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Huntington school board poised for fresh start

BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS | deborah.morris@newsday.com

5:39 PM EDT, May 14, 2008

The school year began with the attempted ouster of the high school principal, a discrimination lawsuit filed by her against the district, the resignations of two school board members and several dramatic board meetings. Now the Huntington School Board is poised for a fresh start.

On Tuesday, residents will elect three new members to the seven-person board, which has had just five since December.

The candidates -- Chris Bene, Kimberly Brown, Arthur Danziger, Bill Dwyer and Crystal E. White, all running for the first time -- say it's time for a fresh start.

"I didn't like what was going on," said Bene, 58, PTA Council president for the past two years. "Everybody forgot about the business of the children and the school district."

In August, officials transferred high school principal Carmela Leonardi to the district's alternative high school. She filed suit against the district, charging the transfer was part of a "preconceived scheme" to remove her. Officials, she said, did not like her efforts to help Latino students.

After residents and teachers protested at two board meetings, Leonardi was reinstated.

In October, board member Charles Forte Jr. resigned for personal reasons. In December, Jill Collyer resigned, citing an inability to trust some colleagues. Vice President Robert Lee is not seeking re-election.

"It'll be good to have a full board back," said President Richard McGrath, who supported Leonardi's transfer. "It never got to a point where we could not do the district's business. Having said that, I wouldn't want to do that long term."

White, 35, who is African-American, said the district's handling of the Leonardi situation was troubling.

"I can offer balance and a perspective for people who may not feel they are represented on the board," White said of the district, which is 40 percent minority.

Brown, 44, and Dwyer, 43, stressed the importance of board members working together in making decisions. "You have to work with people -- you don't have to be their best friend," Brown said.

Danziger, 57, a local businessman, said he is ready to help the district get back to its real responsibility. "I know the difference between spending your own money and spending someone else's," he said. "That's essentially what the board is charged with doing: spending someone else's money."