Video: Budget Advisory Committee Member Glucksman Competes for School Board Seat

Myron Glucksman, 64, is a retired Citigroup/Citibank investment banker and managing director. He spent 33 years with Citi working in managing various consumer finance businesses and serving in the legal department. He is currently a consultant and expert witness for law firms, banks and other organizations.

He earned a B.S. in engineering from Columbia University in 1968 and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University two years later. He received his juris doctorate in 1985 from Fordham University and a master’s degree in laws in corporation finance from NYU in 1992.

Glucksman has been a resident of Water Mill since 1997 and has lived there full time since 2003. He has been a member of the Budget Advisory Committee for the past two years.

He has been active with the Peconic Land Trust to save farmland from development and with the Southampton Anti-Bias Task Force, an advisory committee of the town, in assisting the town and individuals with bias related concerns.

Glucksman’s wife is an officer of Safe Water Network, a nonprofit that delivers sustainable clean water solutions to communities in the developing world. He has two grown daughters, both of whom live on Long Island. One is a lawyer in private practice and the other is a Doctor of Education candidate.

Patch asked Glucksman three questions. Here are his answers in his own words:

 What qualifies you to be a member of the school board?

As a grandfather of seven girls and three boys, I have a personal interest in, and appreciation of, the importance of quality education at an affordable cost. Two years on the Southampton School Budget Advisory Committee has enabled me to understand many of the issues that the board and our schools are facing, and begin to formulate ideas about solutions that will improve our schools and our children's education.

In addition, my careers and non-profit work have provided me with a breadth of experience that I hope to bring to the Southampton School Board. From my career in banking, I bring experience in negotiating and collaborating with other people and arriving at a better solution as a result. From my legal background, I bring an ability to problem solve and look at issues from multiple perspectives. I have first-hand experience in working with committed colleagues as a member of an educational board, where I serve on the City University of New York's Ph.D. Graduate Center Foundation board. I also played a key role in helping two educational nonprofits overcome their reluctance to merge into an effective umbrella organization for K-12 Jewish education in the New York region. I seek to bring the perspective from these diverse roles and experiences to add value to the Southampton Board.

Why do you want to be a member of the school board?

Getting a good education and going to Columbia changed my life for the better. So I speak with personal experience when I say that there is nothing more important to our community than the education of our children. Our Southampton schools are experiencing major challenges forcing us to ask some important questions:

-How do we educate our students for the 21st century competitive global world?
-How do we do we get the most value from our limited resources?
-How do we recruit, retain and reward highly motivated and effective teachers?

I believe I can add value as a board member in working collaboratively with the teachers, administration, parents and other members of the board and community in addressing these issues.

If elected, what changes would you like to see at Southampton Schools?

I have several ideas about changes that could improve our Southampton Schools.

I would like to see more systematic planning for the future so that we have the foundation to make intelligent long term plans for educating our students. As an example, while a member of the Budget Advisory Committee I advocated for a long term budget forecast and the board has recently indicated its agreement to do one.

I would also like to advance improvements in the use of technology, which can dramatically impact our students, the quality of their education and eventually reduce our cost structure. Specifically, I'd like to see the board consider training all of the teachers and providing computer access to all students.

In addition, I believe it is important to set high achievement goals for our Southampton Schools and base those goals by benchmarking them against the best of their peers. The concept of benchmarking has been used successfully in other schools for setting academic performance goals. It should also be used, however, in such areas as costs, technology and personnel policies. 

Setting goals and seeking participation in meeting the goals is one way to build an ongoing and meaningful dialogue with the community.

“Meet the Candidates Night” will be held May 11 between 6:30 and 9 p.m. at the library. The will take place May 17 in the intermediate school music room.

Download the movie