I'm quite disturbed by Mr. Rakofsky's editorial opinion.

What Mr. Rakofsky and other uninformed community members fail to ask is this: If the Board of Education sued the insurance company directly: (a) would it no longer insure the School District (yes -- they'd be in conflict); and (b) is there a replacement policy available? The answer is obvious as a commercial litigator and businesswoman: this policy is the only game in town. Given this business fact, the board had to undertake litigation against former board members instead and have them pursue the insurance company for the benefit of our district. The board has stayed the litigations against former board members so that the former board members and our district do not incur additional litigation expenses until the insurance litigations by former board members is resolved. The board members cannot reveal their legal strategy or it would undermine the board's lawsuit against the former members and thereby impair the ability, the district's ability, to recover under the policy. Ms. Margaritis is the best hope that the district has for recovery under the policy because she is the least culpable of the former board members, having not been a board member at the time the theft should have been reported to the insurance company. Her presence in a suit against the insurance company is absolutely necessary for our recovery.

I am dismayed that our bright, but misguided and vocal community members such as Mr. Rakofsky are lacking the necessary business and legal acumen and strategy that Messrs. Borowick and Saffron and Ms. Ben-Levy bring to our district. As an experienced commercial litigator, the strategy undertaken by the board is patently obvious and absolutely necessary. As a parent of children in the district, the need to get recovery from the insurance company, is also absolutely necessary. Not only did Dr. Tassone steal from us financially, he left the district in an educational malaise and time warp. Why is it that while most school districts have put their homework assignments and student/parent communications on websites, and we haven't yet? Why is it that we had to suspend our foreign language program? Not only were there no funds, there was an educational void for the years that Dr. Tassone served.

The single most important breach of fiduciary duty and bad business judgment that our former school board members committed was the failure to notify the insurance company of the loss as soon as it occurred years ago. You would no more walk away from a car accident without reporting it to the insurance company even if the personal injury suffered by the passenger in the car you hit appeared non-existent -- at least not without a release. How would you sleep at night not knowing whether a lawsuit would ultimately occur -- and when it does you would be denied coverage for late notice.

The failure to report the theft-- even if recovered-- cost this district, not only a $26 million policy, it cost us thousands of dollars in legal fees that never would have been expended by the district. The insurance company would have done our work for us and we never would have been chasing dollars from those who stole from us or have been preoccupied with misleading and uniformed opinions of persons like Mr. Rakofsky.