, Alexandria, 20, a Hofstra University student, Caroline, 19, a student at Delaware University, Harrison, 16, a Calhoun High School sophomore, and Jacqueline, 11, a Levy-Lakeside sixth-grader.

Banks earned her bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University in 1981, and her master’s in science from New York University in 1983. She received her doctorate in osteopathic medicine from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1987, and has worked as a pediatrician for 20 years –– six in Bellmore and 14 in Merrick.

Banks’ experience in local schools includes seven years on the Levy-Lakeside site-based, wellness and events committees. At Merrick Avenue Middle School, she served as PTA vice president for two terms, and was a site-based committee member for six years. At Calhoun, Banks was a two-term PTA president and vice president, as well as corresponding secretary and a member of the site-based committee. On the Central High School District PTA Council, Banks served as president for two years and corresponding secretary for two years.

At her pediatric office, Banks has given Calhoun Senior Experience program students the opportunity to observe a pediatrician firsthand, as well as instructed NYCOM medical students and Long Beach Hospital family medicine residents.

Dr. Nancy Kaplan

Dr. Nancy Kaplan has lived in Merrick since July 2002. She has two children, Michael, a Kennedy High School sophomore, and Josh, a Birch Elementary School sixth-grader. Kaplan has served on the Merrick Board of Education since 2004.