L.B. school board race kicks off

A former nurse at East Elementary School has joined this year’s school board race, and will face two incumbents.

Long Beach residents will vote on May 16 on the proposed $135 million budget for the 2017-18 school year as well as three Board of Education candidates. Incumbents Dr. Dennis Ryan and Maureen Vrona, who were elected in 2008 and 2014, respectively, are seeking re-election. Vrona’s platform focuses on maintaining school programs and extracurricular activities, while Ryan is emphasizing the need to maintain reserve funds.

Their challenger, Lori Montgomery, who recently retired from the district after 32 years as a nurse, said that her main concern is helping the district’s children improve their mental, emotional and physical health. The Central Council Parent Teacher Association candidates forum will be held on Monday, May 8, at 7 p.m. at Long Beach City Hall.

Vrona, who is finishing her first term, said she is running again to ensure that cuts won’t be made to extracurricular activities and sports programs, and to create a sustainable budget. “When I ran three years ago,” she said, “I was concerned because the board at the time was considering a drastic cut in middle school sports and extracurricular clubs. I was appalled. I think that’s still where my priority is.”

The board voted on April 6 to adopt a $135 million budget that is .15 percent smaller than the current spending plan and includes a $1.9 million tax levy increase. Chief Operating Officer Michael DeVito said that the district did not need to use reserve funds to balance the budget because of various revenue sources like state aid, the tax levy and a $3.6 million payment from the Long Island Power Authority. The district is set to receive a total of $22.7 million in state aid next year, a 4.22 percent increase, after state lawmakers secured an additional $850,000 in funding this week.

Vrona, who voted in favor of the budget, said that having a child in the district gives her unique insight. “I’m in the building; I’m around the parents,” she said. “That’s a really important perspective to have on the Board of Education — what it’s like to be a parent. That’s why I’m running again.”

Vrona said she was familiar with the issues school districts face because she formerly practiced education law. She also cited her extensive involvement in the schools, including serving as PTA president and being a member of the budget, facilities and curriculum committees. “I knew how Long Beach ran,” she said. “I feel like I just want to continue that.”

Turning to the ongoing contract dispute between the district and the Long Beach School Employees Association, Vrona said that the board was negotiating in good faith and that every member wanted to settle fairly with the union. Members of the LBSEA have been without a contract for two years, and have recently protested outside school board meetings to draw attention to the issue.

Vrona also said that if the district receives more state aid than originally anticipated, the money would be used to balance the budget rather than reduce the tax levy, in the hope of achieving sustainability. “I think there has to be a balance between sustainability and lowering the tax levy,” she said.

Ryan, who has served on the board for nine years, said he was running again because he can offer his extensive experience in public education. He is a retired school administrator, a former assistant superintendent in Great Neck. He has also been a teacher, coach, athletic director and director of pupil personnel services in Long Beach.

“I like helping the community, and I think it’s just something I’ve been called to do,” Ryan said, “and I’m going to keep doing it as long as the community keeps sending me back.”

He emphasized a need for board trustees to attend school events with students. “No trustee has been more visible at school events, including concerts, athletic events, assemblies, fairs, academic ceremonies or PTA sponsored events, than I have over the past 10 years,” he said. “Presence is important, and by attending these events and by engaging students, parents and staff, I learned what we need and what we need to do without.”

Ryan, who supports the adopted budget, said it is important to have reserve funds in case of another emergency like Hurricane Sandy. “We had a whole roof that crumbled in the high school, and we needed to fix it right away,” he said. “You can’t wait to appropriate money and get state approval — you need the money to deal with it.”

Ryan also said that the board has been fair, thoughtful and reasonable when negotiating with the LBSEA, but noted a particular challenge. “It’s hard with that bargaining group because there’s five subgroups within that one group,” he said.

He compared the negotiations to those with the Classroom Teachers Association, which reached a contract agreement with the district last month. He said he expects the negotiations to be similarly productive.

Lori Montgomery, who has five grandchildren attending district schools, is focused on the health of the district’s children. “Being a nurse for 32 years, I’ve seen the increased stresses that the kids face, like testing, social media and decreased recess time,” she said. “I would make sure we make our commitment to social and emotional learning and early detection of problems.”

She added that the board has to try to balance that need with keeping taxes down.

Montgomery, a former president of the Blackheath and East School PTA, also said that it’s important to make parents aware of the resources that are available to them in the school district, and that the mental health forum hosted by the PTA on March 22 did a good job of that.

She said she would fight to secure a fair contract for the LBSEA, and mentioned concerns she has about curriculum and state testing. “We have to get the state to start listening to teacher input,” she said, “and we want our administrators to be accountable, too.”