Magaldi Withdraws from Mineola School Board Race

Mineola school board candidate Gerald Magaldi has withdrawn his petition as a school board candidate on the May 17 vote.

The announcement came during Thursday’s meeting of the board of education at the .

According to Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler, Magaldi had spoken to District Clerk Donna Martillo and submitted a letter withdrawing his candidacy.

No reason was given at the meeting for Magaldi’s withdrawal and calls to Magaldi’s home seeking comment were not immediately returned.

A resident of Albertson, Magaldi had been one of three challengers to the two open seats on the board currently held by board and .

The remaining two challengers are Veronica Levitan and Joe Manopella.

As part of its election coverage, the Mineola Patch has been producing video profiles of each of the candidates. With Magaldi’s withdrawal, they are presented in this article merely as references from the candidate debate night.

The withdrawal also poses “some issues” Dr. Nagler said, because of the timing of the announcement. Due to the withdrawal occurring within a certain timeframe, it reopens the window for new candidates to run on the May 17 ballot. Any candidate who obtains 49 signatures by 5 p.m. on May 10 may now take the spot vacated by Magaldi.

“The ballot and the candidates are now not official until five o’clock on Tuesday the 10th,” Dr. Nagler said.

The withdrawal also requires the district clerk to send every person who submitted an absentee ballot – 146 to date according to Dr. Nagler – notifying them that Magaldi has withdrawn and giving them an opportunity to recast their ballot.

Additionally, the district is required to post public noties in and around the district that there is a candidate withdrawal and the possibility of another person running.

If another candidate does file, there would be a need to reorder the candidates’ names as they appear on the ballot, which would further delay the ability to submit all the information.

Since Magaldi was running on line ‘D,’ Hornberger may chose to move up from line ‘E’ or line ‘D’ can be left vacant.

“All these things sound a little silly but they all have to get done and they all have to get done within a half hour after five o’clock on Tuesday,” Dr. Nagler said. “So if we’re reordering things every candidate has to be present for that.”