(Ed. Note: The following is a Victim Impact Statement Presented in the Mineola Court by Roslyn School District Board Trustee Clifford Saffron on the day of the sentencing of Frank A. Tassone, printed at the request of the author.)

Good morning, your honor. My name is Cliff Saffron and I've been asked to speak on behalf the Roslyn Board of Education. Although you will hear only my voice this morning, I hope I am successful in speaking for the thousands of Roslyn taxpayers and students who were the true victims of Dr. Tassone's crimes.

I would be remiss if I did not begin by thanking the Nassau County District Attorney's office. Kathleen Rice, Meg Reiss and Peter Mancuso have all worked tirelessly for our community and we are grateful.

It is often said that teaching may be the noblest profession of all. And that may be true. If so, being superintendent of a school district should bring "noble" to a higher level. For at the end of the day parents entrust you with their children, they entrust you with our future. However, I suggest your honor that no one in Roslyn would use the word "noble" to describe Dr. Tassone. Other words come to mind: fiend, felon, crook, criminal, scoundrel and svengali. I have heard other words to describe Dr. Tassone as well, but I would never use those words in a court of law.

If you walked into the cafeteria at Roslyn High School you would see a banner that still hangs there, a banner from Dr. Tassone's era. It reads "Roslyn School District - Excellence in Education." That's what Roslyn used to be known for. The Roslyn School District was the envy of others. That's no longer the case. Instead, today the Roslyn School District is a punch line in a bad joke. Dr. Tassone, as a result of your greed, you have single handedly subjected a proud community and an outstanding school district to years of shame and ridicule.

There were days when the national press touted Roslyn as one of the top school districts in the country. As a result of your actions Dr. Tassone we've been in the national press lately, but not in a particularly positive context.

• There were front page headlines in the national edition of The New York Times, but this time it said "audit describes 8 years of theft in Roslyn schools."

• There was a lead story on the NBC Nightly News "Fleecing of America" segment entitled the "Roslyn School Scandal."

• The New York State comptroller issued a report called "The Anatomy of a Scandal."

• A whole new set of laws were promulgated in New York State to help prevent corruption in school districts as a direct result of your theft.

• And when budgets were voted down all over New York State in the last few years, newspapers referred to that as the "Roslyn Effect."

Anything positive you may have accomplished during your tenure in Roslyn was swept away in one fell swoop, your own personal tsunami of arrogance, entitlement, materialism and avarice. And in the aftermath of that tsunami you left a community devastated and divided. And you left our children, your students, searching for answers. Hopefully they will get that answer from this court today. And that answer must be that crime does not pay.

There have been many sad chapters in this sordid tale called the "scandal." But one chapter in particular stands out in my mind. It was October 13, 2005. That was the day Dr. Tassone penned a letter to the editor of The Roslyn News to respond to an article written in The New York Times. This was the opportunity for Dr. Tassone to finally say he was sorry to our children and to the Roslyn community. What Dr. Tassone said -- and more importantly what he didn't say -- was truly remarkable.

Dr. Tassone thought it was important to clarify the record regarding the amount of money he had stolen from the Roslyn School District. The New York Times article stated that Dr. Tassone had stolen $2 million. Dr. Tassone tried to correct the article saying, "I pleaded guilty to taking $1.1 million not $2 million." Dr. Tassone, do you really think it matters whether you stole $1.1 million or $2 million from the taxpayers of Roslyn? Do you really think that's the point?

Dr. Tassone went on to say that the article was "insensitive and mean spirited." Dr. Tassone continued that the "last year has been quite painful" and that he was "receiving a prison sentence of 4 to 12 years." Not once in that note did Dr. Tassone acknowledge the pain and suffering he personally inflicted upon a school district and a community that trusted him, that idolized him. Dr. Tassone, I guess it always was all about you.

Dr. Tassone thought it important to clarify the record regarding the "vacations" he took and charged to the Roslyn School District. He pleaded "the vacations you write about were in most cases speaking engagements" or educational trips. But he neglected to mention the gambling junkets he and others in the administration took to Las Vegas and New Orleans. How disingenuous is that? Even after you had pleaded guilty you were still trying to put your own "spin" on things.

And when all was said and done you took the easy way out. You chose to blame others. You concluded your letter by saying "I was given erroneous advice by the auditor and the assistant superintendent for business." Instead of standing up and taking responsibility for your actions you pointed your finger at others. Isn't that a great lesson you taught our kids?

Now that's what you said in your letter, but let's examine what you didn't say. Your letter was about 400 words, but not once did you mention the children of Roslyn. Not once did you apologize or say you were sorry.

And more important than anything else, your honor, not once, not once, did Dr. Tassone express a shred of remorse.

As an attorney I understand the system, your honor, but I ask how Dr. Tassone can enter a plea deal in exchange for reduced jail time when he hasn't expressed a scintilla of remorse. Maybe more than anything else, your honor (maybe more than the restitution of funds -- and the Roslyn School District desperately needs those funds) the community needed to hear over the last two years Dr. Tassone say he was sorry. To date, all we've heard is silence. It wouldn't surprise me if we hear that remorse today. How convenient, today you're being sentenced.

Dr. Tassone, you betrayed the trust and confidence placed in you by every constituency in the Roslyn School District.

The seniors were among your biggest supporters. You made adult education a priority and treated them to holiday dinners at taxpayer expense. In turn, they paid their taxes because they wanted to support the education that their children had received. They thought their money was going to educate the children. And what did you do? You stole their hard-earned money.

Many young families moved to Roslyn on the promise of a fine education for their children. Taxes were high but they viewed it as an investment. In many of those households both parents work to afford to live in Roslyn. You stole their future.

Consider the hard-working administrators and teachers and custodians and bus drivers and cafeteria workers who placed their hope and confidence in you. You single-handedly stole their faith, and you embarrassed an entire profession.

And lastly, consider the children that you were supposed to educate. You betrayed them. You stole taxpayer money that was earmarked for the education of our children. It's hard to imagine a more heinous crime.

$11.2 million. That was the amount cited by the New York State Comptroller as being stolen from the taxpayers of Roslyn. But we all know the actual amount is much higher than that. $11.2 million. How many computers could be purchased? How many books could be bought? How many teachers could be hired? How much quicker could our leaky roofs have been fixed? So many questions yet so few answers. But I can tell you this; had that money been spent as intended the quality of our children's education undoubtedly would have been better.

But the loss to our community can never be measured in dollars. If you want to see a distraught community, your honor, you should come to Roslyn. You should attend one of our board meetings. Virtually every topic we discuss, virtually every decision we make is inextricably tied back to the scandal. You can't imagine how this has pitted neighbor against neighbor. Truly a community divided. Divided by one man, Dr. Tassone.

At the end of the day, your honor, Dr. Tassone was little more than the CEO of a criminal enterprise. He profited from and acquiesced in the theft of $11.2 million. What is the proper penalty for those transgressions? What price should he pay?

Two years after the scandal broke the community is first trying to heal. Your honor, you cannot underestimate how important today is in that healing process. Your honor, you cannot underestimate the significance of the sentence you hand down today. Our community needs your help for us to heal. Understand that this is not a community looking for vengeance. This is a community looking for justice.

Today, your honor, you're the teacher. And the lesson you must teach -- the message you must send to our children -- is that crime doesn't pay. On behalf of the board of education I implore you to hand down the stiffest sentence permitted by law.

Cliff Saffron

Roslyn School District Trustee