The evening’s meeting convened without the presence of Superintendent Moffett, nor any explanation of her whereabouts. Grover announced that Dr. Mary Bediako, Director of Personnel, would be sitting in for Moffett. The barely intelligible Bediako began by recognizing the recent school retirees. She was followed by PTA Council President, Pat Lewis, thanking soon to be former Board member, Joyce Lisi for her years of dedicated service. Lewis presented Lisi with a bouquet of roses, saying, "We’re very fortunate that you are not going to be leaving us. You are just going to be taking a different position. We want to thank you."

Alan Jay was the first resident to the microphone. As Mr. Jay veered off the written agenda, Grover and the Board sat mute. Mr. Jay said, "You have infringed on the People’s right to petition their government under the First Amendment of the Constitution. This substitution of private consultation is not a real substitute for the Public’s right to redress grievances. I’d like to lodge a protest against this new procedure. The people I speak to are outraged about this." Board member Ellerbe, the self imposed silencer of those who veer off the agenda remained silent as Mr. Jay continued. "I notice that most of our retirees are too young to be put out to pasture. If we can’t demonstrate to the students and faculty the First Amendment and our other rights of the Constitution, we don’t belong in business here. I believe it is a hundred year old tradition that is being abolished, in a dictatorial fashion. I wonder how many other school districts in the country have enacted such a restrictive covenant. Apparently, the Board is embarrassed and upset by some of the questions raised by the public and this a way to duck out." Not one of the Board commented.

Longtime resident and Board supporter Frank Tucker told the Board, "I guess I have to agree with some of the people I don’t usually agree with. I must have five seconds to say that I will now not have the opportunity to get up here and fight for what I believe in, which is this Board and the administrators. It is also the school district and the job they are doing in educating our children. You have also taken that away from me."

Michael Raab told the Board, "I too enjoyed the ability to come up and talk to you one on one. The purpose of an open meeting is to know how each individual stands on an issue."

Grover told the public [his words are verbatim]. "We will discuss it [meeting format] at the next planning meeting. The intention of the "roundtable" discussion is when we have to address somebody at the podium, it becomes a much more formal arena. And I talk to everybody else the same as I talk to everybody else in this room. And it’s very hard to address a person in this format without being seen, and I could use the words that have been used against me - arrogant. I can’t demonstrate the same passion speaking across the microphone and you speaking across your microphone, as I can sitting at a table across from you. You can make your points much clearer to me and speak much more passionately to me or another Board member or an administrator sitting across from the table. It’s not to take the right away from anybody and I understand that. We can change the formats between us any way we want. We were looking for a way of better reaching for the public. Better reaching to our staff, without having the formality of going directly across the microphone. I will discuss it at the planning meeting with the other Board members to see what they think. Personal contact means a lot. The last couple of meetings that we had the "roundtable", I’ve gotten a lot more information and a lot how people truly feel than would never have been demonstrated across that microphone or across this table."

Anybody that spoke to Grover, or any other Board member, could have picked up the phone and spoke to him about the same things.

Dr. Lorna Lewis, a Freeport resident and a school administrator in another district, told Grover, "I have issues that are not on the agenda, like report card timing, report cards and the procedure for calculating a final exam grade that was changed in the high school without prior notice. And the fact that the curriculum, which is supposed to be under your government, has not been regulated by you. When would I have that opportunity to address these issues?"

Grover said, "At the end of this meeting I will be happy to sit down with you."

Lewis replied, "When I speak to one Board member I am not addressing the Board. When I have a conversation with one person, I have not addressed the Board. Unless you are going to have three Board members speaking to me, it is not an official action."

Grover said, "I don’t think that even discussing something with one Board member or three Board members is going to create a specific action this evening. But if you spoke with one two or three Board members, you’re filling our ears with information that will be brought back to all of us by our other Board members.

Lewis responded, "I am asking about regulations that have been violated. I’m asking about curriculum processes that have not have taken place the way it’s supposed to. I am asking the Board, not one person, the Board to respond to the process. I’m not asking for one Board member to respond to me. I’m asking for the Board as a body to respond to me about the process of change in a district. Can one person come in and make changes in a district that must by regulation, be done by the Board?"

Grover answered, "No. One person cannot come in." Lewis asked, "Then why has this occurred and when do we get to address that?"

Grover told her, "I’ll be happy to sit with you this evening and address it. Lewis said, "I will have to sit with three Board members to discuss it."

Grover responded, "Well, we will put three Board members together."

Lewis, who is active in the district and attends most of the Board meetings, explained to FNYN after the meeting that she didn't' know the District Policy Manual had been changed. When she was told that a 310 Appeal was filed with Commissioner Mills about this very thing and that the District has been claiming that everybody knew about it, she said, "That’s news to me."

Your reporter addressed the Board regarding the meeting format. "With all due respect Mr. Grover. Three Board members constitutes an open meeting. You folks have surreptitiously decided to evade, avoid and obliterate the very meaning and intent of the Open Meetings Law. You said that you discussed what each one of you brought back from these secret meetings from each little table. When is this discussed between you folks? What has been brought back to this Board of Education?"

Grover responded, "I’m sorry, I don’t understand your question."

FNYN continued, "You said that you each discussed individually with folks at the tables, what the people said and the information is brought back to the Board. When and where?"

Grover answered, "Many of the times additional Board members will call each other. I’m in constant contact with the other members of my Board."

FNYN said, "Somebody has to report back to the Board. You’re breaking up into little committees. Somebody has to report back to the Board. You haven’t adjourned the meeting, because you are still all here. What you are doing is not legal. It flies in the face of the case law. I would suggest you check with your attorney.

Grover assured the public, "We’ve checked with him."

One resident commented that she regretted that the Superintendent couldn’t clear her calendar to attend the Board meeting.

Dr. Lewis asked if the resignations being considered by the Board included the Superintendent’s. Grover said it didn’t.

Lewis asked, "Are we ever going to address the fact the Superintendent is no longer going to be the Superintendent and discuss the process by which we are going to select a new superintendent? Grover responded, "The Superintendent has not given me her resignation. She had interviewed in another district." Lewis said, "The newspaper in that other district said she signed a contract."

Grover told Dr. Lewis that Moffett has not given him her resignation.

Your reporter then addressed the Board. "Mr. Grover, can you tell me where the Superintendent is tonight?"

Grover: She has got another engagement.

FNYN: Can you tell me where she is?

Grover: No, I cannot tell you where she is.

FNYN: Do you know where she is?

Grover: No I don’t.

FNYN: Did she tell you she wasn’t showing up?

Grover: She said that she had prior commitments that came up suddenly.

FNYN: That’s more important than attending a Freeport Board of Education meeting?

Grover: Apparently, that must have been.

FNYN: Do you expect the Superintendent to resign?

Grover: I don’t have a resignation in my hand.

FNYN: That’s not my question. Do you expect her to resign? Are you expecting a resignation from this Superintendent?

Grover: I don’t see anything on the agenda that requires an answer.

FNYN: Quite frankly Mr. Grover, you haven’t been sticking by the rules, so my question is do you expect the superintendent to resign?

Grover: Indications are that she probably will be resigning. As of this point, I do not have a resignation.

FNYN: Do you intend to accept that resignation after all the things we’ve done for her, and after all the good things you have said she has done for this district? Keep in mind you don’t have to accept her resignation.

Grover: I understand that.

FNYN: Do you intend to accept her resignation?

Grover: I have not discussed that.

FNYN: Well, I’m discussing that now.

Grover: I’m not ready to answer that question.

FNYN: As the president of the Board of Education, are you in favor of her resigning?

Grover: I’m not prepared to answer that question.

One of the evenings agenda items was the granting of tenure to Dr. Mary Bediako, the Director of Personnel. Bediako was hired from Uniondale after the forced resignation of Dr. Thelma Simpkins, the only Superintendent in the history of the Freeport schools that had to sign what was tantamount to a gag order in order to receive her retirement incentive.

When Bediako was hired her title was changed to Director of Personnel, as the law required that after the elimination of Simpkins position of Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, the position had to remain vacant. Apparently, with the time constraints passed, the Board changed Bediako’s title back to that of Assistant Superintendent of Personnel.

Bediako, throughout her tenure as Director of Personnel, has been close to incompetent. She rarely has the required materials ready for the school Board meetings and when she does, she doesn’t make enough copies. FNYN has spoken to teachers from Uniondale, her former district. They refused to talk unless they remained anonymous. FNYN prints their observations as they mirror Bediako’s performance in the Freeport School District. These people said that Bediako would fall to sleep at Board meetings and that when she did speak, she was almost impossible to understand. One Uniondale teacher said, "Just about everybody was glad to see her go. She’s your problem now."

Early in the evening’s meeting, Union President Lillian Gutman came to the microphone asking for a copy of the agenda and the list of personnel items, as there weren’t enough copies to go around. Bediako said, "I made seventy five copies." Gutman left the microphone empty handed.

Another resident said, "I don’t see the list of CO-curricular assignments attached to the agenda. I don’t know what is going on with that item." Bediako, who had not been paying attention, fumbled around for a time, looking for the CO-curricular assignment list. Unable to find it she said, "Those are the summer school assignments." For some unexplained reason, neither the Board nor Bediako thought in was important enough for the parents of the district to know who was being assigned to the summer school.

Your reporter addressed the Board regarding the proposed granting of tenure to Bediako.

FNYN: According to the agenda Dr. Bediako is up for tenure tonight. Can you tell me why you would consider granting her tenure.

Grover: I won’t discuss a personnel item with you this evening.

FNYN: I’ll ask again. Can you tell me what basis you used to consider granting Dr. Bediako tenure.

Grover: Her job performance.

FNYN. Can you tell me some of the good things she has done for this district.

Grover: I am not prepared to discuss that.

FNYN: Do you know any of the good things she has done for this district?

Grover: I am not going to discuss a personnel issue.

FNYN: So you can’t actually say she has done anything good for this district.

Grover: I will not discuss any specific individual's personnel issues.

FNYN: What I asked you is, what has she done to benefit the district in her capacity of Director of Personnel and Special Projects?

Grover: She has performed her job very well.

FNYN: She has? But you can’t tell us any specific instances of that.

Grover: No.

After the Board approved every item on the agenda without one word of discussion between them, they stood up, without adjourning the meeting and split off into different places in the room. VP Renken stood in the front as Grover walked toward the entrance. Board member Ellerbe headed over to Dr. Lewis and Board member Muscara initially went over to the other side of the room.

Your reporter tried to talk to Grover, but he ran away, claiming he was busy. FNYN asked Muscara if was going to accept the Superintendent’s resignation, if she offered it. He said he would think about it.

Your reporter asked VP Renken how much business his firm has done with the District since he became a Board member. Renken skirted the issue by claiming that it was the Equitable that sold the insurance and that anybody could do that. Renken did not volunteer that the Equitable was the underwriter and it was his firm that was actually selling the insurance. As a Board member, Renken is not supposed to be doing business with the District. FNYN also asked Renken how he found out what the other Board members were talking about. He said, "We report to each other on the phone."

After about thirty minutes, the whole Board had gravitated to the table where Dr. Lewis and Tony Ciaglia, the Assistant Supt. of Curriculum were sitting. Ellerbe and Muscara were taking copious notes. Grover was standing in the back listening. Renken and the Union President and the former Participation In Government Teacher, Lillian Gutman were having a private conversation. Incredibly, at one point, Gutman reacting to something that was said, said, "I want to go on the record..." Other than Ellerbe and Mascara's note taking, nobody was keeping a record.

At one point in the conversation Dr. Lewis was heard to say, "This is a disgrace. We were on the border of toppling over. This is the only district that does this." At another point during the conversation Ellerbe explaining the benefit of the new meeting format said, "When you’re at the podium, you’re not speaking to me, you’re speaking at me."

After an hour of the "roundtable," the Board went into executive session for a matter of personnel. As the Board was going into executive session, Ellerbe told the people at the "roundtable, "There were two great issues that I’m bringing back to the Board."

As the "roundtable" thing convened, newly elected Board member, Sunday Coward left the meeting. The next day your reporter bumped into Coward as she was dropping her daughter off at the Archer Street School. FNYN asked Coward where she went. Coward replied, "I thought the meeting was over."