Three Candidates on May 19 Trustee Ballot

Three candidates will be on the ballot when Huntington School District residents go to the polls on Tuesday, May 19 to select two trustees to serve three year terms on the Board of Education commencing July 1 and running through June 30, 2029.

Incumbent Xavier Palacios will be running for re-election while fellow trustee Kelly Donovan is retiring after six years of service. Mr. Palacios will be joined on the ballot by former trustee Bill Dwyer and first time school board candidate Cooper Macco.

Candidates run at-large so the top two vote-getters will win three year terms. Voting will be held in the Huntington High School gymnasium on Tuesday, May 19 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The following are snapshot profiles of the three candidates on next month’s ballot:

William Dwyer

William P. Dwyer was first elected to the Huntington School Board in May 2008. His fellow trustees selected him to serve as president on three separate occasions. After leaving the Board for two years, he was again elected in May 2013, May 2016, May 2019 and May 2022 for three-year terms.

Mr. Dwyer and his wife Karen are the parents of three sons who are all Huntington High School graduates; Bradley (2012), Brendan (2015) and Ethan (2016).

Mr. Dwyer earned a B.S. degree in mathematics at Providence College and a second B.S. degree in mechanical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. He obtained a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Widely known as Bill, Mr. Dwyer worked at Northrop Grumman for nine years, performing aerodynamic design and analysis using computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel testing. In his time at Northrop Grumman, Mr. Dwyer rose from an entry level engineer position to group leader, winning several NASA contracts for aerodynamic design tasks on the next generation supersonic commercial airplane.

Mr. Dwyer is employed as an account executive for an educational technology company based in Hauppauge. He works with school districts throughout the northeast region to help them maximize their investment in software to benefit their operations. He has served as a member of Huntington UFSD’s Audit Committee. He has been active in the community with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Huntington Village Lacrosse Club.

Cooper Macco

Cooper Macco grew up in Halesite attending Woodhull and Huntington Elementary. He graduated from Cold Spring Harbor High School, Long Island University (B.A. 2008), and St. John's University School of Law (J.D. cum laude, 2012). Since graduating law school, he has spent his career helping Long Island families get back on their feet. As a bankruptcy attorney, he represents people facing foreclosure, crushing credit card or medical debt, or other unforeseen financial crises, giving them the tools to rebuild.

A lifelong Huntington resident with deep roots to the community, Mr. Macco is the vice chair of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, previously served on the Southdown PTA and held various other leadership positions in civic associations. He has also served as President of the Huntington Lawyers Club, chaired the Suffolk County Bar Association's Bankruptcy & Insolvency Committee as well as the Young Professionals Committee of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of the Leadership Huntington program and a recipient of the HTCC Celebrate Long Island's Young Professionals 30 under 30 Award.

Mr. Macco lives in Halesite with his wife, Elizabeth, a speech language pathologist for the NYC Department of Education, his two sons, Michael and Jamie, and their Bernese mountain dog Bruce. When he is not watching his children’s sporting events, he enjoys boating and fishing with his family and friends in the summers, and snowboarding with those same people in the winter.

Xavier Palacios

Xavier Palacios was elected to a fifth term on the Huntington School Board in May 2023. His fellow trustees chose him to serve as the board’s president in each of the past three years. He previously served as vice president for six years. He has enjoyed a long association with the district.

A member of Huntington’s Class of 1988, Mr. Palacios earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University and a Juris Doctor at Boston University’s School of Law. He is the owner and managing partner of a Mineola-based law firm with multiple satellite offices. He is the chairman of Huntington Hospital’s Board of Trustees.

Mr. Palacios and his wife, Laura have three children, including a daughter who was a member of Huntington’s Class of 2016 and who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University’s School of Law; and two daughters in the tenth and twelfth grades at Huntington High School. Both of the younger children studied in the district’s dual language program.

Mentoring has been a priority throughout Mr. Palacios’ life. At Columbia, he taught SAT prep and biology courses to inner city students. He has continued mentoring young people and families in the community and encouraged parents to be actively involved in their child’s education. He has been recognized for his work in the community and his efforts to strengthen opportunities for young people.

During his time on the Huntington School Board, Mr. Palacios has strived to be a problem-solver and to use his legal expertise to contribute to solutions regarding pressing issues facing students, teachers and taxpayers.