I attended the Hicksville Board of Education meeting/ Recognition Ceremony on June 16. This was to be Richard Pfaender's final meeting and I wished to acknowledge his many years of dedicated service; the district will be hard pressed to fill his shoes. Richard is passionate about our community and possesses a wealth of knowledge that no other (past or present) board member could possibly have. However, I would like to comment on several disturbing incidents which took place that evening. The Recognition Ceremony was scheduled to take place at 8:30 p.m. in the high school; many community members, students and retiring teachers (along with their families) stood outside and waited for the board of education to convene the meeting after executive session. We waited, waited and waited some more. Over an hour passed and many people just went home. When we finally went into the auditorium, Mr. Tornatore, who was slated to recite the meeting's opening prayer and pledge, was nowhere to be found, along with Caryn Calabrese. Ten minutes into the meeting, both board members, looking extremely agitated, finally took their seats. The consensus of the audience members saw this as blatant disregard to the community by the board members.

How rude (but not surprising) that two board members chose to leave the meeting at "opportune" moments. As Mr. Pfaender was being honored, Mrs. Calabrese got up and left the room. Then, during board members' time, as Pat Love was praising the superintendent and Mr. Pfaender, Gus Costa chose to stand up and leave. It's no secret that Mr. Costa is not a fan of Maureen Bright and has a very public agenda to replace her. However, Mr. Costa was elected to represent the people of Hicksville and our community, not his own private interests. I invite the people of Hicksville to look around the community and remember a recent Newsday article about Hicksville's raised ELA scores. We have new programs, extensive new technologies and improved facilities. Staff members in our district are pleased and excited about their new work environment and additional supports for instruction. We finally have a superintendent who is out and about and visible and is appreciated by community and staff members who see her at school and community functions.

In turn, we have great staff - teachers, secretaries, administrators, teaching assistants and buildings and grounds employees - who are happy and working very hard at their jobs and we can see the results of their hard work! But these staff members hear the negative complaints of a "handful" of very vocal, disconnected, miserable people and they shouldn't have to work like this. Hicksville Public Schools can and will shine! Residents of Hicksville and parents of Hicksville Public Schools should not stand by and let these people take over our school district - don't let them speak for us! Hicksville Public Schools are moving ahead! And maybe that's exactly what some people don't like - they won't have anything to complain about and nobody to listen to them! We're living in a community whose school budget passed when many districts surrounding us have suffered failures (- some more than once!) Don't we want to continue seeing these positive improvements in our district? As of July 1, we will have five (out of seven) board of education members who have less than three years of experience with regard to policies, procedures and history. - And three members have made no secret of their desire to remove Mrs. Bright as superintendent! Two board members (Mr. Cost and Mrs. Powell) have had their campaign largely financed by the teachers' union, a union whose contract will be up for renewal in the coming school year. Will the incoming board of education "give away the store" as was done during the Cardella heyday? Will Mrs. Bright continue to make all these positive changes in the district? Or, will Mr. Costa and the teacher's union succeed in pushing her out the door? Stay tuned, Hicksville and hold onto your wallets in the coming months.

One final note to the board of education: We're watching your every move.

Diana D'Antuono De Palma