For Board of Education Trustee

Kenneth J. Monaghan, the current President of the School Board, was the unanimous choice of the CPOA’s Nominating Committee for the position of Board of Education Trustee from the central section as of April 2005. Mr. Monaghan is a co-founding managing director and portfolio manager for ING Ghent Asset Management LLC, an investment adviser in New York with over $2.5 billion in high yield corporate bonds under management. Prior to co-founding ING Ghent’s predecessor in 1995, Mr. Monaghan was a director with Salomon Brothers for thirteen years. Mr. Monaghan earned both an MBA and a MPA from NYU; his undergraduate degree is from Colgate University.

Mr. Monaghan joined the Garden City School’s Board of Education as the CPOA-nominated member in July 1999. His fellow board members elected him President of the Board in July 2001. Prior to that, he served as member of the Ad Hoc Citizen’s Advisory Committee to the School Board that revamped the plans and budget for the $38 million school construction bond later approved by the voters. In 1999, the Garden City Chamber of Commerce honored the Ad Hoc Committee members as Citizens of the Year for their work. In 1994, Mr. Monaghan served as the CPOA-nominated member on the Garden City school district’s ad hoc demographics committee that analyzed the future space needs of the school system. The Hemlock School was reopened and planning began for school reconstruction and space additions as a result of the committee’s work. A CPOA director from 1995 to 1997, Mr. Monaghan also served two years on the CPOA nominating committee.

Mr. Monaghan first came to Garden City in 1978 when his family moved to Franklin Court the summer before he started college. Mr. and Mrs. Monaghan and their four children (Sean, Caitlin, Connor and Emily) have lived in the Central Section since moving back from London in 1991. All of the Monaghan children began their Garden City school education at the Locust school; Emily is currently enrolled at the Middle School, Connor and Caitlin at the High School and Sean, a 2004 graduate of the High School, is a freshman at Wake Forest University.

When asked for a statement, Mr. Monaghan said, “Over the last six years that I have been on the Board, we have completed a major building program that touched every school building in the district. We have also made important strides in revamping our Middle School academic program and have now begun making changes in the High School. The most important task facing the Board this year will be hiring a new superintendent to replace Dr. Leitman, who is retiring. The goal of the Board is to hire a superintendent who can continue the tremendous progress that we have made as a district during Dr, Leitman’s tenure.”

The following members of the CPOA Nominating Committee brought forth the unanimous vote for Kenneth J. Monaghan as Board of Education Trustee from the central section: Tom Simpson, Chairperson; Kathleen Donnelly-O’Brien, Vice Chairperson; John Medori, Kathleen Galgano, Kathleen Horton, and Dr. Russell Miller.