BOE Profiles: Sal Tripi

When town residents utilize their expertise to help their community, it is usually a win-win scenario. That is certainly the case for Board of Education member Sal Tripi who is running for re-election in May after completing his first term as a Sachem Board of Education member. 

"I am not an educator, I am a business person. I have business experience," he said. "I felt the Board didn't have enough business people with experience to oversee investments and deliver value to the tax payers while protecting the students."

Tripi became concerned about the state of the students and the tax payers several years ago when some record tax increases hit the community. Initially he joined the Budget Advisory Committee before running for the Board of Education. He is a graduate of Brentwood High School and he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration at Dowling College. He is an Executive with Publisher's Clearing House in Port Washington where has worked for 16 years. He moved to the district in 1993. Currently, he and his wife of 17 years live in Holbrook and their two children, ages 14 and 9. Tripi is quite happy with his first term accomplishments.

"There was definitely a lot of learning in my first term, like how the district works and how the state mandates work, just getting educated on the whole product," he said. "I learned how to deal with the administration, the parents and the students. I saw that while the district was great at helping the students at risk, it should also be doing better to challenge the top tier students and the middle tier students."

 He said that there are now more AP test takers and those students have performed well on those tests. 

Tripi feels the Board has done a good job being transparent to the community, showing where every penny is going.

"We have had zero budget increases for two years so I think that has made the Board pretty successful during my first term," he said. "I thank God I have the experience of my first term given the fiscal crisis New York State is in."

Tripi is also pleased that the Board has exposed the decision making process to the community.

"I think being fiscally accountable and transparent eliminates distrust between the community and the Board," he said. "I think a business approach helps to bring logic to it. There is no right answer that is right all the time for all the towns. We need to give our students the appropriate classes and the right extra curricular activities for them."

Tripi enjoys working on these issues with his fellow Board members.

"I am learning from those who have been there to help perpetuate what they have started. I am not an educator, but there is business in education. I can help with the return on the investment of our tax dollars to improve student education while maintaining fiscally responsible budgets."

He is running against Teri Ahearn for reelection on May 18.