The Great Neck Board of Education swore in members elected during the district’s May election Thursday night, reappointing Rebecca Sassouni as the board’s president.

The board convened at the Phipps Administration Building for its annual reorganization meeting, followed by a regular Board of Education meeting.

Sassouini, who is starting her third term, and newcomer Joanne Chan were sworn into their posts during the meeting.

“We welcome Joanne, Mrs. Chan, who has served so long as a parent leader as she joins the board as our newest member,” Sassouni said.

A mother of four, Chan has been a resident of Great Neck for 20 years, volunteering for 15 years in the Parent Teacher Associations of Saddle Rock Elementary School, Great Neck South Middle and South High Schools, and became co-president of the United Parent Teacher Council’s Total Community Involvement Committee in 2016, which oversees all the PTAs.

“I am honored to be elected to the board and serve the public,” Chan said. “We will be working as a team and I look forward to that.”

Chan was sworn in early in order for the board to have a quorum, as only three members of the board were present. This was due to a board vacancy and Vice President Grant Toch’s absence from the meeting.

Sassouni said the board’s vacancy will be addressed “in due course.”

“And I would like to reassure anyone who is listening that in due course the board will work together by a consensus regarding the current vacancy,” Sassouni said.

Toch was re-appointed as the board’s vice president by his fellow board members but will be sworn in at a later date.

The Board of Education opted not to host a celebratory announcement of the district’s new superintendent in order to honor the memory of the late Superintendent Teresa Prendergast.

Prendergast, 60, died unexpectedly from a ruptured brain aneurysm on June 10.

Prendergast had been the district’s superintendent for the past eight years. She was planning to retire from her position on July 21 to become principal of Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead starting in August.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Stephen Lando referred to his position as a bridge between the loss of Prendergast and the introduction of newly hired Superintendent Kenneth Bossert.

The Board president complimented Lando for his efforts in stepping in to help the district after the loss of Prendergast.

The announcement of the new superintendent has been deferred to the board’s August meeting.

“I look forward to Dr. Bossert joining his expertise to our already unparalleled board and district administrative team, our faculty, our families and our students,” Sassouni said. “We have to look forward and I think we should do so with a great deal of optimism for the Great Neck Public Schools.”

During its regular meeting, the board also honored Brian Oliver, a security guard at Parkville Elementary School who extinguished a fire at a home near the school before the fire department arrived.

“With disregard for his own safety, he took care of not only just our students but also our community,” Lando said.

The Board of Education presented Oliver with an award for performance of duty commendation.

The Great Neck Board of Education will convene again at 7:45 p.m. on Aug.  23 in the Phipps Administration Building. Meetings are live streamed on the Board of Education’s youtube channel.