Kathy Becker Resigns from IT School Board

By Dave Mock

Kathleen Becker, a member of the Island Trees Board of Education since July 1992, resigned her seat at the Dec. 3 board meeting because she is moving out of the district.

Becker, who has lived in Island Trees for 15 years, said that her husband, who had worked for the federal government at the former Sperry building on Marcus Avenue in Lake Success, has found employment in Baltimore. Her resignation is effective Jan. 1.

At the meeting, board colleagues of Becker took turns reading the resolution commending her "consistent, careful deliberation and action." Superintendent Richard Segerdahl also cited Becker's ability to read the material carefully and make "decisions that were the hard ones at times."

School-board president Jerry Donahue said that the board members will be meeting to decide on how to fill the vacancy. They have the option of appointing a trustee who will serve the six months remaining in Becker's term, or leaving the seat vacant until the May 19 election.

In an interview last Friday afternoon, Becker said Island Trees' biggest achievement was its ability to fund its capital construction out of its current budget. For example, she said, each parking lot in the district is repaired every third year on a rotating basis.

In addition, the school board closed Geneva N. Gallow Elementary School (now rented to South Shore Christian School) and the reorganizing of the district to two K-4 elementary schools, a fifth-through-eighth grade middle school and a ninth-through-12th-grade high school.

She also singled out the district's decision to add more Advanced Placement courses at the high-school level, as well as the increased use of computers in the district. "If you don't provide your children with that exposure," she said, "you're shortchanging them, because everyone else has it."

Becker added that several years ago, when Island Trees received a substantial reduction in state aid, "our teachers and administrators took a zero-percent increase...That gave us a year's breathing space, gave us time to start reorganizing. Once you start planning three and four years out, it gives you some organizational time. You can put your dollars to better use because you're not playing catch-up."

The retiring trustee said the district's unions are supportive, and the board has returned that support. "A few years ago, we bought a new series of reading textbooks," Becker said. "We asked the teachers to discuss it. It's the teachers themselves that made the decision."

Becker, who works as an insurance secretary in Hicksville, has been a PTA member for 15 years, on the elementary school, high school and councilwide levels. (Her sons are both graduates of Island Trees High School.) She ran for the board in May 1992 "after enough years of sitting in the audience."

Although proud of Island Trees' accomplishments during her tenure, Becker said she is worried about the state-approved Ladder and STAR (School Tax Relief) programs. She said that both programs are nice in theory, but worries how Island Trees will be able to fund them.

In the STAR program [see STAR Program Deadline is Dec. 31] , Becker said, the district will lose tax dollars during the year and then bill the state at the end. Noting that the state bases its financial projections on the current Wall Street boom, Becker said, "If the stock exchange has a bad year, I don't know where we'll be."

Educationally, Becker says, the students of Island Trees will be in good hands in her absence. She called her colleagues on the Island Trees board "dedicated, honest, concerned, swell folks...and I'm going to miss them all." Of Segerdahl and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Peter Egan, she said, "They're the soul of the district. Treasure them."