Teens seek election to school boards on Long Island

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Gabrielle Anzalone is set to graduate from Lindenhurst High School next month. But before she does, she will appear on the election ballot for the local school board.

"I'm running for a seat on the board," Anzalone said. "It's an open position."

The senior will attend Molloy College in the fall. She wants to take a stand against gun violence. She and 35 other students in the district were punished for participating in the National School Walkout to honor those who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting.

She wants it known that the suspension isn't the sole decision behind her campaign. She said she is on the ballot to bridge the generation gap.

"Unfortunately, the board members haven't been in school in over 20, 25 years," she said. "Education has really changed."

She is not the only teen vying for a seat on Long Island. Kaitlyn Gambina, 18, is running for the board of education in the Eastport-South Manor School District. In Nassau County, college freshman Kyle Singh hopes to beat his opponent in Hicksville.

"We have a school board comprised of people who are a lot older than we are. And so a lot of times they don't know what goes on in the schools," Singh said. "They don't know the injustices we face every day in the classroom."

People we spoke to had mixed reactions.

Students have been successfully elected before. In fact, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli became the first 18-year-old in the state to win a school board seat in 1972.

Polls are open Tuesday morning.