New Miller Place Board Members Ready for Challenge

Along with the approval of the 2013-14 school budget, Miller Place voters also elected three new members to the Board of Education who were sworn in Tuesday night.  

With Ann O’Brien resigning and outgoing members John Magnani and Doug Ports not seeking reelection, Johanna Testa, Noelle Dunlop and Michael Manspeizer now join the board for the upcoming season. Testa received the majority of votes with 902, Dunlop was second with 880 votes and Manspeizer received 859 votes. Testa and Dunlop begin three-year terms while Manspeizer will take over the one year remaining on O’Brien’s term.  

“What I’m most looking forward to is learning the ins and outs of being on the board and seeing how much of the things I want to get done are possible,” Dunlop said.  

Dunlop has children in the district and decided to join the board after watching the amount of cuts to the children’s programs over the 10 years she has lived in the district.

“There have been cuts across the board from athletics to the music program, which has been gutted,” she said. “What I see is my daughter got less than the kids six years ago…as far as extracurricular activities, the things that make kids happy and want to go to school.”  

Both Dunlop and Testa are against increased, high-stakes testing and hope to make a difference.  

“I think that [testing] takes away from classroom time,” Testa said. “I’m looking forward to helping the district implement the new common core standards in a way that will be stress free for the kids and in a way that we’ll be able to get what’s intended…which is a better education.”

Manspeizer, who is a Project Manager for Cisco Systems, looks to utilize his technology background and expertise to help save the district money.  

“One of the things I want to do is a robust budget review,” he said. “I want to take a look at where the checks are actually going and see if I can find two percent cost savings.”  

He said he also wants to push for solar panels in the schools, but that it will be difficult to do so with just a one-year term.  

“The other thing that is key for me is looking where the technology plan is at for 2014,” Manspeizer said.

“I want to work very closely with the people developing the new technology plan and see if we can find cost savings on the phone and internet.”  

What do you think of the new board members and what would you like to see from them during their terms? Tell us in the comments section below.