Statement: It is a privilege and an honor to announce my candidacy for North Shore Board of Education Trustee during this exciting time of renowned community engagement. In the last few years, we have seen so many members of our community make commendable efforts to become more involved with the issues impacting North Shore. There are numerous challenges facing our district; daunting fiscal realities looming with the LIPA negotiations, the additional financial impact of inflation versus the cost of educational operations, the disparity of programming amongst our schools, or the intensely heated social/political turmoil that has divisively torn our neighbors. Now, more than ever, we need even-tempered individuals to serve as trustees who have demonstrated experience prioritizing the wants, needs and desires of the total community over their own personal agenda.

As a mother of elementary school children, and as a taxpayer in the community, I believe that if my friends, my neighbors, and I are choosing to make the financial investment of paying our school taxes to live in this district, we deserve to see our investment supported to the fullest. It is not impossible to support the goals of the district while also respecting the financial burdens of our residents. We can be diligent in the maintenance of our physical buildings and grounds in order to avoid unnecessary replacement expenses before expected. We can strive for balance in our budget to develop and improve programs identified by the community which need greater support, such as; a refreshed athletics development program, and the addition of school-to-career learning opportunities. Or more simply, by having fresh, open eyes to identify opportunities to achieve greater financial efficiencies without sacrificing or making significant cuts which could negatively impact the unique experience that makes North Shore, North Shore. Innovative thinking, a dedication to understanding the intricacies of school budgeting, the ability to consider ideas from someone else’s perspective, a strong moral compass, and, most importantly, effective respectful communication define my greatest strengths and will empower me to be an effective trustee. 

Since my children began their time in school, I have volunteered extensively in various capacities in the North Shore School District. Currently, I serve on the district’s Community Budget Forum Committee and the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Committee, I hold the position of co-chairperson for the Sea Cliff School (SCS) PCA Gala Auction Fundraiser as well as serve on the SCS Shared Decision-Making Committee. I am very involved in the SCS Parent Community Association (PCA) and am a perennial class mom all the way back to our years at Village Preschool and then my son’s pandemic pod pre-K experience. As a class mom I pride myself on creating many opportunities to show gratitude to our teachers throughout the year, and give my everything to support my children’s teachers in any way they need. I believe strongly in parental involvement on a building and district level, and I regularly seek out opportunities to be involved in my children’s educational experience. Parents of my children’s classmates often joke that if they are not sure of the dates or details of an upcoming event or activity, they can just pick up their phone, shoot me a quick text, and within moments they are fully informed.

My involvement in the community is not limited to school. If my name sounds familiar but you cannot quite figure out why, it is probably because you have been a supporter of any number of community outreach events I have organized. Whether it be my annual candy drive for the soldiers every November (no, the bench has still not returned!), my holiday card drives for veterans in December, numerous fundraisers I have organized on behalf of friends in need, or through North Shore Cares - a grassroots pandemic response effort through which one of my closest friends and I collected over $15,000 in donations from the North Shore community during those first few scary months of Covid-19 shutdowns. We used the generous donations to infuse desperately needed cash flow into 13 locally owned restaurants, placing orders for meals which we then delivered to feed front line heroes in area hospitals, medical centers, long-term care facilities, post offices, municipal service departments, fire and emergency services, and police departments. We also provided weekly deliveries of fresh produce to 13 food-insecure families in North Shore School District and organized mobile food drives to help replenish two local food pantries. To say I strive to live a life truly dedicated to service, especially at a time when it is most needed, is an understatement.

The more deeply involved I have become in our district, the more evident it has become that I am meant to rise to this challenge and assume the responsibility of a school board trustee. The responsibility of this calling is not one I will take lightly, and I will honor my community of supporters by staying vigilant, seeking out and truly listening to the thoughts of residents, actively participating in deliberations and discussing all sides of a matter before the board comes to a group consensus as to the best decision for the community at large, and upholding my promise to stand strong in honoring the needs of all children in an equitable and fiscally responsible manner. We must not continue to allow the strife in the community to make its way into the lives of the most vulnerable of residents, our children. We must seek to elect trustees who are highly qualified in a multitude of ways, while also selecting adults for this role who are able to work and speak respectfully with others irrespective of if they disagree on their position or if their personal values are unharmonious.

As your trustee, I will impartially serve as a voice of balance, with tolerance and acceptance for all opinions, regardless of my own personal viewpoints and without my own personal agendas. I will not support efforts from any side that seek to radically alter the landscape of a North Shore education, but I will listen to all ideas and weigh them for individual merit when voting for or against accepting a change. I will unwaveringly question through a lens of fiscal scrutiny while making equitable decisions after hearing all input. I will protect those parts of our children’s educational experience that make North Shore so unique, and I will guard our district from an array of outside pressures that have the potential to negatively impact the quality for which North Shore is known. I will ensure and remind that the ultimate purpose of the board is to serve in trust with the community, not as an echo chamber for the district leaders. When you cast your vote on May 17th, you can feel confident in voting for me, Courtney Citko, choice #1 on your ballot and choice #1 for your community. I not only thank you for your support today and in the coming weeks, but I will continue to thank you by serving passionately as your future school board of education trustee!

Occupation and Education: I hold a Bachelors in Advertising and Public Relations, and a Masters in Career and Technical Education, with NYS Teaching Certifications in Family and Consumer Science K-12 and Business and Marketing K-12, and an extension in Work-Based Learning. I am the Event Coordinator for the non-profit organization Friends of Bailey Arboretum, in Locust Valley. I manage all aspects of the private event rental department, and create, implement and manage all on-site functions. In addition, I also facilitate site usage rentals for commercial productions and on-site photography usage. My department has a significant financial impact on the preservation goals of this historic and beautiful living museum property, right next door.

In addition, I maintain my small business consultancy where I work exclusively on a referral basis with clients who dream of opening their own food business. The consultancy is a remaining branch from my previous business, A Taste of Long Island, which I owned and operated since 2011. A Taste of Long Island was the first (and for many years only) privately owned incubator kitchen facility on Long Island. In the five years my doors were open, I launched over 300 foodpreneurs, a number of which are still in business today, and after adding a brewery incubator in 2014, I helped launch nine craft breweries. In this business, I had the honest, yet difficult task of gently discouraging hundreds of dreamers from making an unsound investment into a vision that was not likely to result in success but more likely financial loss or heartbreak. This business also included establishing and managing two local farmers markets, and lastly but certainly not least, operating a retail storefront where I exclusively carried products made on Long Island, many produced by my kitchen clients providing many of them their first retail outlet. When my stepsons, then in elementary school, decided they “wanted to make some money”, I guided them in establishing their own food business, Brothers Breads, where they learned first-hand how challenging and rewarding it is to be an entrepreneur and a farmers market vendor. They can still tell you today, nine years later, which of their delicious quick breads had the best profit margin and which of their recipes were guaranteed to sell out each weekend – and they still shudder at the thought of scooping and weighing quick bread batter. My daughter was born in the fall of 2014, and since fall was my busy season beginning at three-weeks-old she went to work at my store with me every day until I sold my storefront in 2016 while I was expecting my youngest child. The real-life lessons and life experiences I was able to provide my daughter and stepsons hold such a profound meaning to me because it reminded me of my own childhood and fond memories of going to work at my parents’ video stores where I developed customer care and business acumen from them. The business example they set for me also helped me successfully leave my personally unsatisfying career in education, providing me the versatility and confidence I needed to become self-employed. The extensive knowledge I attained throughout my education and career experiences allows me to bring a unique skill set to the Board of Education. 

Personal: I spent much of my childhood living in Charlotte, NC, and I am a graduate of Massapequa High School. When I met my husband, he had just finished serving as Chief of the Sea Cliff Fire Department, and as of this year he has achieved 30 years of dedicated service. He is a proud third generation Sea Cliffian, and a North Shore graduate. I learned quickly what a special, tight knit community North Shore truly is and it took very little convincing on his part for me to agree to swap shores. After living in Glen Cove for a short time after we were first married, it was important for us to continue the family tradition of North Shore graduates and we moved our young growing family back into the district. We have a first grader and a kindergartener and I am a proud stepmom to a 2021 North Shore graduate and a current North Shore Junior. Between the four children, we have enjoyed watching them each grow uniquely through the educational and extracurricular opportunities available to them. From athletic options of soccer, travel soccer, softball, t-ball, and more, to the exceptional theatre arts experiences the older boys have had (the oldest, currently a freshman studying Design and Technical Theater, is grateful for the experience he had with cutting-edge technology and incredible hands-on experience) while our Junior led the sound crew this year for Hello Dolly! We recognize that these opportunities provide our children with life lessons and experiences that only enhance the academically sound foundation their North Shore education provides. As I watch my children’s love for learning blossom more each day of their early education careers, and as I witness the remarkable and high achieving young men my stepsons have grown to be, it inspires me to dedicate myself to preserving the true core of North Shore academics so our school district can continue to inspire young learners to discover their dreams for generations to come.