Trocchia installed amid grumblings

A West Hempstead resident for 55 of his 60 years, Vincent “Vinny” Trocchia was happy to accept an invitation to join the West Hempstead Board of Education.

“I have a stake in West Hempstead,” said Trocchia, who was sworn in at the board’s Sept. 20 meeting to the seat vacated by Tony Brita, who resigned on June 30, one year into his three-year term. “I want to help out.”

The board made the decision to appoint someone to the seat — instead of holding a special election or leaving it vacant until the next regular election, in May — after several trustees realized they would face significant challenges this budget season, according to board President Walter Ejnes.

“When I considered all of our options,” Ejnes said, “I concluded that this board would be well served by filling the seat with someone experienced in school budgets.”

Trocchia, who runs an air conditioning and heating business, has 18 years of experience with school budgets: He served on the West Hempstead school board from 1990 to 2008, and was president for seven of those years. He ran for another term in 2008 and lost to Ejnes.

Despite his wealth of experience, not everyone was happy about Trocchia’s appointment. Trustees Cynthia Di Miceli and Rudy Schindler, who are serving their first terms on the board, abstained from voting on the appointment, each citing problems not with Trocchia, but with the board’s approach to his appointment. “I kind of felt like there was no out-of-the-box thinking,” Di Miceli said. “The conversation was either stifled or limited. For any organization to grow and evolve, I think it’s important that we’re forever cultivating new talent because new talent can always bring new ideas, new energy to an ever-changing educational climate.”

Schindler said his abstention was a way to take a stance on what he felt was a process that lacked “intellectual curiosity” and due diligence. “My decision has nothing to do with Vinny per se,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t say no. But I couldn’t say yes because then I would have agreed with a flawed process.”