MCEFR Introduces Two Potential School Board Candidates

This week, the (MCEFR) announced their support for two members as prospective candidates for the Massapequa Board of Education elections on May 15th.

Joseph Marsh and Dianne Sheffield, MCEFR’s vice-chairman and treasurer respectively, intend to run for the two seats on the Massapequa Board that will be up for grabs. They seek the seats currently held by Board President Maryanne Fisher and Secretary Thomas Caltabiano.

MCEFR member Gary Bennett was elected to the Board as a trustee in last year’s election, and heartily endorsed his two colleagues.

“I’m not looking for people who will agree with me,” he said. “I’m looking for the best people for the job, and these two are the best for the job.”

Marsh and Sheffield have not yet officially filed with the district to run in the election; they first must each acquire 120 signatures of local residents for their individual petitions by April 16th in order to file and run, a process they are both currently engaged in. As of Tuesday morning, no candidate has filed to run yet, according to District Clerk Anne Marie Bellizzi.

Claiming they are tired of the ever-increasing school taxes in Massapequa, MCEFR’s stated goal is to make the district more fiscally responsible while keeping the quality of education high at the same time.

It is MCEFR’s plan to gain a controlling majority on the Board of Education by successfully electing Sheffield and Marsh this May; after which, they intend to push their agenda of fiscal responsibility in an educational landscape shaped by deep cuts in aid to the school district and a New York State-mandated two percent tax cap due to take effect in the 2012-2013 school year.

Dianne Sheffield has been a Massapequa resident her entire life. She has worked as an Auditor and Treasurer in many Long Island schools, including eight years in Massapequa. She currently works in that capacity for the Plainview-Old Bethpage and Roslyn school districts.

Sheffield feels that the current Massapequa administration is not forthcoming with the public when it comes to sharing the financial data that drives the district...something she claims will change if elected.

“We go to school board meetings and budget meetings, and when we ask questions, I feel we’re out and out lied to,” she said. “The detail presented in budget reports in other school districts is outstanding; other districts already have their entire budgets up on their websites for the public to view...we have nothing. Why are we not putting this stuff up?”

Sheffield also claimed that Massapequa administration does not breed a culture where BOE members are allowed to express their opinions, which runs contrary to her ideas of free discourse between the Board and the public.

“The entire culture of this district has to change, and it has to start at the top,” she said. “It has to start with Board members who realize that they represent the public and not the administration.”

Joseph Marsh is a consultant in the computer industry and a Massapequa Park resident since 2000, living there with his wife and three children. He has also served on the Massapequa district's Budget and Finance Committee for the past six years.

Marsh said that the school district has been over-taxing residents for many years now, and that the upcoming two percent tax cap is actually an effective way to keep that problem under control.

“In 2009-2010, the school district was under-budget by $8,500,000,” he said. “In other words, your taxes were raised in excess of what the district actually needed by $8,500,000. In 2008-2009, we were under-budget by almost $4,000,000. This happens in varying amounts almost every year.”

While these excess monies are placed into a reserve fund that is currently being used to help offset the effects of the two percent tax cap, Marsh claimed that the district’s ongoing budgeting plans lack the accountability that he would work to bring if elected.

“If we weren’t $8,500,000 off, we wouldn’t have needed a two percent cap to begin with,” he said. “Not telling the public when the district is under-spending the budget is a lie of omission, as far as I’m concerned.”

To learn more about Dianne Sheffield and Joseph Marsh, as well as view a schedule of MCEFR’s upcoming meetings, you can visit their website.