Court OKs Westbury Board of Ed members' status

A recent State Supreme Court decision has affirmed the status of Westbury Board of Education president Pless Dickerson and other board members elected in May, whose seats had been challenged last summer by the previous board - including a current member who also had claimed she was the leader of the board.

"Certainly it is significant," Dickerson said Tuesday of the December decision by Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Melkonian. "It does establish the board that has been in place since July 7 is rightful, legitimate and did operate in good faith and did conduct business for the district which was needed, despite the confusion."

Westbury voters elected newcomers Rodney Caines, Leslie Davis and Siela Bynoe, giving Dickerson a majority on the seven-member board. In June, before the swearing-in of those three, then-board president Karin Campbell and her allies attempted to oust three other members, including Dickerson, for missing three straight meetings without valid excuses.

In the order issued by Melkonian last month, he dismissed the petition brought by the prior Campbell-led board that sought to remove Dickerson and prevent the new board members from taking their seats.

Campbell and her allies had requested that Commissioner of Education David Steiner uphold their determination that Dickerson had vacated his seat and thus he would be off the board. But Steiner never acted. After Dickerson and the new members took over, the board rescinded prior actions by Campbell's board to remove Dickerson and he withdrew his appeal of his requested removal.

Charles Robinson, an attorney hired by the board when Campbell was in charge, said the court action was filed to "force the commissioner to make a decision.

"He sat on it for months regarding the removal of Pless Dickerson," Robinson said. "Our action in Albany was to compel him to make a decision. Once he withdrew the appeal, there was nothing for the commissioner to make a decision about."

Other legal matters in Westbury are pending including another appeal before the state commissioner, brought by Campbell and board member Rocco Lanzilotta, seeking the removal of several board members and the superintendent. A spokesman for the Department of Education said no decision has yet been reached.