The Massapequa school board began a new year with a new face, and it appears there's going to be a new face next year as well.
The Board held their reorganization meeting Thursday and began with a swearing in ceremony Maryanne Fisher, who's serving her fourth term, and the Board's newest member Joseph LaBella. Both were officially sworn in earlier in the week so they could participate in a training program.
"I feel very comfortable, excited about the opportunity, and I'm even more energized now than when I was running for election." LaBella said after the meeting.
After Superintendent Charles Sulc and other officials were sworn in, the new board began the process of electing officers.
Fisher was quickly reelected as Board President, but the vote for Vice President produced a few surprises.
Jane Ryan, who had served as Vice President this past year was nominated, as was trustee Tim Taylor.
Fellow trustee Gary Bennett nominated Taylor, saying, he did so, because. "It's his last year."
Ryan was absent from the meeting and when the vote was taken it ended up in a 2-2 tie with Taylor voting for himself along with Bennett, while Fisher and LaBella voted for Ryan.
A second vote was taken and Taylor carried it 4-0. Ryan was then elected Board Secretary.
Although Fisher and Taylor were on opposite sides of the vote, they were all smiles after the meeting.
"I'm just happy to have Tim as Vice President," Fisher said, as the two chatted.
Taylor stopped just short of definitively confirming that he will not seek re-election next year, saying "I'm pretty sure I'm going to pack it in."
The new vice president appeared to be a bit surprised to have been nominated again, after having missed out on being an officer in the past.
"When Gary nominated me, I figured I'd give it one more shot," he said. "But if I can't be what Maryanne wants me to be, I'll resign."
Taylor has been known to oppose the majority of the board on some issues, but said he's looking forward to working with this year's board.
"The majority of board members I've worked with want to give students the best education possible without bankrupting the district, the difference of opinion is how we get there," he said.
The meeting also marked a first for the school district, as administrators and board members all used laptops in an effort to crreate a mostly paperless meeting.
Sulc said the district had been searching for a system that would allow the public to access hundreds of pages of school documents related to the meeting.
The District is using a system from Long Island based IQM2.
