(The following is a victim impact statement made to Judge Alan Honoroff by Roslyn School Board member Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy at the sentencing date for Pamela Gluckin and reprinted here at the author's request. At the sentencing, Ms. Gluckin received a term of three to nine years of jail time.)

I address the Court this morning on behalf of the Roslyn School District, and board of education to urge that you impose the strongest possible sentence upon the former Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Business, the defendant, and confessed felon, Pamela Gluckin, for her leadership role in this horrific matter, which has been referred to as the worst public school scandal in American history.

Please know that I speak today as a community member, for the entire board of education, for the whole of the Roslyn School District, for the thousands of people who pay taxes to support the institution, and the thousands who are and were educated there, and who work and worked there, for the children of Roslyn and for Roslyn's good name.

Make no mistake. Our good name, a name that has been a beacon in the educational world for a century, has been tarnished by this defendant. We are now lately known first and foremost for our thieves, and the felons of our scandal, rather than the intellects and achievements of our students, or the inspiration and motivation of our faculty and administrative staff, or the love and devotion of our parents. Our good name has become "a term of art" with quite the negative connotation in the education world all up and down this state, and we have become the poster child for how to get it wrong in policy making and financial oversight, as a result of the corruption of our entire school system, led by this defendant. Your Honor, with the strongest possible sentence imposed by you today we take a giant step to restore Roslyn's good name, and the good name of public education and the professionals it employs.

We came here today in person to tell you, that this was not a victimless crime, one of paper and money alone where no one got "hurt." We came today to tell you about the victim, and of the injury. A cohesive and loving community has been broken apart. This individual defendant, herself a mother we understand, brought deprivation to thousands of other people's children by assuming for herself what their own parents worked for and provided and intended for those children and for their benefit alone.

This defendant is a danger to society as evidenced by her total, blatant disrespect, disregard, and decomposition and all but destruction of an institution revered by all.

If you, Your Honor, subscribe to the philosophy (as we do, and as we teach the children) that a free and appropriate public education for all is one of our country's great contributions to civilized society, it is not hard to imagine why an assault on that very belief and the system envisioned by it would warrant the maximum punishment and why the imposition of that is just and fair in this matter.

While the crimes committed here may not have been "violent" in the physical sense, they certainly demonstrate nothing but contempt for every aspect of and participant in our school system including but not limited to the children, their parents, the teaching faculty, the administrative colleagues, the public in general, the taxpayers specifically, the law, the legislature, and the basic principles of the American system of public education and government. These were all the victims of former Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Business, the defendant, confessed felon, Pamela Gluckin, in her attack on the Roslyn Public Schools. The most hideous, and salient fact is that these crimes were committed in our schools, the place where our children are to learn and to grow. One of the most important parts of what our children learn are good values, as they are taught to earn what they receive, and to be honest about their achievements, and to work hard, and that society will reward them for these, but that there will be consequences for dishonesty.

Still today, almost four years from the date of the discovery of the first quarter of a million dollars embezzled from the children of Roslyn, the pain enduring in our fractured community is everywhere. We have been devastated by this violation, and in disbelief there are days when we still cannot come to grips with the realization that this could happen in our town, in any town, in public schools. Our trusting and supportive nature for all we were raised to believe and for what we are raising our children and grandchildren to believe in, that is to say these values inherent in a free and appropriate public education for all and the lifelong benefits it provides. Our trust was violated, exploited, defrauded in a way so sinister, so deliberate, so seductive, so opaque that people were reluctant even to believe it, and full advantage of all of this was taken by the perpetrator. This defendant, confessed felon Pamela Gluckin, the former Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Business of the Roslyn Public Schools even went so far as to feign cancer to gain sympathy from parents and colleagues upon her sudden departure from the Roslyn Public Schools, like a thief in the night, of course what those parents and colleagues did not know is that is exactly what she was. Yes, full and complete advantage of the trust placed in her was taken by former assistant superintendent of Schools for Business, this defendant, now confessed felon, Pamela Gluckin.

That some monetary restitution and cooperation has been offered is of little consolation to the devastated school system left behind. The mismanagement and neglect covered up by the larceny, fraud and criminal enterprise of the defendant shall take years to repair, if repair is even possible. We highlight for the Court that an architect's report received last year indicated that it will take more than $25 million to bring our buildings and grounds up to code. This is not a wish list. These measures are to stop roofs from leaking and to ensure basic safety.

How can we receive restitution for the privacy, the reputation, the beauty and peace of our community? How can we restore the faith of the population in the institution? How do we turn our eyes forward to the future with spirits uplifted? How do children go to school every day, how do teachers and administrators go to work every day and do their rightful jobs with their hearts in it and without distraction? We suffered this, and continue to. How do students and faculty go on, when those they were taught to respect and admire are removed from their midst to jail in handcuffs for crimes against them? Remember the shot heard 'round Long Island was that of the record number of failed school budgets in 2004 and then again in 2005, much of which was attributable to the crimes of the confessed felon, this defendant.

The likes of former Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Business Pamela Gluckin has disappointed, disillusioned and disgusted us, and our community, but we try to survive this, and to persevere. While we try to overcome this, and replace all that was stolen, we struggle every day with this. How can we put back the faith and the trust of an entire community? Of an institution? Of a state? How do we deal every day with the after-effects this has had and still has on our town, our county, and other communities all over Long Island, New York State and yes, even our nation? How can one restore innocence once it is lost? As foul as the theft of dollars, perhaps even more so, was this theft of faith, trust and confidence of a community, an entire profession and half a generation of school children and their parents. We have seen the defendant's arrogance, but we have not seen any remorse.

It is our unified belief, and that of the honest and hardworking people of our district who we are here to represent, that this defendant ought to be required to make full and complete monetary restitution and be given the maximum sentence under the plea agreement. Many find it abhorrent that this defendant will continue to collect her pension, earned while employed by the Roslyn Public Schools even as she serves a sentence for her crimes against the Roslyn Public Schools without having fully repaid the Roslyn Public Schools. The pension system that will pay her is the very same system or type of system that supports all of the loving devoted administrators and teachers who come to work every day with honest concern for children and their best interests on their minds. We find it repugnant that this defendant continues to sit in the same category and should be sharply distinguished from her former colleagues. These acts are so egregious that there has been an outcry to change the pension law and the New York State Constitution to deprive felons who commit their crimes in the public workplace from receiving their pensions and thereby continuing to benefit from the workplace where and public against whom they committed their crimes.

The depravity of the defendant's actions from the planning, to the commission, to the subsequent and repeated attempts at cover-up and misdirection all without concern for the impact upon others, or regret or remorse are of a level of severity so unconscionable that cries out for only the maximum sentence to be imposed.

Only full restitution and a long and appropriate state prison sentence will be a sufficient deterrent to other would-be similar "copy-cat" felons and their collaborators. Do we want an America where our educators fearlessly use our nation's public schools for their frauds and embezzlements? We urge the court to send the right message and to be fair and appropriate to society, including the victims, the institution of the public school, the children, their hard-working parents, all taxpayers, the teachers, the honest and hard working school administrators who protect the trust of our children every single day, all of whom have not been individually heard by this court. We urge the Court to think of all of them as we have. Please, Your Honor, do justice for all today, and make the sentence imposed now the fitting lesson for the crimes committed. Only you now, Your Honor, can demonstrate to the children, and to all those who would victimize children and their loving and trusting parents in a decent and respectful society, that such crime does not pay.

The eyes of Roslyn, Long Island, the State and yes, even our nation are on this Court in this moment looking to you for faith and hope to be restored.

Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy

Roslyn School Board member