Three Candidates Vie For Two Port Jeff Board of Ed Seats This Year

This May, residents will choose from three candidates for two school board seats but among the candidates only one current board member has chosen to run for re-election. Robert Ramus announced his bid to run for re-election to the Port Jefferson school board. Elisa Scott has said that she will not be seeking re-election when her term ends in June.

One new candidate is Isak Prohovnik, who ran for the board last year. Prohovnik has lived in Port Jefferson since 2005. He’s currently a professor of Psychiatry and Radiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan.

The other candidate is James Laffey. No other information about Laffey was available at the time of the writing of this story but Patch will follow up with a candidate profile.

Both Prohovnik and Laffey have children in the school district.

According to acting school board president, Mark Doyle, the district clerk has determined that the names appearing on the ballot on May 17 when resident turn out to vote will be in the following order: Isak Prohovnik, Robert J. Ramus, James Laffey.

Elisa Scott said that her decision not to seek re-election this year came after “a great deal of reflection and consultation with my family.”

“This third year of my term has been particularly difficult for my family in terms of the considerable time commitment,” she said.

Scott who has three children said that she has decided to put her family needs first right now but she will fulfill her obligation to the board saying that she takes her commitment to the community “very seriously.”

“It has been my great honor to serve the Port Jefferson community as a member of the school board and I intend to continue to be an involved and active member of the parent community,” Scott said.

With the seat that Scott occupies now up for grabs it guarantees that there will be at least one new member joining the board this year.