Cole Will Not Run for West Hempstead School Board

As entered the race for a seat on the school board, another has decided to pull out.

Byars Cole, the father of three West Hempstead students who had that he was considering running for the Board of Education, has decided not to place his name on the ballot for the May 15 election.

Cole had already started collecting signatures from residents and had intended to submit his paperwork to the district by the April 16 deadline, but his plans changed recently when he was presented with an enticing job offer.

The new position, which Cole officially accepted Monday, will require him to travel much more and devote extra time to his work.

"I don't see how I could effectively be on the board at this time," Cole told Patch, saying that he was "excited" about the new job, but "disappointed" when he realized he won't be able to serve on the school board.

"I'm still going to try to be very active as member of the community," he adds.

Cole hopes that one day in the future, he will be able to revisit his plans to become a West Hempstead school board trustee.

"I had a lot of people encouraging me to run," he said. "I want to run and serve at some point, but it's not going to work at this time."

Now, the list of potential candidates for next month's election includes incumbents James Mariano and Carole Riling, , who is running for  (most likely against , and , who plans to challenge Mariano for his seat.

Cole didn't wish to endorse any specific candidates. However, he did say that he thinks current board members do have a responsibility to "cultivate new board members."

"We want as many people in our community to serve as possible," he added. "We should all feel a responsibiity to serve. I certainly do."