Brentwood rally to call for school chief's ouster

Following charges that Brentwood's school board president used racial slurs to describe workers he wanted to fire, local civil rights leaders will hold a rally Thursday night outside the district's headquarters.

Community activists, including Kaliah Greene, a former board candidate, also want board president George Talley to resign - a demand the district rejects.

Tuesday, the Rev. Roderick Pearson, president of Islip Town's NAACP, called for a community rally outside district headquarters at 52 Third Ave. The 6:30 p.m. protest is to precede a scheduled 8 p.m. board meeting.

The NAACP says the rally will seek "an end to a growing pattern of hostile behavior and disregard for residents, students and employees of the Brentwood School District."

"If the taxpaying residents of the community are not even being respected by the district representatives, then how can we as parents feel confident that our children are being respected?" asked another rally supporter, Sandra Gil, the mother of two district students.

Talley could not be reached for comment Tuesday. A district spokesman, Rick Belyea, reiterated the district's position that it did not discriminate and rejected calls for Talley's resignation.

"It's a little troubling that anyone in the community would call for George Talley, who has lived here for more than 50 years, to step down without hearing his side of the story," Belyea said.

Last week, five current or former Brentwood school employees filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with two charging that Talley used slurs against blacks, Hispanics, women and gays. One plaintiff, the district's former safety director, a Hispanic, charged that Talley pressured him to fire a Hispanic security guard, and when he refused, used an ethnic slur and threatened to fire the safety director.

"Objectively, it looks like discrimination, which is a violation of state and federal law," said Lenard Leeds, attorney for plaintiffs. Leeds is senior partner with the Carle Place firm of Leeds Morelli & Brown.