New Hyde Park’s elementary school district voters will see a new name on their ballot this year.
Rose-Ann Cunanan, a lifelong Garden City Park resident, PTA president, and youth development professional, is challenging longtime incumbent Jennifer Kerrane for her seat on New Hyde Park-Garden City Park elementary district’s board of education. The two make up what might be the calmest contested school board race in the area.
Cunanan, who said she had nothing but respect for the current board and wished her attempt to seek a seat wouldn’t push someone else off, and Kerrane, who said she welcomed new ideas and people on the board, couldn’t be in more polite competition with each other if they tried.
Cunanan currently works as a senior program manager for Nassau County Girl Scouts and has three kids, all of whom have graduated from New Hyde Park-Garden City Park and two of whom are currently in the district’s high schools.
If elected, she said she would work to increase communication and community understanding of the school board, engage more parents in board meetings, increase the amount of information on the district website and ensure the voices of younger or newer district parents are heard.
“I think bringing in somebody new kind of refreshes the board and brings in a new perspective,” Cunanan said, adding that running for a board seat felt like a natural next step for her after working the district’s PTA for 10 years. “I have younger kids who have just graduated through the district, so I understand the current needs and what’s going on, what parents are feeling and saying.”
It seems she’s chosen the right person to challenge.
Kerrane, a retired nursery school teacher who said she’s served on the board for 10 years, said she welcomed a newcomer to the board.
“I welcome my opponent to come in and do what she thinks she needs to do, because change is good,” Kerrane said. “I welcome anyone else advocating for the children in the community to come in and have their say as a community member, to be an elected official, to represent those in our neighborhood.”
Kerrane, a 21-year resident of New Hyde Park who emphasized that her work and accomplishments on the board have been collaborative, said she’s worked alongside her fellow trustees to make the district’s schools more current, advocate for students to ensure they were provided with the best education possible, and get more people in the community involved with the schools.
“Many changes have been made over the past 10 years that have brought our district to the current decade or century,” she said. “I work very well with my fellow board members. We really are a good board.”
She said she was part of the board that supported the campaign to prevent voting in the district’s schools due to student safety concerns.
“We took our action and just refused to have elections in our schools,” Kerrane said. “As president, I was able to tell our superintendent at the time to just reject those boxes and booths, and we’re not doing it. And we were successful.”
“It has always been my priority to do what I was called to do, whether I agreed with it or not. As an elected person, it’s objectively my role to fulfill what people want,” Kerrane said. “If people think that my opponent can help move our district to where it might need to be next, then that’s fine. I welcome the voters’ choice, and I’m very happy to see that other community members are stepping up.”
Cunanan said she felt called to step up and run as her youngest child graduated from elementary school.
“My last kid was graduating [from elementary school], and I was like, ‘Okay, what am I going to do now?,” Cunanan, who emphasized how much she cared about and enjoyed working with younger children, said. “I thought, ‘How can I still continue working with the community? Where can I still help?’”
She said she found her answer in her run to make the board more accessible to younger parents and the larger community.
“For me, it’s about providing representation. I am probably one of the younger parents that would be on the board, so I feel like I would love to be that person that shows the community that it is something accessible and that there are going to be other people that understand where they’re coming from,” Cunanan said. “I feel like I am pretty active within the community and can connect with it. Hopefully I’ll be able to engage more people in our board meetings and get the information outwards.”
Her career has always centered on supporting youth.
Prior to working for the Nassau County Girl Scouts, Cunanan was the executive director of Filipino American Human Services, a social services organization based in Jamaica, Queens.
There, she supported their after-school programs for high school students and was a preschool teacher’s assistant at Gloria Dei Nursery School for seven years. She has also helped lead her daughters’ Girl Scout troop and taught religious education.
“This is where my heart is, working with the kids,” Cunanan said. “I just feel like this would be a great way for me to continue.”
Kerrane’s fellow incumbents, current board President Kathryn Canese and Patricia Rudd, are also running for re-election, though neither faces challengers.
Canese, who works as a case manager for an insurance company and holds a degree in education counselling has lived in the district for over 20 years. She’s been on the board for six of those years, said she’s running again because she sees no reason to step away from the seat.
“I know what the role entails and I really enjoy volunteering time for my community,” Canese, who has volunteered and been on the board of Hillside Grade School and New Hyde Park Memorial High School’s PTAs, said. “We have a great working relationship with our superintendent and the administrators.”
Rudd has been on the board for over 20 years. She did not respond to an interview request for the article.
District voters can cast their ballots in the school board, including a vote on the district’s budget for the 25-26 school year, on May 20, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
