Over 250 people filled the gymnasium at the Glen Head School for the board of education meeting on Monday, Oct. 29. They were anxious to understand the reasons behind the recent vote by the board not to renew the contract of Superintendent Robert Root. Dr. Root, who is highly regarded by the New York State Council of Superintendents, has been employed in the North Shore School District for over 14 years and moved through the ranks until his promotion to the position of superintendent.

Board of Education president Michael Montesano made a nine-minute statement concerning the recent vote not to renew the superintendent's contract. In an attempt to clarify issues, Trustee Montesano described the timing of the board's decision and their announcement. Prior to a special meeting of the board on Oct. 9, two other scheduled meetings had two board members absent. Because of the importance of the contract issue, the board decided to wait until all the board members could attend. A meeting of the board was called for Oct. 9 during which the board voted to enter into executive session to discuss personnel matters which included the superintendent's contract. Board president Montesano maintains the board reconvened in public to vote on the contract---a statement contradicted in a recent letter to a local newspaper written by board member Darlene Galati. The vote was 5 to 2 not to renew the superintendent's contract. At the next scheduled board meeting on Oct. 15, Trustee Palermo opened the issue up for another vote but the contract was again not renewed by a vote of 4 to 3.

According to board president Montesano, reasons for not renewing the contract are based on Dr. Root being ineffectual in carrying out his duties in regard to special education, the budget, personnel, and programming. As to special education, over-utilization of services, improperly prepared IEPs, duplication of services and untimely submission of reports were cited. Had these particular aspects of special education been improperly handled by the school district, the State Department of Education would have immediately notified the school administration.

It should be noted that Special Education is under the auspices of the newly-hired Dr. Jay Silverstein and these issues may be a function of the ineffectiveness of the former Special Education chair compounded by unfunded State Education Mandates regarding children in Special Education-mandates which all school boards must fund within their budgets. This newspaper has learned that Dr. Silverstein's report on special education was filed to the board after the board's decision not to renew Dr. Root's contract.

Another reason Mr. Montesano cited is two failed school budgets on their first appearance at the polls. The school budget is proposed by the superintendent after a long list of requests from administrators in all district schools has been compiled and discussed. The budget is forwarded to the board of education for their approval. Once the board of education approves the budget, it is their budget and it is then put before voters.

Trustee Brennan, who voted to renew Dr. Root's contract, said that the statement read by President Montesano had never been heard by the board before this meeting. Trustee Murphy, who also voted to renew, took exception to the president's comment concerning Dr. Root's responsibility for the budget. Mr. Murphy said the superintendent's evaluation report had nothing in it to support not renewing Dr. Root's contract.

Two hours of the meeting were then spent on comments from the public. The speakers were parents, teachers, administrators, recent graduates and former board members. There was dismay at the timing of the announcement, coming when so many teachers and administrators in the district are new. Most felt the decision was irresponsible and mean-spirited and showed a great disrespect for the feelings of the community. Many speakers took exception to comments made by Trustees Montesano and Galati that appeared in a local newspaper. Others chastised Trustees Pombar and Grande for their lack of explanation, describing their silence as deafening. It was noted that Trustee Pombar was absent.

Peter Vollmer quoted from the book, "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Mr. Vollmer cited, "play fair, clean up your mess and say you're sorry when you hurt someone." In addressing the board, Mr. Vollmer said, "You miss the point. The question is not whether this board had the legal power to fire Dr. Root, but whether it was right to do it in the manner you did. We expect our school board to conduct its business in public view. We expect you to be aboveboard and trustworthy. To say that you did not break any law sets the bar far too low." Mr. Vollmer said in wake of the board's action, universal support has been voiced for Dr. Root. He added that Trustee Galati's letter titled Majority Rules doesn't specify which majority and that it certainly wasn't the majority of the board's constituents. Mr. Vollmer called for a do-over in voting on the superintendent's contract and asked the board to apologize to Dr. Root.

Of the 26 people who made a statement, most voiced anger, frustration, and confusion over the lack of community input in what most considered a monumental decision. A representative of the Golden Ring, Joseph Morganelli, read a letter of support for Dr. Root signed by 88 community members. A statement was also given by a representative of the tenured faculty of the Glen Head School expressing dismay at the lack of democratic process. The president of the special education PTA urged the board not to use special ed as a scapegoat for this ill conceived decision. She also stated that the only two board members who she had ever seen at special ed meetings were Trustees Murphy and Brennan.

A sense of puzzlement at the board's lack of explanation for the vote not to renew the superintendent's contract was expressed by many at the meeting. Most urged the board to rethink their position and revisit the issue. There was a clear sense that a board elected to promote community confidence had ignored the wishes of the community.

Former board member Nancy Benchimol then described the process by which a superintendent is evaluated at North Shore. Reports are written by both the superintendent and the board at the end of every school year and then discussed at length. Since Trustees Pombar and Galati have only been on the board since July, they did not participate in the evaluation of Dr. Root. Their lack of experience on the board was addressed several times during Monday night's meeting by several different speakers.

One parent expressed her frustration over the special ed program but praised the teachers and staff in the district. Dean Scheu urged the board to stay the course. But overwhelmingly, the residents at the meeting were there in support of Dr. Root's compassion and dedication for the students in this school district. Former board President Robert McMahon praised Dr. Root's achievements in science, math and technology and congratulated him for the success of the senior experience program which he initiated and is unique to the district. Mr. McMahon challenged the board to take action that evening. Mr. Montesano said the board's attorney was not present to which Mr. McMahon said, "Yes, he's out in the hall. The people who are here deserve to know where you stand on this. You have to do something." There was applause by the audience after almost every speaker and prolonged applause for Dr. Root at the end of the public comment period.

At 11:30 p.m. the board was urged to go into executive session and revisit the vote. After 35 minutes in executive session, the board returned with no change or comment. Mr. McMahon then asked Dr. Root to waive his right to confidentiality in order to allow a discussion of the conversation that took place in executive session. After consultation with legal counsel and another brief executive session, the board decided to wait to meet with all seven board members to discuss the comments made by the public. The agenda item, "superintendent search," was tabled.

President Montesano reminded the audience that there was a scheduled open meeting with the board on Nov. 5 at the high school. Open meetings allow for question and answer sessions between the community and the board. There is no agenda and a motion to revisit the contract vote cannot be made at this meeting but questions on any subject may be brought up by the public. The next board meeting when all the board of ed members will be present is scheduled for Nov. 19 at Glenwood Landing School.