With current board member RoseAnn Buglione running for re-election against Rose Scott, another seat on the Mineola Board of Education is up for grabs. The seat on the five-member board currently belongs to board president Dennis Mortensen, who is running for re-election against Vivian Rose and Mary Ellen Williams. Here is a look at the three candidates:

Dennis Mortensen was born and raised in Mineola. A graduate of Mineola Schools himself, Mr. Mortensen has a daughter who has gone through the Mineola Schools and now attends Adelphi University and another daughter who attends Mineola Middle School.

Mr. Mortensen has also attended Nassau BOCES and Nassau Community College. He is employed by the New York City Board of Education in the division of school facilities.

Mr. Mortensen would like to thank voters for electing him to the board of education in the past and hopes for continued support. "It is with great pride I can honestly say that I enjoy the challenges of shaping the future of Mineola Public Schools as well as education itself," he said.

Mr. Mortensen said that during his time on the Mineola Board of Education he has tried to be fiscally conservative while wanting and trying to get the best programs for Mineola students.

This past school year, Mr. Mortensen has served as the president of the Mineola Board of Education. "With our new superintendent, we have made major strides in how the school district is operating and how it will operate in the future," he said.

In the past year as a board member, Mr. Mortensen helped put together a multi-year plan with a district mission, core values and goals in a specific timeline for educational excellence.

The board that Mr. Mortensen has been a part of has also created a new position of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

Mr. Mortensen has also been a part of a board that has signed an energy performance contract and changing lighting and boilers in the schools. The board also agreed to a feasibility study to see if the district can implement an all-day kindergarten program at the new Willis Avenue School without a major impact on the budget. The new Willis Avenue School for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes as well as central administration is being built with funds approved by voters in a successful bond referendum that was put together while Mr. Mortensen was a member of the board.

He lists pre-kindergarten for all with no lottery system, the formation of the Regents plus program, tech prep program and institution of traveling board of education meetings as some of the other accomplishments of the board that Mr. Mortensen has served on.

Mr. Mortensen also started the statewide resolution that led to laws involving the fingerprinting of all school employees for the protection of children.

Vivian Rose has been a resident of the district for 36 years. A graduate of Mineola High School, Mrs. Rose has two children who also attended school in the district. She has an undergraduate degree from New York Institute of Technology and a master's degree in clinical psychology.

For the past 14 years, Mrs. Rose has been active in the Mineola School District on numerous committees including health and safety, the home school partnership collaboration, middle school site base team, high school site base team, interview committees for middle school assistant principal and high school department directors.

Mrs. Rose has also served as president of the Mineola Middle School PTA for two years, president of the Mineola Music Parents Association for two years and currently serves as the District Council of PTA representative for the high school. "My volunteer hours outside of the district have always included children. Being a Sunday school teacher was a gratifying experience," she said.

In addition, Mrs. Rose served on the board of directors for child abuse prevention services for the past nine years, and has dedicated countless hours to children all over Long Island.

In addition to being involved in the Mineola School District, Mrs. Rose was also employed by the district as a teacher aid for almost four years. "This experience certainly has given me a lot more insight on the day to day operations of the district," she said.

Mrs. Rose has regularly attended board meetings for the past several years and looks forward to the prospect of becoming a board member and working on the concerns and projects spoken about in the past.

"I truly believe we can provide our children with an educational experience that will enable them to be responsible, competent, caring and productive citizens. This can be done without draining our community financially. Spending money is not the only way to raise standards and improve test scores. Our community contains an enormous wealth of knowledge of wealth and experience," she said.

Mrs. Rose is proud of the schools and would like an opportunity to help make the district stand out and be recognized for providing the highest level of education for all of the students is a fiscally responsible manner.

Mrs. Rose believes in providing the highest level of education for all students in the district without draining the community financially.

A resident of Williston Park since 1986, Mary Ellen Williams has been extremely active in the Mineola School District. She recently served as the Interschool Council of PTA president, a position she has held for the past two years.

Mrs. Williams has two children in the Mineola Public Schools, a student in the eighth grade and a student in the third grade. She has been a registered nurse since 1980 and was employed from 1980 to 1996 at North Shore University Hospital or Winthrop-University Hospital as a staff nurse, assistant head nurse and an oncology clinical nurse specialist.

Mrs. Williams brought her care for health to the school as she was instrumental in distributing the PRIDE survey to Mineola School District to gauge the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs in Mineola Schools. Mrs. Williams then helped set up a summit meeting with community leaders for the purpose of proposing possible ideas to help prevent students from drinking, smoking or taking drugs.

As the former president of the District Council of PTA, Mrs. Williams helped bring the schools in the district closer together by encouraging open communication. She advocated for combined elementary school PTA meetings so parents could discuss issues important to their children.

Mrs. Williams feels that in her roles on various committees, she has gained an understanding of the Mineola School District. She also believes she understands the value of teamwork and dedication as well as the ability to make decisions in the best interests of the students of the district.

In her involvement in the schools, she has served as the co-president of the Meadow Drive PTA. She was the parent representative for the Meadow Drive Site-Based Management Team from 1999 to 2001. She is a member of the community summit planning/steering committee. She was also the co-coordinator of the Mineola Middle School Drama Club for parents, chaired the parents interview team for the superintendent search last year and was a member of the recent interview team for the Meadow Drive principal search. Her district-wide committee assignments include the budget advisory committee from 1995 to 2002, the technology advisory committee, health and safety council, Mineola community outreach committee, citizens' committee to promote the bond issue, curriculum and assessment management teach and space utilization committee.

Mrs. Williams believes in enabling each student to reach his or her potential by creating an environment for students to be motivated to succeed in. She would like an opportunity to help make a difference in the school district as an advocate for each individual student.