Board Trustees
Board President Richard McGrath
Contact: 427-9737
Term Expires 2010
Richard McGrath is currently serving his fourth term on the Huntington School Board. This marks his first year as president. A certified public accountant, he is national sales manager of Thomson Tax and Accounting, Inc, a computerized tax processing company. He heads up sales for the company’s 1099 Information Reporting division.
A 1975 graduate of Huntington High School, Mr. McGrath received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Long Island University in 1979. He has served as a member of district’s audit committee, which helps to provide oversight in dealing with Huntington’s internal and external auditors and has represented the School Board on the Town of Huntington’s affordable housing task force.
In the past, Mr. McGrath has been very active in advocating for the district on issues which have the possibility of negatively impacting the school community, especially the issue of illegal and unsafe housing which affects students and learning as well as property taxpayers.
Mr. McGrath and his wife Laura Jean are the parents of twin boys currently in the ninth grade at Huntington High School. In his free time, Mr. McGrath enjoys coaching lacrosse in the Huntington Village PAL program. An avid long distance runner, he has successfully completed five New York City marathons and two Boston marathons and can often be seen running along area streets.
Board Vice President Robert T. Lee
Contact: 385-9695
Term Expires 2008
Robert T. Lee is the Huntington School Board vice-president and has been a resident of the district since 1981. The proud father of three children, including a daughter Katie, who is a June 2003 graduate of Huntington High School and who earned her undergraduate degree at New York University in May 2007, a son John, who is a 2006 graduate of Huntington High School and is currently attending the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and a son Tom, who is a member of Huntington’s Class of 2007 and who is pursuing a degree at Cornell University.
Mr. Lee’s wife Anne is a lifelong resident of Huntington and a graduate of Huntington High School (Class of 1973), as was her father. A graduate of Valley Stream North High School, Mr. Lee earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Fordham and later obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham Law School. He is an attorney and has been employed with the New York State court system as a principal law clerk to a New York State Supreme Court Justice for the past 28 years.
In addition to his position on the Board of Education, Mr. Lee has also been a member of several PTAs in the district and is active in the Huntington Lions Club. When his children were younger, he was active in Tri-Village Little League and the Huntington YMCA soccer program. He was first elected to the Board of Education in May 1996.
As a School Board member, Mr. Lee has been an energetic supporter of the multi-faceted programs the district offers to students and the comprehensive educational experiences it provides. He has been a proponent of planning regular capital expenditures in a way that allows the district to fund them on a pay-as-you-go basis.
One of Mr. Lee’s goals when first elected to the Board of Education was to make the Board more responsive to members of the community. Since that time, he has worked diligently toward achieving that goal. Residents are provided with several opportunities to address trustees at each School Board meeting and Mr. Lee visits schools and attends events on an almost daily basis, welcoming interaction with the public.
It remains one Mr. Lee’s personal goals to insure that the Board continues its commitment to community involvement in all of the decisions that it makes.
Trustee Elizabeth Black
Contact: 223-3991
Term Expires 2009
Elizabeth Black is serving her fifth year on the Huntington School Board. Mrs. Black and her husband Edwin have three children: BradyRose who is a sophomore at Fordham University, Brendan, who is a junior at the University of Scranton and Kieran, who graduated from Fordham in May 2006.
A graduate of SUNY College at Geneseo (Bachelor of Arts in English Education) and SUNY Stony Brook (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), Mrs. Black also earned her state school administrator certification through the College of New Rochelle.
Mrs. Black has worked as an English teacher on the secondary level in the Kings Park school district for the past 32 years. She is also an adjunct professor for Syracuse University. She has served as a New York State trained peer mediation advisor and a teacher mentor for several years, and has designed and facilitated workshops for first year and probationary teachers. She has also coached the girls’ varsity soccer team and the middle school track team during her years as an educator.
Now in her second term on the School Board, Mrs. Black has been a member of both the District Mental Health Task Force and the Internal Audit Committee, which was mandated by the New York State Legislature to provide oversight of school district financial operations.
As a member of the School Board she has enjoyed delving into academic, extracurricular and financial issues and works hard to remain well versed in all areas of district operations.
Trustee John P. Paci III
Contact:
796-8571
Term Expires 2010
John P. Paci III is serving his first year on the Huntington School Board. He has been a resident of the district since the age of 11 and graduated form Huntington High School in 1990, earning a full athletic scholarship to Indiana University, where he was the starting quarterback for the football team for three years. Mr. Paci and his wife Kelly are the parents of three young children. He is employed by a prominent Wall Street firm.
Mr. Paci, who won the 1989 Hansen Award as Suffolk’s top football player, obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in business in 1994. His collegiate athletic career included leading Indiana to the 1991 Cooper Bowl championship. He later completed graduate level coursework toward a degree in public affairs.
Mr. Paci played professional football in the World League of American Football with the Barcelona Dragons and the Frankfurt Galaxy and in the National Football League with the New York Jets and the Washington Redskins. He was nominated for the NFL Man of the Year Award in 1997.
Following his retirement from pro football in 1999, Mr. Paci embarked on what has become a successful Wall Street investment banking career. Despite his professional commitments, he has supported the school district in several ways including volunteering at practices, mentoring students and helping them achieve their academic and athletic goals and supporting numerous PTA events. He also delivers motivational speeches in schools across Long Island, continuing a practice he began while playing for the Jets.
Mr. Paci was raised in an extended family committed professionally and personally to education. His father, John is well known throughout the community for his many years of service as a teacher and football coach at Huntington High School. His mother, Donna, was an elementary school teacher in West Hempstead. She also served as president of her union. His uncle, Sonny, retired as a principal with Western Suffolk BOCES. His aunt, Fran, is currently a BOCES special education teacher. They collectively represent over 124 years of education service.
Mr. Paci hopes to constructively contribute to the dialogue and program development of the district and use his professional expertise with budget related matters.
Trustee Emily Rogan
Contact: 425-1875
Term Expires 2009
Emily Rogan is serving her second year on the Huntington School Board. An award winning journalist, she grew up here and graduated from Huntington High School in 1983. She went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master’s at New York University.
Ten years ago Mrs. Rogan moved back to Huntington from New York City with her husband Bob (Huntington Class of 1979). Together they have a son, Henry who is a sixth grader at Huntington Intermediate School and a daughter Julia, a second grader at Washington Primary.
Prior to her election to the School Board, Mrs. Rogan was active in the school community for many years, serving on various district-wide committees and participating in building level PTA organizations. A member of the district’s Comprehensive Health Advisory Committee and the Lowndes Avenue Task Force, she is passionate about education in general and particularly public education, and firmly believes in the benefits it reaps for children. Mrs. Rogan has an especially fierce passion for the Huntington School District and a particular interest in the health and wellness of all students.
Professionally, Mrs. Rogan is a freelance writer, often authoring articles for newspapers and magazines about subjects affecting children and families. Before becoming a mother, she worked for the CBS News show 48 Hours. She also worked for many years for Junior Achievement of New York, a non-profit organization that focuses on education and mentoring.
In her free time Mrs. Rogan enjoy running, yoga and playing golf. She is also an avid reader and is known to keep a pile of books nearby.