Three running for two Oceanside seats

This year, when residents go to vote for the Oceanside School District budget on May 15, they will also have to cast a ballot for two of three people running for the position of Board of Education Trustee.

Since Oceanside runs its elections by seat instead of at large, incumbent Kim Grim Garrity is being challenged by Henry Luft. Seth Blau is running unopposed to fill the vacant seat being left by Allenby Lyson, who is stepping down after 19 years on the board.

Kim Grim Garrity

Born and raised in Oceanside, Garrity, 52, has been on the Board of Education for 15 years, serving five three-year terms. She was a 1978 graduate of Oceanside High School.

Garrity worked for 10 years in the publishing industry for Conde Nast before she had her two children. She is currently a Nassau County Police Communications Operator (commonly known as a 911 dispatcher) and has a second job as a medical office manager. Her daughters, like her parents, are graduates of Oceanside High School.

“I am running for a sixth term on the board of education because now, more than ever, Oceanside needs continued consistent proven leadership,” Garrity said. “We are in an economic downturn, facing a tax cap, possible tax certiorari implications next year, and numerous unfunded state and federal mandates. I am confident that without sacrificing quality education, my background and knowledge offers me the ability to minimize the possible extreme effects on students and on taxpayers these obstacles pose.”

While her children were in school, Garrity was a member of the School 3 PTA, served on the district-wide Buildings and Grounds Committee and the DOCA Committee. Garrity also founded the OHS Alumni Association and was an active member of the Oceanside Kiwanis Club, serving on its Board of Directors.

Since she has taken office, Garrity has helped to implement many of the pledges she made when she first ran for office, including a full-day kindergarten, a Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program, a Science Research program, utilizing the former School 1 property as a sport and recreational site (now the Schoolhouse Green), developed five- and 10-year financial and physical plant planning practices and more.