—By Hermann Braun
I am concerned by the recent statements of the President of the Mineola Board of Education, Artie Barnett. It seems that he is attempting to smear the reputation of Joy Renner, a candidate for the Mineola School Board trustee position.
One would hope that an elected official would not resort to these tactics. I am specifically referring to a quote stated in the Mineola American “given the strained relationship between our two boards, my concern is it’s to eliminate our objectives to the Village Green finance and get an insider on the board. The Renner Swensen ticket has already indicated that they were urged by the Deputy Mayor of Mineola [to run for school board trustee].”
Not only does he discredit her, he also raises a serious allegation against one of our very own teachers in the school district.
Brian Widman, who is currently running on the same ticket as Christine Napolitano, has also posted inflammatory and derogatory comments about Joy Renner on his Facebook page. These posts were quickly removed and Brian admitted that these comments were merely gossip and took the comments down. I am disappointed by the gorilla tactics of this campaign thus far.
I know Joy is an outstanding candidate for school board. She is a teacher for 22 years a member of the athletic booster club and a mother of three young boys, all of which are Mineola students. She was also the president of the South Park Civic Association for four years.
I know that she also serves on various committees in the school she works in. She is impartial and would be coming onto the school board without an agenda. I have personally known Joy for 16 years and I know her to be honest, upstanding and an active member of our community. She is frequently at gatherings and sporting events throughout the community. We would be fortunate to have her represent the community of our school board and making lifelong decision that directly impact our children and school district. I hope you join in my support and cast a vote for Joy Renner on May 19.
