Animosity, anger, not much shock

BY ANN GIVENS AND INDRANI SEN | STAFF WRITERS

June 30, 2004

Just a month ago, they agreed to an 8.4 percent school tax hike so teachers could have raises and students could have new classrooms. So residents in the William Floyd School District were more than a little disheartened yesterday to hear that a former district treasurer had been arrested and charged with stealing more than $700,000 from the district.

"I think most people are pretty incensed," said Tom Montreuil, 47, of Mastic Beach, who has two children at William Floyd High School. "They approve all the budgets for the schools every time there's an increase and they expect the money to go where it's supposed to go. When someone abuses that, people get angry."

Word spread quickly in summer carpool groups and supermarket lines yesterday that James Wright, the district's former treasurer, had been arrested and charged with grand larceny. It comes two weeks after the district fired Acting Superintendent for Business Daniel Cifonelli for unspecified "financial irregularities."

"The people we expect to be leading us by example are failing us," said Carol Bissonette, a Mastic Beach civic activist. She said she hopes the corruption will end with Wright and Cifonelli, but she fears it will be more widespread within the district.

Susan, 43, of Shirley, who did not want her last name used, said after the recent financial scandal in the Roslyn schools, she was less than shocked to hear there were problems in her own district. "It seems to be going around," she said.

She said she hopes the students won't suffer for the alleged wrongs of the administrators.

"It's a shame, with all the budget crunches," she said, as she shopped in Mastic yesterday. "I know in William Floyd they really try to stretch their budget as much as they can."

John Sicignano, 46, president of the Mastic Park Civic Association, said it's a travesty that administrators would allegedly steal while the schools can't afford basic supplies.

"They all live in ivory towers," said Sicignano, who had two children in the school district, the older of whom graduated from the high school last week. "Look what they tried to get away with on the backs of working families."

Susan Hoogsteden, 45, of Mastic Beach, said it will be the children and taxpayers who will ultimately pay for any wrongdoing. "If they're not getting the supplies they need that falls in turn on the parents and the taxpayers ... and unfortunately the middle-income people and the lower-income people are affected by that in a negative way."

Several people went out of their way to praise the teachers along with the administrators, whom they felt confident would not be touched by the scandal.

Sam Cavallo, 52, of Mastic Beach, who owns Gold Key Modular Homes in Shirley, said he believes Wright's arrest was an isolated incident. "It threw me off balance when I heard about it, but things happen," he said. "It's an award-winning school district, and I know most of those guys to be honest people."

Sicignano said despite the current allegations, he would still vote for a school tax hike if it would benefit local children. "You have to," he said. "If you punish the administrators, it will trickle down to the kids."