In one of the few contested school board elections in the area, Diane Krakoff and Kevin Grennan pulled ahead to defeat the third candidate, Mark Feinstein, to fill the two open seats on the Massapequa School Board. As the election results were announced, voters gathered in the high school gym also celebrated the passing of the $90,596,726 budget.

Krakoff, who is currently serving her fourth year on the board and is vice president this year, was the large-margin winner in the school board trustee election. Krakoff came away last night with 2,064 votes, while Grennan received 1,674, slightly higher than the 1,488 votes received by Feinstein.

Krakoff was the only candidate present when the final results came in. She was joined by Superintendent James Brucia, Board President Christine Nottonson, Board Trustee Arlene Martin, PTA members, and other concerned voters.

Following her re-election Krakoff stated, "I'm very happy. It's exciting. I'm really happy to be part of all the new things this year." Krakoff explained that with the Ames building re-opening as a ninth grade building, a nine period day, and the new superintendent coming in, this year would be an important one for the Massapequa School District.

Nottonson, school board president, said of Krakoff's re-election, "I'm very excited. Diane earned the right to come back to the board. She is a real child advocate and an asset to the board. I'm glad she's back."

Fellow trustee, Martin stated, "Having worked with Diane this past year, I'm pleased she's on the board again because she is very interested in doing the best job she can for the children. She has put a lot of time into the board and with her varied background she is a real asset to the board." Martin went on to say, "I wish Mr. Grennan the best of luck and welcome him to the board."

Grennan, an attorney who has lived in the district for six years, stated, prior to the election, that he planned to focus on helping the district raise the achievements of the students.

Grennan comes to the board, and Krakoff returns to the board, under a budget which represents a tax rate increase of over 8 percent. With this increase the board is now able to implement many additional programs and smaller class sizes.

Brucia expressed extreme pleasure at the passing of the budget. He said, "It's wonderful because residents have supported the budget once again and we have some very important projects that will now be able to be completed because of that support. I am happy, and grateful to the community."

This sentiment was echoed by Martin who stated, "I'm very pleased. This budget was certainly something we needed to improve education in Massapequa. Because of the new standards we really needed everything in this budget in order for the students to achieve. The district is moving in the right direction."

The budget was also supported by the PTAs, who were very happy to see the nine period day and smaller class sizes added to the 1999-2000 budget.

Carol Giannattasio, president of the PTA Coordinating Council stated, "I'm thrilled the budget is passing. A lot of things are in there that need to be done like maintaining class size. With the increasing enrollment this budget has made a commitment to keeping class size what it should be." Giannattasio added, "It is important that we have a nine period day, we should have had it a long time ago, most of the surrounding districts went to a nine period day before this. It is important in order to get all requirements in, without them having to miss lunch." Giannattasio noted that this budget also included a commitment to technology, which she described as "the wave of the future."

This support of the budget was reflected in the numbers, with 1941 votes in favor and 1330 votes opposing the budget.