Two first-time candidates run for open Floral Park-Bellerose Ed Board seat
With incumbent Michael Culotta out of the race, new candidates Lauren Persic and Victor Ferrante are running against each other for a seat on Floral Park-Bellerose’s Board of Education.
Persic, an oncology nurse with four children between the ages of 2 and 12, and Ferrante, a retired NYPD officer with two sons in the district, are both hoping to bring their ideas to the school board.
Persic said that if elected, she would work to dedicate more resources to the district’s special education programs as well as to expanding the district’s accelerated program, called SPARK, to ensure all students with different learning styles get the support they need. She said she currently volunteers regularly with the district’s PTAs and at school events like wellness and book fairs and is on the district’s Shared Decision Making Committee, which is working to plan a May multicultural fair. She was on the Strategic Planning Committee last year.
Ferrante, who has lived in Floral Park for 10 years, said his top priorities if elected would include reassessing and improving the district’s safety and security plan, ensuring taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted in the budgeting process, increasing board transparency and teacher involvement in school board decisions and ensuring IEPs are accessible for students to obtain. In his free time, he coaches intramural boys soccer in the area, chaperones field trips and is the chair of the non-profit Tumbleweeds Foundation, which fund-raises for residents who are having a difficult time financially.
https://www.longislandpress.com/2025/04/29/new-candidates-floral-park-ed-elect/