New Board of Ed Member Aims to Help Control District Spending

Matthew Morton set to take his seat on the Smithtown's Board of Education in July, a seat he won uncontested back in May.

With current board member , the seat belonged to Morton, a St. James resident. He admitted he was surprised no one else decided to run for the vacant seat and relishes the opportunity to make a difference.

"I've lived in the town pretty much my whole life, my kids have been in the school district for a couple years now, and I just want to be involved and have somewhat of a say or an opinion or a vote as to the direction things are going to go in," he said. 

Morton has daughters in third and fifth grade at Mills Pond Elementary. Outside of being a board member, Morton runs his own company All The Answers, a medical call center in Stony Brook, and is a Stony Brook University graduate with a bachelor degree in economics.

Morton said there are many obstacles facing the district he has to help rectify as a board member, but has a primary focus of where the money is being spent within the district.

"There's always the issue of where are we spending our money, where can we best put the money we have into what programs," he said. "I don't know what programs are more important than other ones, I'd like to hear both sides ... obviously you can't make everybody happy in this economy but it all boils down to what's best for the children of Smithtown."

The reasoning behind his decision to run for the board is simple.

"I know it's a thankless job, it's a volunteer position, but I live in this community and this is probably the best way I could have my voice heard," he said.

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.