A week has passed, New York City, the country and the residents of this community are beginning to put their lives back together. What follows is a report of the September 12, 2001 Freeport New York School Board Meeting. Stewart Lilker - Publisher/Editor

At 7:30 p.m., Board President John Muscara convened the meeting, calling for a moment of silence for those "who perished yesterday."

Superintendent Eversley thanked the staff for staying late on Tuesday and going beyond the call of duty. Neither the Board, nor the Superintendent mentioned that anyone had asked for the meeting to be postponed, nor did they say they it was discussed.

The meeting began with only a few of the Spanish listeners being afforded the translation devices. Neither the Board nor the Superintendent made any announcement that translation was available.

After Muscara asked people to speak for less than six minutes, Dr. Tony Ciaglia explained the Student Code of Conduct in about thirty minutes. He began by telling the residents, "It is extensive. I am not going to bore you with the specifics." He explained that "due process is extremely important" and that "gangs are not in the Code of Conduct because it is already in the district Policy Manual."

Duran told them, "You have excluded the whole Hispanic population ..."

Resident Carol Nelson broke in and tried to alert the Superintendent and the Board that there were Spanish speakers who couldn’t understand what was being said. Former Board President Ellerbe told her, "You’re out of order." The rest of the Board sat silent, refusing to listen. It wasn’t until former School Board candidate, Carmen Pineyro, asked about the translators that the Board announced that translation was available in Spanish for those who needed it. At least half of the Spanish listeners in the room had already missed Ciaglia’s presentation.

Resident Hector Duran, referring to the terrorist attack that occurred in NYC, told the Board, "You could have postponed this meeting. The entire country is shocked and in mourning. We have families in Freeport, who have family members missing and you decided to have this meeting and that just doesn’t make sense."

Duran asked when the [District Wide Safety] Committee was legally appointed by the Board. Board. President Muscara danced around the question by answering that the Committee was officially appointed on September 5th and that they were appointed retroactively, "which was legal." Muscara failed to mention that it was impossible for Board member Joe Cattano to have been appointed retroactively, as he became a Board member in July 2001 and the retroactive appointments were made retroactive to September 2000.

Duran asked, "There wasn’t any Hispanic representation on the Committee when this report was prepared?"

Muscara answered, "Not initially, but it wasn’t for lack of trying."

Former school board candidate and Latino community leader, Eloy Yndigoyen told the Board from the audience, "You didn’t call me. I was here."

Board member Ellerbe told Yndigoyen, "You’re out of order."

Muscara continued, sticking to the company line, "We went to all the stake holder’s and asked for people to join this committee."

Carmen Pineyro told the Board, "That’s not true." Yndigoyen added, "Don’t lie."

Duran told the Board and the Administration, "You have excluded the whole Hispanic population, forty plus percent, in the preparation of this Code of Conduct." He then asked, "Why did it take so long for the Spanish version to become available? You (Ciaglia) said you could have commented for weeks. We couldn’t have. We just received it week. How could I comment on it? You just said it was available for weeks. That’s not true."

Muscara answered, "It was made available at our August meeting." [The Spanish translation was not made available until the evening of September 5, 2001 - Editor]

Board member Joe Cattano, contradicting Board President Muscara, told Duran, "I understand the sentiment that there is a feeling of exclusion. You are absolutely correct and no one on this board can deny that."

Muscara added, "It would have been better if we had a Hispanic person on the committee, but it does not hurt what the committee did, because this committee truly thinks of the kids."

A short time later, village operative and Ellerbe crony, Louise Simpson, walked up to the microphone, cutting ahead of the speakers on the list. Ellerbe exchanged winks and smiles as Simpson spoke. After Simpson was finished speaking, Ellerbe said to Simpson, with a big grin, "You’re completely out of order." Simpson responded with a smile, "I’ve made my point."

Simpson’s question was, "Are we going to have different schools coming up with different permutations [versions (sic)] or are we going to have one set policy for the whole school district?"

Ciaglia, misstating the law and misleading the public, responded to Simpson, "The law states that each school building must have a School Safety Committee and that each school building must have a Student Code of Conduct."

No record necessary.

Years ago, the Board, under the Renken/Grover regime, stopped keeping records of any public comment. There will be no public record of any comments made at this public hearing or any other Freeport School Board meeting.

Resident Ramon Colon asked for another hearing to give the people a chance to read the information and attend the meeting. Muscara, without explaining why, told Colon, "The time is too short."

Another resident came to the microphone and asked in Spanish, "Why was my son put in night school?" She was told this was not the time to ask and that she should contact the administration. No one seemed curious to know why she didn’t know.

Lisa Hewitt, a mother of a student in Dodd Jr. High School complained that her son was chased home from school because he was wearing red. Hewitt said that this appeared to imply that he was a gang member. Muscara told her, "This is a personal issue and should be taken up with the principal."

Felicia Rodriguez, a mother, suggested to the Board in Spanish, "Uniforms be required to be worn in school because it would reduce the violence and the students would be able to focus more on their studies." Ellerbe asked in what grades. She said, "In Jr. High School and High School, because there is too much violence."

Lorna Lewis, a professional educator, suggested that, rather than waiting for the last minute, the district should establish a process at the beginning of the school year to determine which parents need to be informed in a language other than English.

Former school board member, Joyce Lisi, recommended that there should be wording in the Code of Conduct prohibiting the wearing of gang colors and that there should be zero tolerance to gangs. Lisi claimed that it was the school attorneys who said there were legal reasons for not using the word "gang" in the Code of Conduct.

Board member Cattano, referring to the lack of wording pertaining to gangs and gang colors said, "I don’t know why the term gang has been eliminated to side step it for legal reasons. I don’t know why they pussy footed around it, but they did. I will find out."

The last member of the public to address the Board was your reporter. That story can be found at FreeportNYNews Questions the Freeport School Board.