A changing of the guard might have taken place on Mineola’s school board, but its new leaders say the five-person team is so collaborative it feels like no change at all.
“It’s not about titles, it’s not about power,” said Cheryl Lampasona, the new board president.
“It really is not. Even though Stacy and I were trustees, and then I was vice president last year, I don’t really see a difference in our roles,” said Lampasona in reference to the new board Vice President Stacey DeCillis.
“We have one focus as a board, which makes us so special,” Lampasona continued. “We really put our learners in the forefront. It makes the administration, our teachers and our community members have a clear focus.”
Lampasona, a 10-year trustee and former board vice president, was elected president on July 1. She replaces longtime trustee and now-former board President Margaret Ballantyne-Mannion, who said she was “excited” about Lampasona and DeCillis taking new positions.
“It might be a change in formal titles, but in the end, we are each one of five,” DeCillis said, echoing Lampasona’s sentiment. ‘The board works together, all five of us, to really maintain a high level of education for all of our learners. We’re going to keep being progressive and moving forward along with administration and the leadership in the district, really creating a district that’s a model for so many around the world.”
DeCillis, who has served as a trustee for the past five years, was elected vice president on the same day, quickly filling Lampasona’s vacated seat. An Albertson resident, she has three children in the district and teaches middle school in Garden City. Both she and Lampasona have served on the school board’s policy committee.
Lampasona, a mother of two high school boys in the district and an elementary teacher in New York City’s public schools in Woodside was recently reelected to the school board after winning an uncontested race in May. DeCillis is serving her second term and is up for election in 2027.
Both said they look forward to continuing to push the district to be a pioneer in education across the state and country. They say they’re doing that by helping the district be resilient to change, like that of the new state-imposed cell phone ban, preparing students to be career and college-ready for life after high school in spite of the increase in technology and AI and supporting all learning needs in a new, board-developed program.
One way they’re doing that is by implementing a teaching and curriculum program called Build Your Own Grade. This program offers a student-tailored learning experience that puts students more in control of their grades and education.
“It allows students’ voice and choice. They can determine what activities they are going to do, to show that they achieved the standard that they’re looking for, or they could go above and beyond, if they’re intrinsically motivated to do so,” DeCillis said. She explained that it allowed them to choose ways of learning and subtopics they were specifically interested in throughout their lessons.
For example, she said, if a student already knew a lot of fundamental information about World War II, they could choose to hear a lesson specifically on Normandy’s history in the war, instead of being taught content they already knew well. Teachers will help facilitate the different lessons simultaneously and there will be more options for small group instruction tailored to students’ specific needs.
“The goal is really to hone in on what students need in a small group setting with the teacher, with everyone being in the same classroom, but not hearing the same information repeatedly,” Lampasona said. This, she said, would allow students to seek personalized help at different points throughout a lesson, so one student who might be struggling with part a and another who might be struggling with part b can get the targeted instruction they need to both finish their work at the same time.
DeCillis and Lampasona said the policy was developed by the board in coordination with administrators and teachers over the last school year. They said they looked forward to watching it play out this year, particularly because they believe the executive functioning skills it will push students to develop will help them remain competitive applicants in a world looking to automate jobs.
“It’s exciting to see this breakthrough, this different kind of learning, and really watch it unfold throughout the school year, and hone it and change it,” Lampasona said.
“Things like Build Your Own Grade build a new set of skills for students,” DeCillis said. “There’s so much available at their fingertips. Speaking as a history teacher, the kids can look up dates and names and battles all day long, but they have to be able to find good information, good sources, and be able to determine reliability.”
“Those are the kinds of real, higher-level thinking skills and executive functioning skills that we will continue to make a priority for the district because they are the skills that they’re going to need to be employable in the future,” she continued. “AI is going to take over jobs. We need to ensure our learners have a skill set that AI can’t do.”
DeCillis and Lampasona said they were also excited to work with the board’s new student representatives, positions the district has never had before.
“We’re both excited about our student reps…They know exactly what they want to see and contribute, because they’re in the schools. They see it every day,” Lampasona said. “I think it’s going to change a lot of how we see things and how we plan for things, by having their voice be [more present], actually having them physically sitting and listening to our policies.”
Overall, they said they’re just enthusiastic about continuing to contribute to the school board, which they both called an honor and a privilege.
“We’re super excited to be a part of something so great, and still having Margaret, Patrick (Talty) and Brian (Widman) beside us,” Lampasona said of her fellow board members. “We’re still the same core five. Our seats may have changed, but we still have our learners and our community members at the heart of all our decisions.”
The next Mineola School Board meeting is July 30 at 5 p.m.
