Candidates and Conflicts

By QI WANG and ARABELLA BALGOBIND

Recently, the Jericho Joint PTA hosted a Meet the Candidates Night moderated by the League of Women Voters at which trustee candidates Chris Foresto, Joe Lin, John Sarraf, and Robert Wozniak responded to various questions from Jericho residents and expressed goals they would like to accomplish if elected.  

Chris Foresto shared that he is a father of three boys and that he demonstrates a sustained history of community service. He serves as the chair of the Department of Radiology at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. If elected, he seeks to implement a business center that focuses on real-world financial principles to teach students about banking, savings, and debt. Foresto also proposed ideas such as “daily wellness check-ins, encouraging communications with teachers, guidance counselors, coaches, nurses, and peers” for stressed Jericho students.  

Foresto claims to maintain objective views. He said, “Jericho trustees must ensure they do not succumb to the politics of the moment, and remember that they represent the entire community and not a single group or constituency.” 

Foresto put forth a student-first message. He said, “The board has a sole focus, and that is the students. Everything that we do is for the benefit of you. That is always the goal. That is always the endpoint. Every decision that’s made, every discussion that’s held, serves the sole benefit of providing you with the finest education, the finest curriculum, the best resources, and to put you on the best footing to succeed in Jericho schools and beyond.”

Joe Lin is the father of a middle school son and coaches his son’s sports and robotics teams. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from NYU Stern. Lin specifically emphasized the diversity within the Jericho community and stated how he wishes to “help our schools navigate opposing views and cultural differences to ensure all members of our community feel welcome.” 

As a trustee, Lin promised to address a lack of transparency between the board of education and Jericho parents, and maintain a shared vision on the board of education. He said, “The biggest challenge facing the board is that when we meet, we aren’t transparent with parents on how decisions are made. We don’t have a shared vision.”

Another goal that Lin has listed on his campaign website is to close gaps in Jericho’s K-12 STEM curriculum to raise Jericho’s level of excellence further. Lin provided an example of how he coaches his son’s VEX robotics team and represents Jericho at competitions. However, very few Jericho participants compete at the elementary level. If elected, Lin looks forward to closing what he perceives to be gaps in STEM, art, and literature programs. He said, “The most important thing is that we need to have a passion for the things that we do. For me, I have a vision that Jericho has a program that will empower our children to chase after their dreams and reach their full potential. Whatever they want to chase is available in Jericho.”

Lin’s campaign slogan is “Focused on our children.” He stressed that, “There is an opportunity right now in Jericho for us to focus on our children again because they are the heart and soul of this community. Their success, who they’re going to be in the future, should be our priority.”

John Sarraf was the third candidate on the roster. He has been the CEO of US Alliance Paper for the past 25 years and earned his bachelor’s degree in finance at CW Post. He also studied business at Harvard University. He has two daughters who attend Jericho Middle School and he seeks to get more involved with the board’s financial endeavors. Sarraf said, “We have a very rich budget which ensures students an amazing education. We need to be fiscally responsible.” He stated that he would create an audit committee and invite Jericho’s financial professional parents to participate. As a committee, they would further advise the board on how the district allocates funds from the school’s annual budget.

Sarraf addressed the issue of curricular content. He said, “Whenever you want to introduce something that’s polarizing, I don’t think it belongs in schools.” He believes it is the parents’ role to teach social justice, and he is a firm believer that all students deserve equal opportunity.

Sarraf emphasized that two-way dialogue is the most efficient way to maintain a productive school board, and presented ideas he would implement if elected. Sarraf mentioned that he planned to review Jericho’s entire school policy and update it as necessary. In his concluding remarks he said, “I have a long list that I’m going to try to accomplish. It will probably take a few years to accomplish all the goals that are listed.”

Sarraf’s main message for Jericho students is, “Continue the excellence that we’ve held traditionally for a very long time.”

Robert Wozniak was the fourth candidate on the roster. He is a Jericho High School graduate who attended college at Hofstra University. He is a project manager for PSEG Long Island and has two daughters who attend Cantiague Elementary School. Wozniak’s primary goal is academics. He said, “I’m compelled to perhaps reset Jericho’s direction by returning to academic excellence. This is especially necessary given the social and political issues that have become a factor in education, and become a distraction from the primary role of the school district education.”

Wozniak believes, “The richness of this community lies in its diversity.” He takes pride in how we respect each other’s cultures and traditions. One of the more controversial statements put forth by Wozniak during the night was his thoughts in regards to the discussions of social justice in the classroom. He said that social justice and other “outside matters, such as Black Lives Matter” are “political” and “do not belong in the district.”

Wozniak assured Jericho parents and residents that he is a reliable candidate to elect. He said, “For the past five years, I’ve been a regular attendee of Board of Education meetings and have spoken and submitted written comments on a variety of topics.” Wozniak said he would strive to reduce the stress on Jericho students, maintain the district’s annual budget, and bring Jericho back to a prosperous state where academic excellence is the board’s main priority.

The 4 candidates agreed on many policies throughout the night. They agreed that the budget is sound and that the administration is running the district well. However, there were areas of disagreement, particularly in response to an audience question about mandatory lunch in the high school. Wozniak felt that a mandatory lunch would be beneficial. He said, “I’m guilty of not taking lunch during work, but you really have to eat.” 

Sarraf supported Wozniak’s statement. He said, “I am not an expert on how to reduce stress, but I would form a committee to do that even if that means requiring mandatory lunches.”

Foresto disagreed. He said, “Lunch should be optional for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders based on their personal needs and schedule. Mandatory lunches are bound to cause scheduling conflicts with students who are taking advanced courses.”

Lin put forth a different approach. He said, “The real conversation to have is why are children not having lunch? What is driving them to skip that lunch? I highly doubt our children are running around saying, ‘I don’t want to have lunch.’” 

Lin added that academic stress poses a threat to the well-being of Jericho students, which is an issue that needs to be prioritized at the board level. 

Jericho school district superintendent Hank Grishman expressed his expectation for the board election. He said, “We’re hoping whoever is elected to the school board will help bring together, from my perspective, a fractured board of education.”

Residents turned out for the meeting to hear from the candidates directly. Parent Randeep Johar said, “I’m hoping that the board focuses more on careers of the future which will be STEM-related and that it gets implemented from the elementary level and onwards.”

Another unnamed resident said, “I’m hoping that they will be more transparent with the parents going forward about whatever decisions they make because right now the board doesn’t allow the parents to have that much insight.”

In his closing remarks, Chris Foresto thanked The Jericho Teachers Association (JTA) for their endorsement. JTA president Ronald Vederber explained that the union endorsed Foresto because they feel he best represents the values of the district and the community. Vederber said, “I believe that he, out of all the candidates, best supports making sure that all of our students’ voices are heard and that we’re not just looking at what the current political ideologies are, but at the voices of all of our students to make sure that we’re providing educational opportunities for all.”

The budget vote and trustee election will be held on Tuesday, May 17th, 2022, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Sam Springer Gym. All members of Jericho’s community who are 18 years or older, district residents for at least 30 days prior to the election date, and citizens of the United States are qualified and encouraged to vote in the upcoming election. For more information, click here.