Election for board of education trustee positions in the Farmingdale School District will be held on Tuesday, May 17 from 6 a.m.-9 p.m. at Howitt Middle School. Incumbent Charles J. Russo is being challenged by Joseph Stufano, while Terrence McPartland and Steve Wilson are challenging incumbent Jane Schriro Rubinstein.

Charles J. Russo, 50, is the senior vice president at Odyssey American Reinsurance Company. A board trustee for the past year, Russo was appointed to Maria Colalucci's position, whose term was to expire this year. He received a BBA from Dowling College. Russo and his wife, Lenore, reside in North Massapequa with their two children; Michael, 20, a student at Farmingdale State University and Lauren, 12, a student at Howitt Middle School.

"I believe the most difficult issue facing our district is the lack of trust and understanding between the individuals who support the educational process, the taxpayer and the educational community," Russo explained. "This mistrust, left unaddressed, will eventually limit our capacity as a community to properly prepare our children for their future.

If re-elected, Russo offered some suggestions to address these issues.

"I believe in an open and transparent educational process that is supported in harmony by the taxpayer and the educator," Russo said. "In order to help achieve this objective, as a board member, I would recommend the expansion of community advisory committees. Their role would be to develop suggestions that are supported by both the taxpayer and the educator."

North Massapequa resident Joseph A. Stufano, 43, is CEO of Professional Industries, a company which he founded himself. Honorably discharged in 1982 from the US Air force, Stufano is also licensed in general contracting, burglar and fire alarms. He is presently finishing a bachelor's degree in electronic technology. Working with hospitals for over 20 years as a biomedical engineer, Stufano said he was "required to maintain accurate records as well as supervise staff and manage several million dollar budgets." Joseph and his wife, Francesca, have lived in North Massapequa for 16 years and have three children; Anthony, who is in second grade at Albany Avenue Elementary School, Joseph Jr., who attends Howitt Middle School and Mike, who is currently in Farmingdale High School.

Stufano said hearing there were "board members on the take in other districts" and that the district has "lost 24 teachers and staff over the past two years" gave him reasons to run in this election.

"With the increasing reduction of teachers and staff I have growing concerns for our children's safety and education," Stufano said. "I am positive that I can improve our present situations by utilizing the resources presently available to us. Also, when one of my three children did not get the desired classes we had hoped for, I tried to intervene and was shut down abruptly."

Terrence McPartland, 46, is a property manager for a Fortune 500 company and has a BS in business and a master's certificate in project management. He is also a facilities maintenance administrator and real property administrator. McPartland, a North Massapequa resident for 22 years, lives with his wife, Valerie and their seven children; Brian, 19 (St. John's University), Stacey, 17 (Farmingdale High School), Michael, 15 (Farmingdale High School), Jamie, 13 (Howitt Middle School), Kelly, 12 (Howitt Middle School), Courtney, 10 (Albany Avenue Elementary School) and Tommy, 7 (Albany Avenue Elementary School).

McPartland said remaining in the community and keeping academic standards high are what led him to run for this position.

"I was prompted to run because I currently have six children in the school system and I intend to stay in the neighborhood and want the quality of education to stay high and try to keep taxes at an affordable level," McPartland said. "The most important issue facing the school district is maintaining a high level of education and quality offerings for students at a cost efficient level. Also, ensuring that our facilities are available to our children for athletic events, clubs and civic activities so that we may produce children that, in this competitive environment, upon college entrance are considered well rounded."

Current school board member Jane Schriro Rubinstein, 48, is Farmingdale born and educated. Rubinstein, the senior vice president at the public relations firm, Rubenstein Associates, Inc., has also chosen Farmingdale Public Schools for the education of her 18- and 11-year-old daughters. She has a BA in environmental studies, which she earned at SUNY Stony Brook and completed graduate studies in public administration at CW Post. Rubinstein is also a certified quality auditor (American Society for Quality). This certification enables Rubinstein to design evaluations.

"One of my accomplishments since joining the board is making sure that we plan up front how we will evaluate any new program/service to make sure it's a good use of public funds, just as I pushed for the board to make the teacher evaluation system more thorough," Rubinstein explained.

Rubinstein said the biggest challenge facing the district is "balancing the educational needs of all children with stresses on families from increasing taxes."

"My strategy is always to plan carefully to try to reduce how cuts hurt kids and find new ways to do things well. I have personally been involved in getting approvals for classes we already teach at the high school that give our kids job skills, certifications and college credits that they can use after high school, at no additional cost to taxpayers."

Steve Wilson, 53, is a retired chief financial officer/CPA and lives in Farmingdale. He received a BBA in accounting from Hofstra University in 1974. Wilson and his wife, Corinne, have one daughter who currently attends Our Lady of Mercy Academy. Wilson said he has been involved with the school district on different levels; first as a parent when his daughter attended Northside Elementary and Howitt Middle School; secondly as a school board meeting attendee for the last 10 years. Most recently, Wilson has become actively involved in the district's Facility Advisory Committee.

"For me, running for the school board is the next level of involvement in an extended period of commitment to strong schools through sensible spending," Wilson said.

Wilson went on to state that the "enormous tax increases residents have had to endure over the last several years need to be slowed down." He said that working together - taxpayers, state and school officials, teachers, staff and parents - can help achieve this goal by "communicating more openly with each other. Reviewing budgeted expenditures closely and balancing the cost of the facilities repairs" should be also a top priority, according to Wilson.