New school board members eye closed school

Game changer. That's what the election of two new Huntington school board members may be when it comes to reopening the Jack Abrams School.

But maybe not right away.

Jennifer Hebert, 43, and Adam Spector, 48, though not as a team, ran and won on platforms vowing to refocus the board on education and build consensus among a community deeply divided over the use of the Huntington Station school. To the chagrin of some parents and the relief of others, the school board closed the building to students in July after a shooting next to a campus parking lot.

Hebert and Spector say they support reopening the building, but not before there can be thoughtful input from people on either side of the issue.

"The absolute last thing I want to do is reopen that school in a similar manner to the way it was closed," Spector said. "Meaning without careful consideration, without significant evaluation of the impact of opening the school both educationally and by cost, overcrowding. It needs to be part of a real plan."

He said he also wants to hear from the district's long-range planning facilities committee about what they think should be done with the building and how it fits into a comprehensive plan for the district.

"That will be one of the inputs of determining whether, how and when to reaccept students into the building," Spector said.

Hebert, a member of the committee, said the school was a "dealbreaker issue" for some voters, most of whom, she believes, want the building reopened.

"I think most people would like to see it done in a more thoughtful, careful way than it was closed," Hebert said. "So I'm not saying I'm advocating throwing the doors open tomorrow but that will certainly be something that comes up early on the board."

Current school board president Bill Dwyer, 46, who lost his seat last week after one term, had become a central figure in the debate over how the school was to be used. Last spring, he voted to turn the school into a sixth-grade center, angering residents who previously had not been required to send their children to the school. Later he cast the deciding vote to close the school, upsetting parents who wanted it to remain open.

He also took on issues that some say were not the purview of the school board, including opposing a senior-housing development not far from the school.

"The reality is the last three years we've had some very weighty things we've been forced to deal with outside of the district," Dwyer said. Some of those were "the underlying causes" of the board's decisions.

Hebert said she thinks the board should keep an eye on issues that influence the district, but can't forget its mandate.

"It's a board of education. My main focus will be on improving the quality of education and creating as many opportunities for our students to excel and do their best within the budget restraints," she said.