Sunshine Elected Board President, Israel Approved

It was another emotional night at the Glen Cove Board of Education meeting Monday as Joel Sunshine and Grady Farnan were elected to fill the roles of president and vice president of the board, and local principal Michael Israel was approved as assistant superintendent of curriculum for the district.

The board's vote in favor of Sunshine was split 4-2, with one vote absent. Donna Brady, Ida McQuair, Farnan and Sunshine were in favor; Gail Nedbor-Gross and outgoing vice president David Huggins were against.

Only Huggins voted against Farnan. Nedbor-Gross abstained from that vote.

Barrie Dratch was absent.

Sunshine and Farnan were the only trustees nominated for their respective positions.

Israel's approval was unanimous, and prompted the room to break into applause and shouts of encouragement to the administrator, who leaves his position as principal of .

Israel's selection comes after the board's June 18 meeting to advocate for him over the superintendent's recommended candidate, a woman currently in the same position in another school district.

Sunshine voted with the minority in favor of that candidate last month, and received considerable backlash after a comment he made cautioning against following "a slippery slope towards mob rule."

The incoming Glen Cove Parent Teacher Association Council president took to the podium to address Sunshine when it was time for public comments. She asked him for several district statistics and requested an apology for his choice of words - not to be received - before making the statement that she would not be able to work with Sunshine.

To a call from the audience - resident Glenn Howard - that she should resign, she responded that she would.