Robert Bellafiore, president of the Charter Schools Institute, has released, for public review, the 700-page redacted application for the proposed Leonard A. Covello charter school. The proposed school has been the subject of heated debate at board of education meetings, letters to the editor of this newspaper and is the focus of petitions and letter-writing campaigns against it. The Glen Cove Board of Education will announce a forum on the proposed school during its next public meeting on Monday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. at Deasy School. The applicants will be invited to the forum. The application will be made available by the school district as soon as it is duplicated. Copies will be at the Glen Cove Public Library and in Thayer House.

The charter school, if approved, would be located in Glen Cove, somewhere along Cedar Swamp Road according to the application. Information in the document suggests that the school may be located either within two sites on Alexander Place or at the Coles School through a lease agreement with the Glen Cove School District. If approved, the Covello school would be a partnership between Edison Schools, Inc. and the Association of Italian American Educators, (AIAE). Initially, the Covello school would be for 249 students kindergarten through second grade. Having less than 250 students prevents teachers in that school from unionizing. The bulk of the 700 page application is "boilerplate" Edison Schools doctrine which includes descriptions of how the school would comply with federal and state law. Included in the application is a letter from Glen Cove Board of Education member Phil Enright "firmly in favor" of the proposed charter school.

The lead applicant is Vito DeSimone who has provided two addresses; one in Great Neck and one in Glen Cove. In the document, Mr. DeSimone states he has lived in Great Neck for 15 years, is a graduate of Rutgers and expects his doctorate in the spring, 2001. His dissertation will be on the "Function and Importance of the Tenso in Dante's Divine Comedy." Mr. DeSimone states he owns and manages real estate.

On the board of trustees for the proposed school are: William Richardson, II, of Glen Cove, executive director of the Glen Cove EOC, Adelphi graduate, member of the NSUH Advisory Council, Glen Cove IAC, member of the human relations committee of the Glen Cove School District, two-time unsuccessful Republican candidate for city council and two-time unsuccessful candidate for Glen Cove school board; Maria Santoro, originally from Italy, who emigrated to Glen Cove in 1994. She holds degrees in education from universities in Italy; Omar Ames, of Glen Cove, originally from Peru. He holds several degrees in literature and Spanish from the University of San Marcos in Peru, was the head of a publishing house in Peru, writer of novels and project manager for UN FAO Peru; Robert Viscusi, of Brooklyn, a professor of English at Brooklyn College, the executive officer of the Wolfe Institute for the Humanities, founder and president of the Italian American Writers Association and recipient of the American Book Award in 1996; Mario Mignone, of Stony Brook, professor of Italian, founder and director of the Center for Italian Studies at SUNY Stony Brook, president of Task Force on Diversity and Internationalization at SUNY, founder and first president of the Association of Italian American Educators, author of numerous articles. According to the application, since 1997 the principal applicants have worked in leadership roles in community-wide organizations.

The applicants claim the organizing committee of the Covello school actively sought to inform, educate and engage residents of Glen Cove about its application. Two of four publicly announced information meetings, however, were canceled, one of those without notice. Subsequent information meetings have been advertised in a local weekly as being accessible by invitation. The applicants state that after the two meetings it became clear that they had not reached the targeted audience therefore informational brochures will be mailed to school-age parents with meetings on an ad-hoc basis. If the charter is granted, the Covello planning board of trustees will nominate a list of potential members of the board who will serve with staggered terms. If approved, the planning board of trustees will distribute applications on May 18, 2001 and conduct community outreach in several languages, in Spanish if necessary.

Whether or not the proposed charter school is approved will be known by Dec. 31, 2000.