This week, leading up to Plainview's school budget vote and school board election, Patch is running profiles of the candidates: All of the candidates were asked the same questions: Here is our third:
- Candidate: Seth Greenberg; candidate and challenger.
- Profession: Lawyer.
- Other: Greenberg, 35, is the married father of three young children, ages 6, 4 and 2. The oldest will attend Pasadena Elementary School in the fall.
A. I am running for school board for our community’s future. As a product of a Long Island public education myself, I want to make sure that children entering kindergarten and elementary school this year receive the same excellence in education that those graduating from high school received. I want to ensure that we provide as safe and healthy an environment for our children to learn and grow. And I want to make sure the school district is held accountable to the entire community it serves.
Q2. What are your primary qualifications that make you (or would make you) an asset to the board and the community at large?
A: As a parent of three young children who are and will being going through the POB school system, I have a vested interest in the success of our schools. As a homeowner and taxpayer, I share the concerns of residents to make sure the district spends our money wisely. And as a lawyer and a business owner, I have the professional experience and know-how required of a school board trustee.
Q3. Although there are many, what do you see as the biggest issue confronting Plainview schools?
A: The biggest and toughest issue facing POB, as it is with school districts throughout the region, is how to balance the needs of the students, the concerns of parents, and the financial investment of the community. With increasing state mandates, limited state education funding, and the pressures of the tax cap, school boards on Long Island are facing increasing challenges. Despite these challenges, the POB Board of Education must continue to provide a quality education to all students in the community. We must preserve programs and maintain adequate class sizes. We need to make sure that teachers are provided with the resources and the flexibility to enable our children to meet and exceed expectations. I believe my educational and professional background makes me uniquely qualified to help the POB school district navigate through these rough waters.
Q4. Standardized testing and unfunded mandates are hot-button issues: How would you work to address these issues?
A: The goal and mission of our schools is to prepare our children for the real world and make sure they are as successful as they can be. Tests that are inconsistent with that mission do a disservice to our children and are a distraction to our teachers. We need to review and reassess what’s being done and we need to make sure that educators are involved in the creation of curriculum and tests. Some of these unfunded and underfunded mandates may have had good intentions, but the legislation was not well thought out and did not adequately involve those that would be effected. We need to work with other districts and continue to lobby Albany for relief from such onerous mandates.
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