The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District is slowly making headway after it passed a resolution to eliminate its schools as polling places. Needing approval from the Nassau County Board of Elections, Superintendent Robert Katulak is in a “wait and see mode.” The board of elections did not return calls for comment.
Katulak said the district will meet with Nassau County after the holiday season.
“We’ve done the bulk of the work,” he said. “Now if they consent to it, the county would just have to notify voters where to go instead of coming into the schools. There’s nothing definitive yet, because we haven’t had a meeting.”
The movement stems from a lockdown that commenced at New Hyde Park Road School during the primary elections on Tuesday, Sept. 9. A faulty panic button initiated the
lockdown around 10:25 a.m. and Nassau County police were called to the scene, officials said. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown.
“We are still working diligently,” New Hyde Park Road School PTA President Danielle Messina said. “We’re trying to get the school board more involved as well.”
The New Hyde Park Road School PTA circulated a petition in mid-September, calling for the polls’ ousting at an inter-school PTA meeting. The list garnered the signatures of high-profile officials, including Katulak, all six board of education members, four district principals, Senator Jack Martins and North Hempstead Councilman Angelo Ferrara.
“I’ve called the county myself,” Messina said. “No return calls. I still feel we’re at a standstill.”
Katulak sent a letter to Nassau County after adopting the resolution. He also forwarded the letter to the New Hyde Park Village Board.
“We’ve heard a lot about that this past season and so far, according to the superintendent’s letter, not much reaction from the board of elections at this point,” Deputy Mayor
Lawrence Montreuil said. “It’s certainly important to the board of education and they’re asserting that issue.”
PTA reps suggested previously that polling places should include local area fire departments (there are four in the school district zone alone), the Hillside Public Library and Village Hall on Jericho Turnpike.
“I’ve been contacting the school board because we need our school board attorney to write letters to [Nassau County],” Messina said. “A resolution was passed and they should be involved.”
New Hyde Park resident Kurt Langjhar is against school poll elimination, citing educational reasons for future voters.
“People going into the school and voting does not cause a security problem,” he said. “I’m in security and I know what that means. You can cordon off the parking lot and the gym where I’ve been voting for the last few years at Hillside Grade School. Voting sets an example for the children.”
Langjhar asserts voter apathy would increase.
“In the last election to elect the governor, only 29 percent came out to vote,” Langjhar said. “That’s less than one-third. That’s why I object to [the plan].”
State Legislation Movement
New Hyde Park-Garden City Park is also proposing a law change before New York State to limit all board of election powers concerning schools as polling places. To amend the law, the change would need approval from the Board of Regents and state legislature.
“This is a very important situation and it needs to get done as quickly as possible,” NHP-GCP School Board trustee Tara Notine said. “I think this [law] should be on a bigger level.
There should be no polling in schools around the country.”
Current law allows local board of elections to designate school buildings as polling places because they are publicly-funded properties, but the administrators themselves have no say in whether or not they wish for polling to be conducted there. The board views this as a major concern because it hampers their ability to control who is in their buildings and when. The plan recently garnered support from the New York State School Board Association.
“It would have to say that the board of elections could only designate schools as a polling place with the permission of a school district,” Katulak said.
For the school board, tragic events like the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012 give weight to their request.
“In the age of school shootings, the health and safety of students and the school staff is of paramount concern,” the adopted board resolution says. “Restricting unfettered access during the school day to the public school buildings designated as polling places is vital to enhancing school safety.”
