The Herricks Board of Education recognized 27 retiring faculty members and staff of the district, as well as several students for their work in Distributive Education Clubs of America. The board also heard a presentation from a transportation firm,Nelson + Pope, about Herricks’ redrawn transportation maps.
The board met on Thursday, May 21, and honored the faculty with certificates of their retirement and congratulated them for their decades of service to the district.
“When I think about retirement, I think about the retirement celebrations that I’ve been to and the opportunities that I’ve had to celebrate colleagues who have retired,” retiring Trustee Jim Gounaris said during the meeting. “It feels like the conversation is very often focused on what’s coming up next, the next chapter, and the next phase of your journey, and how exciting that is. And I think that’s incredibly important.”
The retiring faculty and staff that were both present and not in attendance were Anissa Arnold, Julie Fegan, Linda Finnerty, Theresa Marie, Gina Horton, Melissa Jacobs, Francesca Kennedy, Karen Kliegman, Teri LaDonna, Deborah Masterson, Jacqueline Rudolf, Jean Alexis, Donna Beatty, Kathryn Cerra, Steven Danza, Kimberly Effinger, Stephanie Elgort, Linda Genduso, Margaret Kerrane, Tracey Kimble-Baumann, Karen McLean, Kathryn Mirino, Richard Phillips, Donna Rothenbucher and Thomas Susko.
Notably, incoming Trustee Lisa Iucalano was also honored for her retirement, after serving for 35 years as an English as a New Language and English as a Second Language teacher.
During the meeting, President Juleigh Chin recognized Iucalano’s visit to the Girl Scouts silver award on behalf of the board earlier in the day.
Gounaris gave emotional remarks about retiring Assistant Superintendent, Elizabeth Guercin, and said working with her had been
“I can’t even describe how I feel about this person,” Gounaris said. “All I can tell you is that she keeps me grounded, she cracks me up, she reminds me that it’s way too cold in my office. I’ve learned so very much [from her:] patience, grace, compassion, brilliance, empathy.”
The board also recognized its four student representatives, senior Emma Su, who will be attending Columbia in the fall for electrical engineering; senior Gurneet Pelia, who was accepted into Adelphi University for a biology program; junior Dean Singh and junior Ethan Zhao.
Guercin said the Herricks School District began having student representatives serve on the board before it wasmandatedby New York State in July 2025. She said the board would not work as effectively without its student members.
Source: LI Press
