Schools

Massapequa School Board Candidate: Joseph La Bella

Patch speaks with the Massapequa BOE trustee candidate.

This is the first of a series of candidate profiles that will appear on Massapequa Patch. Stay with us for more profiles leading up to Tuesday's election.

Joe LaBella is a candidate in the May 15 Massapequa School Board election.

He has been a resident of Massapequa for 29 years and has three children who've graduated from the school system.

Find out what's happening in Massapequawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

LaBella is the owner of a small business that provides emergency patrol vehicles and repair services to municipal transportation agencies in several states.

We recently sat down with LaBella and heard some of his opinions on the issues facing voters.

Find out what's happening in Massapequawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On how he would put together a budget:

"We have to go line item by line item, see what kind of participation we get and see what type of results we're getting. And those [programs] where we don't get good participation and we don't get good results will have to be dropped or trimmed."

On the tax cap: 

"It limits everyone to a dollar figure that may or may not be attainable depending on unfunded mandates."

On his criticism of the elimination of teaching positions:

"Not just the 29 teaching positions, all the layoffs. Because I've been in business 30 years, I know that when an organization has to lay people off, it's a failure on someone's part. I'm not blaming anyone because I don't have all the facts, but I believe that when you have to lay people off there is a failure on the organization's part."

On the curriculum:

"Based on how the school is rated nationally, we have an excellent program. We get very high marks on a national level. The fact that we have students graduating and saving their parents, because of advanced college courses up to $40,000, that's a big success, on the part of the district."


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