Lawrence School Board Elections: Insiders stay in, outsiders stay angry

Incumbents sweep election, budget passes

By Michael Orbach

In a victory that showcased the sheer demographic power of the Orthodox community, residents of District 15 voted to keep three incumbents on the school board. Solomon Blisko, David Sussman and Nahum Marcus each beat their respective opponents by more 1,200 votes.

Blisko defeated challenger Jay Silverstein, 4,623 to 3,337; Sussman defeated Anne Reyes, 4,677 to 3,261; and Marcus outpolled Nicole Di Iorio, 4,633 to 3,290. The school budget also passed by a large margin, 3,528 to 2,360.

“We want to thank the electorate for an overwhelming mandate,” Sussman told The Jewish Star at the Lawrence Middle School on Tuesday evening, the night of the election. “We all promise to address the problems with the district and not to use yesterday’s answers to today’s problems. We will make things better for every child in this community, no matter where they’re from.”

The greatest disparity between voters occurred in the Number 2 School in Inwood. Blisko managed to get only 46 votes, compared to Silverstein’s 1,132. The opposite occurred in the Middle School, where Sussman pulled in 2,224 compared to Reyes’ 303. The results were close in Lawrence High School, but tilted to the incumbents’ favor by an average of 50 votes. Voters favored the incumbents in the Number 6 School on Church Avenue by an average of 1,000 votes and absentee ballots favored the challengers by over 500 votes.

The election was a far cry from last year’s race when board member Uri Kaufman, challenged by Barry Ringelheim, held on to his seat by a mere 135 votes. Some observers felt that last year’s close result forced an improved turnout this year among Orthodox voters.

Late Tuesday afternoon, a teenager handed out fliers for the incumbents at the Cedarhurst train station. At the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, a placard was set up reminding people to vote, and a list of the voting locations was tied to the shul’s glass door. A shul member delivered an announcement after Shacharis on Tuesday morning reminding the congregants to vote. “If you don’t care about your own taxes, then care about everyone else’s,” he said.

Yona Hamlet, an ophthalmologist who attended the service, said, “obviously the election is important to the Jewish community.” Hamlet said he was voting for the incumbents since “the candidates are far more even-handed.”

“They consider the needs of the diverse community,” he continued. “They’re doing an excellent job. The other candidates want to get on to the board not to make it more even-handed but to shift if to the non-Orthodox as they’ve done in the past.”

He said he was still undecided about the budget. “We’re not getting that much benefit but I think I’ll vote for the budget,” he said.

Eric Nussbaum, an endodontist with several offices around New York said that he was voting for the incumbents and voting down the budget. “I always do,” he explained. “Everyone is getting overpaid. They can afford the austerity.”

Daniel Levinson, a senior at Rambam Mesivta, voted for the first time at the Lawrence High School. “I finally have a say in it,” he said. He voted for the incumbents and the budgets since he wanted to “show my support.”

The election was heated, with both sides reporting election signs stolen or missing. The incumbent slate reported that close to 100 signs were taken; the challengers said two dozen signs were missing. Di Iorio said she filed a police report when she saw a boy with a colored yarmulke walk off with one of the large signs in front of an apartment building on Washington Avenue.

Ronnie Fredson, whose daughter attended the Lawrence public schools and who is now a public school teacher in Jericho, said she thought that the board members didn’t care about the level of education in the school system.

“Our schools deteriorated,” Fredson claimed. “It’s unfortunate, my parents moved out here for the education.” She wondered aloud why the Orthodox wanted to be on the board and suspected there was some “perk” involved for board members. She voted across the board for the challengers in Row B.

Owen Eager, a police officer who works in Mineola, voted at Lawrence High School with his wife, Bernadette. “I don’t think the board has done a bad job,” he said, though he added, “I think they need to be a little more transparent.”

He also hoped the board would become a bit more diverse. “You hear the same thing when it comes to police officers and the same thing when it comes to community. The community should be well-represented, but not everyone wants to get involved.”

Bernadette, who moved from Rosedale when they married five years ago, said she left one raucous board meeting in the middle. “I didn’t want to be a party to that,” she explained. When she initially moved she had hoped that the board situation would be better than what it was in Rosedale. “I thought it would be better, but no,” she said.

Brett Goorland, a math teacher in the Far Rockaway school system whose children attend the Lawrence school system, said he was voting for Jay Silverstein. “I’m voting for Jay because he’s the most educated on education — he knows it inside and out. We have a love of the Lawrence school system and the way we see it continue is to bring in the Orthodox that would like to be a part of the school,” he added that Great Neck public school system offered kosher food, something he’d like to see in the public schools.

Goorland grew up Orthodox and said he had genealogical charts of his family that dated back to generations to Spain. His uncles, he said, all went to yeshiva and he went to the Lawrence public schools; they married Italians, and he married his Jewish high school sweetheart.

“No taxation without representation,” maintained David Urbach, who lives in Lawrence but was born in Ireland. He voted in favor of the incumbents and for the budget. “Our children and their needs have to be addressed.”

Marlene Davis, 65, has lived in Cedarhurst her entire life. She is recovering from cancer, she said, and volunteered for Di Iorio and Reyes. “I saw them as two people who could build bridges in the community,” said Davis. “I thought this was needed.”

The election results were announced after midnight at the Lawrence Middle School with the incumbents on average taking 58 percent of the victory. Both sides seemed exhausted by the campaign.

Silverstein, who was grading papers as he spoke to a reporter, said despite is loss he was proud of the campaign. “I ran this campaign to try to improve our school district and the entire community,” he explained. “I think the way I ran the campaign shows that a campaign can be run respectfully. I submit to the will of the community and respect the community’s decisions.”

Post-election, he planned to “enjoy the spring and spend some time in the garden and more time with my children.”

Marcus, who slouched against the school wall, thanked the voters.

“I am very tired,” he said. “But I am very happy and I hope to continue to help the children get the services they need with the help and guidance of my lovely wife.” Then, offering a twist on the clichéd post-Superbowl trip to Disneyland, he added, “I’m going to the Kotel.”

“This really would have been a good step forward,” lamented Reyes. “ I feel we’re still divided. G-d is love and He who abides in love abides in G-d and G-d in him. We are children of G-d. If we all claim to be G-d’s children why do we not act like G-d’s children? We fight; we scheme; that’s not claiming to be like Him.”

Di Iorio said it was “not a loss.”

“It’s how you view it,” she maintained. “You have 3,200 community members saying there needs to be a change. What does that really say? The new campaign starts tomorrow.”

Ashley Howell, a 2008 graduate of the Lawrence schools, now attends Brooklyn College and works part-time in the CVS pharmacy on Washington Avenue. “I just feel that the community didn’t believe in our candidates,” she said.

A board meeting was called where the results were announced. The room erupted in applause when it was announced that the budget officially passed. After the results of the election were announced, Giselle L. Eras, a supporter of the challengers said they would be contesting the result.

“We plan on preparing a formal—”

Eras hesitated and board member Uri Kaufman completed her sentence.

“Protest,” Kaufman finished.