I do not like the school board any more than I like the ‘bored’ at the library. I have had numerous confrontations with them over the four decades I have lived here.
One was a shouting match with M. Abramowitz about the closing of the Lakeville school. We are district 6/7 because Great Neck went bankrupt and Lakeville School district agreed to a merger.
Great Neck and Beverly Hills Calif. used to vie as to who spent more per pupil.
I chaired the Safety and Transportation Committee of the PTA.
Two buses went through University Gardens. One carried the child of a school board member, the other had to make the two stops in University Gardens and was overcrowded.
A call to the bus company revealed that it was not their choice. A quick call to the Nassau County Police corrected the problem.
A different call to the Nassau County Police Department got another driver into trouble. The board liked Schenck Transportation; I did not.
After numerous complaints and commendations (tickets) to the bus drivers Schenck opted out of renewing. A nice new company gave the lowest bid and is still around.
A different altercation occurred in the math class during ‘open house’. The teacher said that the students were to ‘muddle through the course’. Fortunately one of the board members was there.
I did high school math, through spherical trigonometry, and could not say that I was to ‘muddle through’!!
My daughter was out of the class the next day after a 7 a.m. altercation with the principal.
Another event was a teacher who was a substitute and would always give the same lecture. After I pushed he was relieved of duty. What oversight was missing.
No one watches the teachers, but they go far afield to bring in people who are not local residents.
I once challenged the cost of the telephone bills for the system. I figured it would take four persons full time to cost the system so much. It was then that I learned about the effort to avoid teachers of a certain faith.
The school board is self perpetuating. Only those with similar views are allowed to run.
Norman Roland
Great Neck