An opportunity for the Jericho school district to revel in its high national status, and also get an exciting glimpse at its upcoming expansion plans was overshadowed by the immediate and shocking resignation of Salvatore Benisatto and Thomas Zimmerman from the board of education.

Just before the board's most recent meeting came to order at Seaman Elementary School on Thursday, March 26, the two trustees ambushed Superintendent Henry Grishman, Board President Flora Greenberg and remaining board members by making terse statements citing displeasure with the board, and quickly exiting.

Not alluding to any specifics, Benisatto simply said that he "cannot compromise his values and principles" by accepting "decisions that have been made" recently by the board.

Zimmerman added that "though this is difficult to say," and though he would remain "committed to the district and its children," he would, as Benisatto likewise remarked, not "compromise my integrity."

Both ended their statements with, "Thank you and goodbye," and abruptly left the room in the wake of a buzzing crowd and a momentarily stunned board, which resolved unanimously to accept the resignations.

Greenberg, smiling with disbelief, turned to the crowd and said, "I am proud to serve as a board member, and we will continue to serve with as much enthusiasm as before."

"I think we're wonderful," she added, to the warm and approving applause of residents.

PTA Joint Council President Fern Kwiat later spoke briefly in support of the remaining board members. "We would like the current board to know that you have our full cooperation and support," she said. Kwiat, in an interview, said that the comment was not a jab at the two dissenters, and was merely a "tongue in cheek" response meant to seek levity in an uncomfortable situation. Kwiat said that the PTA members were "shocked" at the resignations.

Asked his reaction in an interview, Grishman simply stated, "I was surprised."

No one has presented clear indication as to what prompted Benisatto and Zimmerman's departure, but at the last board meeting, Grishman indicated that the board would remove the Jericho Educational Foundation and the salary of its director, Robert Manheimer, from the 1998-99 budget. Manheimer and the foundation board requested this move after being pressured to do so by some vocal residents. Benisatto and Zimmerman both served on the board when Manheimer was superintendent, and sources indicate that they are close allies to Manheimer. Therefore, they may have seen the dropping of the foundation from the budget as a slight.

Grishman, however, insisted that he was dumbfounded over what led to such drastic measures. Asked if there had been an issue that triggered unusual friction recently on the board, he stated, "There are a lot of issues that the school district has faced over the last several months, as part of regular business...Many of them are very difficult ones."

Benisatto did not return multiple requests for an interview from the Tribune. Zimmerman was not reachable for comment.

The administration has openly announced that it is seeking candidates to run for the vacant trustee positions. Benisatto's term would have been up for election this year anyway. Whoever acquires his seat will serve until 2001. Zimmerman's term was to end in 2000. As Grishman explained it, "The candidate who receives the most votes [in the May election] will get the longer of the terms, and the candidate who receives the next most votes gets the other term."

The resignations were somewhat of a distraction from the other business taking place at Seaman that evening. Among that business was a scheduled, and much more pleasant, surprise. Grishman proudly announced to the audience that the author of the recently published book Class Struggle, who had listed Jericho as the third best high school in the nation, had revised his numbers, and changed Jericho's status to number one.

According to Grishman, Jericho school district representatives noticed an erroneous statistic regarding its AP courses in the book, and called Class Struggle author Jay Mathews, a Washington Post reporter, to alert him to the flaw. The new statistics rose Jericho above East Williston and Milburn High School.

Further documenting the entire district's success was Assistant to the Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Anna Hunderfund, who reviewed the results of the New York State Report Card, and listed some of the more impressive figures from 1996-97.

For example, 80 percent of last year's graduates earned Regents Diplomas. Also, many Jericho students passed their Regents examinations with distinction, ranging from 41% of Global Students Regents test-takers to 77% of Sequential Math I Regents test-takers.

Hunderfund did point out several flaws that exist in the School Report Card system that have likely caused some errors throughout the state in determining certain percentages, special education statistics and poverty levels.

The administration also presented its sweeping plans for district-wide expansion.