A letter in the Nov. 2, Manhasset Press charged the Manhasset School Board with an apparent ethics violation in the conduct of the failed proposition to fund a reconstruction project that would yield three additional classrooms at the Munsey Park School. The complainant charged that the board hid a projected enrollment decline to deceive the voters and thus trick them into building unneeded classrooms. The writer boasted of finding an "independent study" that revealed this allegedly suppressed information.

The demographer's report to which he refers was on the school district's web page during the entire run-up to the vote. It was also widely available and discussed at public board meetings. The report clearly demonstrates that for the next three years, the school does not have sufficient classroom space to meet instructional needs. Fair-minded supporters and opponents of the proposition will also affirm the scrupulous honesty of the administration and the board with regard to the analysis of enrollment projections.

The board will continue its efforts to address capital and enrollment issues in an effort to gain community support for the maintenance of our school buildings as essential to the educational needs of our students. We continue to encourage full community participation in both our processes and the resulting propositions for voter approval. As public officials, although serving pro-bono, we recognize that any one person has the constitutional right to make any charge, however unfounded, intended to suit their argument and attempt to discredit future board propositions that may involve taxpayer expense. We are proud of our efforts to gain needed instructional space at Munsey Park and accordingly feel no need to ask our auditor to determine the ethics of our process.

The Manhasset Board of Education