Brieff: Humbled, Excited With Recent School Board Election Win

Preservation will be the dominant theme in the coming years, according to newly elected South Huntington School Board member Lisa Brieff. 

Elected to her first term last week by a wide margin, she expects a challenging road ahead. But with a broad range of experiences and sense of empathy for what parents go through, she said she can help. 

"I feel like I really do represent the South Huntington community. I have integrity and I care, so I think that they will know that no decision that I make will be done lightly," said Brieff.

The highest vote-getter of the four candidates in the South Huntington race last Tuesday, Brieff said she was both excited and surprised by her win. 

"When you don't expect to win, and win the highest vote, it's very overwhelming and I was sort of humbled by it," said the stay-at-home mom, who received 1,793 votes.

But the sweetness of her dominating victory in last week's election will soon come face-to-face with the consequences of a souring state economy and proposed remedies to fix it.

"To be realistic, it's about trying to preserve what we have," said Brieff. "I'd like to promote new programs but that's not where we are right now. We have to try to make lemonade out of lemons."

Brieff said she hopes to help shape the future of the school district during difficult economic times. She sees Albany's proposed tax cap as a potentially "huge problem" which could be "disastrous" for South Huntington schools. 

And with decreases in state aid at hand, district revenues down and expenses up, Brieff said she is committed to maintaining the integrity of programs. She prefers a trim rather than an all-out elimination of non-mandated programs, when possible.

"It makes it easier to bring things back if you don't destroy them," she said.

Probably the first viola-playing member in school board history, the San Diego State University nursing graduate is concerned about the arts and extracurricular activities which she says are often the first items looked at when it's time for cuts.

Academics are extremely important, she said, but the experiences that students have in school are valuable because they add to growth and help to shape a more complete person.

"It's not just what's on paper it's also just the experiences that you have in your life that helps create the person that you are," Brieff said. "I'm hoping that if we have to make cuts we can try to be creative." 

She said she also plans to make the board more accessible to the community.

"The only difference between someone on the board and someone in the community is the chair you sit in and I think that that's something that I can make a difference in."

And how does she want to be judged when her term is up in 2014?

"I hope that someone would say I was visible and I worked hard and I made informed decisions," Brieff said. "I think I want the community to know if I do make a decision, it will be one that will be extremely well thought out."

Brieff said she has experience working with current school board president Jim Kaden, who was re-elected to the school board last week with 1,661 votes.

"I've known Jim for many years and have a lot of respect for him," said Brieff.

Brieff has lived for 23 years in South Huntington and resides with her husband, a physician and inaugural member of the Walt Whitman High School Hall of Fame, in the house where he grew up.