Bendit told The Jewish Press that after nine years as a member of the Board of Regents his retirement became a business decision. He is the co-chief executive officer of Manhattan-based Taconic Investment Partners, LLC.
“Over the last couple of years, my business has gotten very, very active and the demands being placed upon me by my business [and] other boards that I’m on have made it more difficult for me to do the job that I feel I should be doing in serving the state and my colleagues on the board. You have a diverse board. That’s very important. All have been able to add a lot to the discussion around education.”
Tisch, who says she identifies as a “conservadox” Jew, said her tenure will hopefully be marked by her staunch support of “the parochial school system as a real part of choice in this state.”
“I believe in strong parochial schools,” Tisch told The Jewish Press. “I believe in values-based education. I believe parochial schools should be held to the same standards that we have for all schools. When I read that some of these Yiddish schools are not meeting academic standards it’s very disturbing to me. I’m hoping they are taking this seriously. I do believe that if you believe in choice, values-based education is something we should embrace and that we continue to provide as a choice.”
New Members Tapped For Board Of Regents
Dr. Asher Mansdorf, a Board of Education member of the Lawrence Union Free School District in Nassau County, a dentist and an observant Jew, was one of more than 70 candidates who applied for three available seats. Mansdorf tried to downplay the elite image of the school district.
“Over the last ten years Lawrence has been identified as having the largest and fastest-growing Hispanic community on Long Island,” Mansdorf explained to the Assembly panel convened to decide on who would be the new Regent. “We have a fully implemented K-12 bilingual program. The number of our children who are economically disadvantaged from 1995 changed from nine percent to 61 percent. Seventy percent of the Lawrence school district students are eligible for either a free or a reduced-fee lunch. That’s astounding. We have had to strategize, almost on a weekly basis, to create avenues to allow for the children to succeed.”
Mansdorf made a point to the mostly non-Jewish panel of his “choice to overtly identify as an observant Jew.”
“My choice to wear a yarmulke, which broadcasts to others my Jewish observance, may seem at first blush to set me apart, to identify me not as a New Yorker but as a member of a smaller group within our great state,” Mansdorf said in making his point. “To the contrary. I believe it makes a different statement. It says that each of us is unique. We each have our own values and beliefs but notwithstanding our differences, we are one community.”
The 17-member Board of Regents is elected by the state Legislature for five-year terms: one from each of the state’s 13 judicial districts and four members who serve at-large. Regents are unsalaried and are reimbursed only for travel and related expenses in connection with their official duties.
Making the cut during this arduous process were Luis Reyes, 71, director of education at Hunter College’s Center for Puerto Rican Studies; Nan Mead, an education activist, a public school parent who works for a midtown Manhattan-based investment consulting firm; and Elizabeth Hakanson, 70, a retired teacher from Syracuse. The majority of the board will be women, and half the board will represent minority groups.