N. Babylon BOE Candidate: Jay Shinnick

With the North Babylon Board of Education election and budget vote next week, Patch is taking a look at the candidates in this year's election.

Newcomer Heather Rowland will be facing incumbent Jay Shinnick for his Board of Education seat. On the other side, incumbent Bob Scheid will face off against Geri-Ann McNamee for the other remaining North Babylon seat.

We sent an e-mail to all of the candidates asking them the same questions to give residents an idea of who each candidate and what their goals are for the district.

Jay Shinnick
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired, former auditor and a Vice President of Finance
Children: 2 (N. Babylon HS graduates)
Lived in North Babylon: 58 years

Patch: Why are you running?

To answer that question you would need to go back 6 years.  I initially ran because I saw a hands off Administration, test scores that continued to drift downward and was frustrated by getting different answers to the same question depending on who you asked or when you asked it.  I saw North Babylon drifting and a community getting increasingly frustrated.

Patch: What is the biggest challenge facing the district?

Improving the educational programs and opportunities for the students.  During my tenure on the Board we now have a hands on Administration who have brought in new literacy and math programs, restructured and strengthened our special education program while embracing the new common core standards ahead of most of our neighboring districts.  The challenge will be to continue to strengthen our programs for the students, be sympathetic to the burden of the taxpayer in light of anemic State Aid support and the ever growing volume of unfunded mandates. 

Patch: What would be your top goals, if elected, to achieve within the district over the next few years?

Educating the whole child.  I believe students need the three A’s, Academics, Athletics and the Arts for the best opportunity to be successful in life.  We have set the foundation to improve our Academic programs we must now explore ways to strengthen our curriculum and teaching methods equalize class sizes while protecting the Athletic and Arts programs.

Patch: What is one thing you want to do differently in the district?

Increase parent and community involvement.  Increased parental involvement, improves a students chances for success and increased community involvement makes for a better schools.  While this is an age old problem it is one that we must continue to work on.  The District has been increasing its use of social media and as trustee’s we must be open to questions from and involvement with the public.  We must always remember, we are entrusted with the Health, Safety and Education of our students and are always answerable to the community.