There is an old adage in politics that says when a challenger faces a highly accomplished incumbent, the challenger has to dig deep to find something, to find anything, to distract from the incumbent’s many strengths in the hopes that the electorate will not see the obvious choice in front of them.

Because elections are really just choices, the question voters ask themselves is a simple one: “Is candidate A the better choice or is candidate B the better choice?”

On May 4, another member of our community wrote to argue that Donna Peirez, who for the last six years has served our community as a school board trustee, and served before that for nearly 40 years as an educator, has a conflict of interest because her daughter is a teacher in the district.

Of course, this issue never came up during either of Donna’s two previous campaigns (her daughter was teaching in the district then as well), nor was it an issue when former Board of Education President Larry Gross and former Board Member Connie McNichol served while they had family employed by the district.

This is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the choice in front of us.

During Donna’s long period of service, she has chaired the Shared Decision Committee, the Policy Committee, and is the current vice president of the board. Simply put, Donna’s unmatched experience and expertise have served our district extremely well.

While she did not explicitly say it, clearly the author of the letter is a supporter of Donna’s opponent, Mr. Hakimi.

I have never met Mr. Hakimi (more on that later), and I am sure he is a hardworking family man, but nobody other than his most ardent supporters knows what he stands for.

He bills himself as “the voice of concerned parents.” It’s an interesting slogan, but what does it mean? Does it mean he seeks to give a voice only to parents of current students who are unhappy with the district?

What about those of us who count their blessings that their children are fortunate enough to be educated in one of the best school districts in the nation? What about retirees who watched their children go through the Great Neck School District and go on to great things and who want to see their property values remain high? Or the young couple who just took out a huge mortgage to purchase a home here knowing that they have invested in their growing family’s future? They all get to vote in the election and they all deserve representation that will not make radical changes. Will Mr. Hakimi give them a voice as well? And what kind of teachers will want to work here knowing that there is even a possibility of radical change coming to the district?

On his website, Mr. Hakimi proclaims that the district once had a reputation for excellence. Why does he believe it no longer does? He also states that he wants to establish transparency. A quick search of the school district’s website tells you more than you could imagine about what is going on in the district. He also states that he wants to optimize budget allocations. How? What programs does he want to cut?

Many, including myself, were looking forward to meeting Mr. Hakimi to ask him these questions when he scheduled a meet-and-greet for April 11. He would have had a wonderful opportunity to dispel the idea that he has radical positions that do not comport with the views of the majority of voters in our town. But these and other questions were left unanswered when he abruptly canceled the meet-and-greet on the day of the event. To date, it has not been rescheduled.

Last week, a local organization hosted a candidates forum to give the voters a chance to understand the differences between the candidates. Donna Peirez appeared, but Mr. Hakimi declined the invitation. To date, he has not made himself available for a different forum with different moderators. To borrow part of Mr. Hakimi’s slogan, this is concerning. Now of course, on May 3 Mr. Hakimi revealed that he is in favor of the budget, but why did we need to wait so long to find out? What are his positions on every other issue? We should all call upon Mr. Hakimi to debate Ms. Peirez. We all deserve to know what our candidates stand for.

Finally, to those considering sitting on the sidelines, take it from someone who saw a bond get voted down in 2017 and watched 1,894 of our neighbors vote no on the budget in 2020. You cannot sit this one out. I lived here for seven years before I ever even thought of voting in a school board election. If people stay at home, I fear that for the first time ever, we will have elected someone to our school board who has not told us what they stand for.

We deserve better. We deserve transparency. We deserve Donna Peirez. Vote on May 17.

Mark Berger
Great Neck