Opinion

SGHempsteadEditorials

<p>The wild school board meeting in Hempstead Thursday night demonstrated in one event everything that is wrong with the leadership of the troubled district.</p> 
<p>Embattled board president Betty Cross arrogantly ended the proceedings and the auditorium lights suddenly went off at a meeting where demonstrators demanded her resignation and the head of the teachers union tried to ask questions about possible layoffs. Attendees had to leave the high school by the light of their cellphones.</p> 
<p>Endangering the safety of the community is irresponsible, but this latest incident is unsurprising. Cross' intolerance for any view that isn't aligned with hers is well known. She is especially defensive now because her legitimacy as board president is in doubt.</p> 
<p>Earlier in the evening, she had guards take the microphone away from Maribel Touré, whose strong election challenge to Cross may upset the balance of power in the district. Touré appeared to have defeated Cross last month in the bitterly fought contest until questionable absentee ballots were counted that tipped the results to Cross.</p> 
<p>Last week, Touré and other activists filed a complaint with state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. charging that Cross stole the election through fraud and voter intimidation. The Nassau district attorney is also investigating. Cross denies the allegation.</p> 
<p>Cross' future and the direction of the district are now in King's hands. The commissioner is well versed in her disgraceful management style and incompetent tenure. Thursday night was just the latest example, but one that reveals how the tensions and divisiveness from the election will overshadow everything else that happens there.</p> 
<p>King must review the evidence in Touré's challenge carefully but quickly -- or all school board meetings between now and the next election in 2015 will be repeats of Thursday night.</p>

VPHEMP23

Editorial: Hempstead school fight needs resolution

lihemp20 cropped

<p>The disputed Hempstead school board election is now a test for state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. A petition has been filed charging the school district, its clerk and board president Betty J. Cross with election fraud and abuse of absentee ballots.</p> 
<p>The petition details allegations of a stunning number of voting irregularities that mirror the corruption and dysfunction that have plagued the poor-performing district for years. If the accounts from more than 20 Hempstead residents are true, they demand decisive action from King.</p> 
<p>If he finds ballots were fraudulent, he should invalidate them and declare the winner of the one seat in question. He should not call for a new election. How could anyone guarantee that would be held fairly?</p> 
<p>At the heart of the protest is a group of absentee ballots barred from being counted on election night by a unanimous objection by poll inspectors. The day after the election, the ballots were counted at a hastily called and, according to the petition, illegal meeting. Cross picked up 28 votes to one for challenger Maribel C. Touré. That count allowed Cross to retain her seat by six votes.</p> 
<p>The petition contains accounts of residents being visited at home by members of Cross' campaign team and being pressured to vote for Cross through absentee ballots. Others were asked to sign forms allowing Cross' workers to vote on their behalf. The petition alleges that absentee ballots were illegally reproduced outside the clerk's office, that some voters were rushed at the polling site and not allowed to complete their ballots, and that students were taken out of class and told to vote only for Cross and for the school district budget.</p> 
<p>The charges -- many more than we have space to list -- are outrageous and demand King's thorough evaluation. And if he determines that they are valid, Cross' election must be nullified.</p>

VPHEMP13

Editorial: Disturbing charges in Hempstead school race

Editorial: New twist in disturbing Hempstead race

liHEMPhs cropped

<p>The dynamics surrounding the disputed Hempstead school board race have changed -- for better and for worse. An investigation by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is a welcome development. But complaints by elected officials and local pastors that "outsiders" are attempting to influence the school board election are disingenuous and counterproductive.</p> 
<p>First, the good news: Rice's office issued three subpoenas to the Hempstead school district and seized voting machines, paper ballots, notes, lists, logs, correspondence -- basically, anything related to conducting last week's election. For Rice, who has been aware of problems in Hempstead for some time, this is a big step forward. Allegations made by Hempstead residents of fraudulent absentee ballots and voter intimidation are serious and deserve the scrutiny the district attorney can provide.</p> 
<p>Now, the lamentable: Hempstead Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr. and others said they were tired of people from outside Hempstead trying to "pick our leaders" and that they want to solve their problems on their own. Alas, the district for years has been an intractable problem that no one within Hempstead has seen fit to solve. The 38 percent graduation rate in 2011-12 did not bring help or intervention. Nor did reports that the district changed more than 2,200 student grades, mostly from failing to passing. What's different now? The "outsider" involvement.</p> 
<p>Groups like the Long Island Civic Engagement Table, New York Communities for Change and The Corridor Counts worked hard to increase awareness and bolster voter turnout, which nearly doubled from last year. With one insurgent candidate elected and another's fate hinging on the absentee ballot probe, the groups showed change is possible in even the most entrenched and dysfunctional school board. That's more than any of the insiders in Hempstead's power structure has accomplished.</p>

VPHEMP28

Editorial: 'Outsiders' bring positive change to Hempstead

liSKUl cropped

<p>The <a href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/michael-dobie/finally-change-for-hempstead-schools-michael-dobie-1.8118466">Hempstead school board election mess</a> is headed to Albany. The state Education Department has jurisdiction over school board elections, according to state education law, so the matter now is in the hands of Commissioner John King.</p> 
<p>That was the ruling Thursday morning in Mineola by State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Diamond, who said he has no jurisdiction to prevent the counting of the absentee ballots in question or to stop the district from certifying the results of the election. He did order Hempstead school district officials to hold on to all materials related to the election.</p> 
<p>The state Education Department’s involvement raises a number of questions.<br> Is SED in position to determine the validity of absentee ballots, the crux of the controversy here?</p> 
<p>How will SED handle reports of voter intimidation, which also have been made in this case?</p> 
<p>What if evidence of fraud is found?</p> 
<p>King needs to move quickly on a matter that is tearing the district apart, but he also needs to be thorough. Because the paint-by-numbers outline is confusing.</p> 
<p>At the end of Friday, according to court papers, 231 absentee ballots had been printed and collected by Hempstead’s clerk. Beginning Monday morning, another 301 people allegedly went to the district and requested absentee ballots which were voted that day. The number seems literally incredible.</p> 
<p>Some 61 of those absentee ballots were questioned on election night, and 30 were ruled invalid. The remaining 31 were counted Wednesday afternoon.</p> 
<p>Before that count, challenger Ricky A. Cooke Sr. was the top vote-getter with 802, followed by fellow challenger and running mate Maribel C. Touré with 712. Board president and longtime fixture Betty J. Cross was third with 691.</p> 
<p>After the count, Cooke’s status as frontrunner was unchanged. But Cross picked up 28 votes to 1 for Touré, giving Cross 719 votes to Touré’s 713.</p> 
<p>At a hastily called and raucous board meeting Wednesday night, Cross was sworn in along with Cooke — for a term that does not begin until July 1.</p> 
<p>Whether the swearing-in means anything remains to be seen.</p> 
<p>The bottom line is the circus now has a new ringmaster, who has a difficult job ahead.</p>

Columnists

Michael Dobie

OPDOBIE22

Dobie: New twists in Hempstead race

liHEMP22jcw - cropped

<p>The Hempstead school board election mess is headed to Albany for resolution by state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., who has a difficult task ahead.</p> 
<p>King and the state education system have been concerned about the poor-performing, badly run district for years but have been reluctant to intervene directly as they did, ineffectively, in Roosevelt. Now they have no choice -- because all the chronic dysfunction and claims of corruption and cronyism are about to land in King's lap.</p> 
<p>He will need to move swiftly in his review of the claimed irregularities in Tuesday's voting because the district is being torn apart by the controversy. He also needs to be thorough -- because it's a complicated case with a byzantine struggle for power at its heart.</p> 
<p>The protest stems from the counting of a much-disputed group of absentee ballots that allowed board president Betty J. Cross to retain her seat by giving her six votes more than challenger Maribel C. Touré.</p> 
<p>Cross -- whose 25-year reign has been marked by nepotistic hiring and a lack of transparency -- picked up 28 votes to 1 for Touré.</p> 
<p>Among the issues: Some 231 absentee ballots were cast through last Friday. Beginning Monday, the day before the election, another 301 were requested and voted. The numbers strain credulity.</p> 
<p>There's more. Statements from Hempstead residents claim that people came to their doors asking them to fill in absentee ballots for Cross right then and saying the ballots would be delivered for them. Other witness statements attest to intimidation at the polls of Latino voters in particular.</p> 
<p>As he delves into the dispute, King needs to understand its context. In Hempstead, there is a cauldron of anger and frustration at the way the district has been run, which manifested itself on Election Day. There also is a large cadre that owes its jobs to Cross and is afraid to speak against her.</p> 
<p>If wrong was done, King must act decisively -- for all who want change in Hempstead, before another generation of students is lost.</p>

Editorial: State must handle Hempstead election decisively

<p><strong>UPDATE 5:30 p.m.</strong>: The absentee ballot count Wednesday afternoon in the Hempstead school board race, to no one’s surprise, produced enough votes to move board president Betty Cross into second place, ahead of challenger Maribel Touré.</p> 
<p>According to sources present at the count, Cross went from 691 votes to 719 while Touré went from 712 to 713. That means that 28 of the 29 absentee ballots counted were cast for Cross, a complete and incomprehensible departure from the usual relationship between absentee ballots and those cast in person.</p> 
<p>But this new “result” doesn’t mean that Cross is going to retain her seat, despite the fact that the board swore her in late Wednesday afternoon. The whole mess is due in State Supreme Court Thursday morning and questions abound.</p> 
<p>First, it seems clear the Hempstead district defied the court order issued Tuesday night enjoining the district from opening or counting those absentee ballots. Judges do not take kindly to such actions.</p> 
<p>More importantly, the judge has to determine whether those absentee ballots — and a whole bunch of others — were validly collected. That was the point of the lawsuit filed Tuesday night (below).</p> 
<p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="undefined" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_67857" scrolling="no" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/225519272/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;show_recommendations=falo" width="100%"></iframe></p> 
<p>At the end of Friday, according to court papers, 231 absentee ballots had been printed and collected. Beginning Monday morning, another 301 people allegedly went to the district and requested absentee ballots, which were voted that day. The number strains credulity.</p> 
<p>The ballots counted Wednesday afternoon were a subset of those 301, according to sources. Supposedly, around 60 were sent to the Board of Elections for verification and the board said only 30 or so could be verified as registered voters.</p> 
<p>Those were the ones counted. Why were only 60 or so sent to the board for verification? What’s the implication of the 30 or so the board bounced? What of the other 241 or so that were not sent to the board? And what about the original 231?</p> 
<p>Is there footage from surveillance cameras that would show people coming to the district for ballots? What about the log maintained by the district of voters who come in and request ballots? And what about the two witnesses who, court papers say, supposedly verified the ballot requests?</p> 
<p>It’s going to take a while to sort this out. There’s one thing we know for certain at this point: Challenger Ricky A. Cooke Sr. has won a seat on the board and incumbent Leonard Myers is out.</p> 
<p>As for Touré and Cross, we’ll see.</p> 
<p>----------------</p> 
<p><strong>UPDATE 2 p.m.: </strong>Not so fast. There is a wrinkle in the Hempstead school board race. The board is scheduled to open 31 absentee ballots this afternoon it says could swing the race, according to an attorney for the district.</p> 
<p>Newcomer Ricky A. Cooke Sr. is secure as the top vote-getter with 802 votes. His running mate, fellow first-time candidate Maribel C. Touré, finished with 712 votes, followed by board president Betty J. Cross with 691. One question is whether Cross would gain enough votes to overtake Touré.</p> 
<p>A second question is whether opening the ballots is in defiance of a court order issued Tuesday night which enjoins the district “from finalizing the election for school Board Trustee or counting absentee ballots printed and/or collected by PATRICIA WRIGHT, Clerk for the Hempstead School District.”</p> 
<p>Civil rights attorney Fred Brewington, who filed the lawsuit and supported Cooke and Touré in the election, said opening the ballots would constitute defiance of the court order.</p> 
<p>In the meantime, rumors are flying about when and where the ballots are being opened and who will be present to observe.</p> 
<p>Stay tuned.</p> 
<p>----------------</p> 
<p>Change came to the Hempstead school district in a big way Tuesday night as voters apparently <a href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/vote-for-ricky-cooke-and-maribel-toure-in-hempstead-school-board-elections-1.8036476">elected two school board challengers</a> whose withering criticism of the current board pointed to its lack of leadership and transparency, cronyism and disdain of parents and teachers.</p> 
<p>First-time candidates Ricky A. Cooke Sr. and Maribel C. Touré finished first and second, respectively, in the seven-person race, knocking out board president and longtime fixture Betty J. Cross and her colleague Leonard Myers.</p> 
<p>A lawsuit challenging scores of absentee ballots has been filed by civil rights attorney Fred Brewington, who supported Cooke and Touré, but Brewington said the outcome of the lawsuit will not change the results of the election. Cooke and Touré appear to be the victors, no matter what.</p> 
<p>It is difficult to overstate the significance of this result for one of Long Island’s poorest-performing school districts, one that has been stifled for so long by an insidious lack of leadership.</p> 
<p>Cross has been a board member for 25 years and was in her second stint as board president. Newsday’s editorial board recently described her as “the heart of the board’s dysfunction” and commented that her tenure “has been marked by nepotistic hiring, backroom deals, a lack of transparency, high turnover of key administrators, indifference to poor relations between blacks and Latinos, and hostility to parent and teacher input.” Cross engineered the appointment in December of Myers, her former campaign manager and close confidante.</p> 
<p>Good riddance to both.</p> 
<p>Cooke and Touré will take their place on Hempstead’s five-person board on July 1. They will vastly improve the current board’s lack of transparency and its poor relationship with parents and teachers. But they cannot on their own lift Hempstead’s Island-worst graduation rate, fix its shoddy facilities or repair fractured race relations between blacks and Latinos. To do that, they need to build coalitions with other school board members who also see those as essential goals. And the residents who spoke forcefully in the voting booth need to attend board meetings, offer ideas and criticism, and press for change.</p> 
<p>It won’t be easy, but finally the process of fixing Hempstead can begin.</p>

OPHEMP21

Dobie: Wrinkle in the Hempstead race

ToureCooke21

<p style="display:none">The Hempstead school district has reached a critical juncture. Newsday endorses school board candidates Ricky A. Cooke Sr. and Maribel C. Touré for change.</p> 
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto+Condensed:700,400,300" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> 
<style type="text/css">
    h1{font-family:'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif;font-size:66px;}
    #endorsement h2{font-family:'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif;font-size:42px;}
    #endorsement h3{font-family:'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif;font-size:32px;}
    #endorsement p{font-size:22px; line-height:1.4em;}
    #endorsement p.cutline{font-family:'Roboto Condensed',sans-serif;font-size:36px;font-weight:300;}
    #comments{width:634px;float:left;}
    .trail{margin:12px 0 0 0;}
    #secondary{width:318px;margin-top:5px;margin-left:4px;}
    .cubeAd .adBanner{margin:8px;}
    #primary .adBanner{padding:8px;margin:0;}
    .simpleShare a{display:inline-block!important;margin:0!important;}
    #shareTools{position:absolute;top:10px;right:0;}
    #callToAction{width:100%; background-color:f6;padding:10px 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;}
    #callToAction h2 span{font-weight: 300;font-size: 28px;}
    #callToAction h3 span{font-weight:300;font-size:22px;}
    
</style> 
<div id="shareTools" class="simpleShare"> <a href="#" class="fb fa fa-facebook" width="600" height="360"></a> <a href="#" class="tw fa fa-twitter" data-mention="@NewsdayOpinion" width="550" height="440"></a> <a href="#" class="gp fa-google-plus" width="550" height="400"></a> <a href="#" class="pin fa-pinterest" width="800" height="360"></a> 
 <div>
  <span>0</span> <strong>SHARES</strong>
 </div> 
</div> 
<div id="endorsement"> 
 <img src="http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.3274334.1320373943!/httpImage/image.jpg" style="border:none;float:right;width: 250px;padding-top:10px;margin-left:10px;"> 
 <p class="cutline">The Hempstead school system perennially steals its students’ futures. School board elections take place Tuesday. </p> 
 <p class="cutline">It’s time for a change. A big change.</p> 
 <p>Year after year, the district fails miserably in its mission. That failure is all the more disturbing because the community it serves is beset by entrenched poverty and racial tension.</p> 
 <p>Because of the magnitude of the problems and the urgency to get things right, Newsday’s editorial board is taking the unusual step of making endorsements in a local school board race.</p> 
 <p>Newsday endorses <strong>Ricky A. Cooke Sr.</strong> and <strong>Maribel C. Touré</strong>.</p> 
 <p>Running as a team, Cooke and Touré are backed by several key community groups. Both have had or have children in district schools and each speaks with an understanding of Hempstead’s problems and with passion about its promise. Cooke, an education consultant, is a 1976 Hempstead grad who yearns for a return to those better days.</p> 
 <div id="cooke"></div> 
 <p>Touré, an X-ray technologist who emigrated from Mexico and whose husband is black, embodies a district that is 59 percent Hispanic and 37 percent black. She has been a persistent critic at board meetings.</p> 
 <div id="toure"></div> 
 <h2>Time to replace incompetent leadership</h2> 
 <p>Education should lift up the young and provide pathways to success.</p> 
 <p>But Hempstead’s graduation rate is 38 percent, the lowest on Long Island. Hundreds of students as young as kindergarten age are taught in moldy, leaky trailers. Race relations are a daily tinderbox.</p> 
 <p>Fixing the schools is an economic imperative, too. The district’s ineptitude threatens to undermine a $2.5-billion plan to revitalize downtown Hempstead, once the throbbing commercial center of Nassau County. The project is exciting but could be doomed. Who would move there to be part of a renewal if it means sending their children to Hempstead’s schools?</p> 
 <p>Many of the district’s problems stem from a pernicious lack of leadership. Hempstead’s school board has been ineffective and intransigent.</p> 
 <p>Two of the board’s five seats are open. They are held by president Betty J. Cross and fellow incumbent Leonard Myers. Cross is at the heart of the board’s dysfunction. Her tenure has been marked by nepotistic hiring, backroom deals, a lack of transparency, high turnover of key administrators, indifference to poor relations between blacks and Latinos, and hostility to parent and teacher input. Myers, her former campaign manager whose board appointment Cross engineered in December, is her yes-man. Both must go.</p> 
 <p>Fortunately, the other five candidates understand the challenges and the need for reform. But two rise above the rest.</p> 
 <p>Don't take our word for it: Listen for yourselves. Below, you can watch responses each of the candidates gave during a candidate forum hosted by a coalition of community groups on May 12, 2014. Candidates were asked to respond to racial tensions in the district and to explain how they would ensure all students receive an education.</p> 
 <div id="candidateVoices"></div> 
 <h2>An opportunity for change</h2> 
 <p>Cooke and Touré say the board must be transparent, willing to work with teachers and parents, and spend more wisely; Hempstead’s $24,000 per-pupil expenditure is $3,000 a year above the state average. Both candidates deplore racial tensions in the district. Cooke recalls how poorly blacks were treated by whites upon moving into Hempstead several decades ago and laments, “Now we’re doing to new people what happened to us.”</p> 
 <p>Hempstead’s problems can’t be fixed overnight. But they won’t be fixed if the school board is not committed to fixing them.</p> 
 <p>“Hempstead is where we are now because we allow it,” Touré told one forum of potential voters. “We have the power to change it.”</p> 
 <p>Hempstead needs new leaders. Newsday endorses Cooke and Touré.</p> 
 <div id="callToAction"> 
  <h2>Vote <span>If you live in the Hempstead school district, remember to vote on Election Day.</span></h2> 
  <h2>WHEN <span>Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.</span></h2> 
  <h2>WHERE <span>ABGS Middle School</span></h2> 
  <h2>WHO <span>Ricky A. Cooke Sr. and Maribel C. Touré</span></h2> 
 </div> 
</div> 
<div id="bottom"> 
 <div class="trail" id="comments"> 
  <div style="display:none;" class="not-loggedin"> 
   <h2><span class="bn"></span> Comments</h2> 
   <blockquote>
    Please log in to comment. Civility matters; <a href="/commenting">click here</a> to read our commenting guidelines.
   </blockquote> <a href="/7.1637843?loginForm=true#comments" class="loginLink iframe postComment btn post submit">Log in</a> 
  </div> 
  <div id="disqus_thread"></div> 
  <script type="text/javascript">      
            var disqus_identifier = "nd_1.8036139";
            var disqus_shortname = "newsday";
            var disqus_developer = 1;
    
            /* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */
            (function() {
                var dsq = document.createElement('script');
                dsq.type = 'text/javascript';
                dsq.async = true;
                dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js';
                (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);
            })();
        </script> 
  <noscript>
   Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a>
  </noscript> 
 </div> 
 <div id="secondary" class="col right"> 
  <div class="module cubeAd"> 
   <div class="adBanner"> <iframe src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/N5819/adi/cblvsn.nwsd.li/opinion;pos=as1;aid=2_853;tile=2;dcopt=ist;sz=300x250;ord=19569874876178802?" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" width="300"></iframe> 
    <p>advertisement | <a href="http://www.newsday.com/advertise" name="name">advertise on Newsday</a></p> 
   </div> 
  </div> 
  <div class="module cubeAd"> 
   <div class="adBanner"> <iframe src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/N5819/adi/cblvsn.nwsd.li/opinion;pos=as2;aid=2_853;tile=2;dcopt=ist;sz=300x250;ord=19569874876178802?" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" width="300"></iframe> 
    <p>advertisement | <a href="http://www.newsday.com/advertise" name="name">advertise on Newsday</a></p> 
   </div> 
  </div> 
 </div> 
</div> 
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://opinion.newsday.com/hempstead-school-board/js/pym.js"></script> 
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://data.newsday.com/_common/js/libs/simple-share.js"></script> 
<script>
    var voices = new pym.Parent('candidateVoices', 'http://opinion.newsday.com/hempstead-school-board/candidates-forum.html', {});
    var toure = new pym.Parent('toure', 'http://opinion.newsday.com/hempstead-school-board/maribel-toure.html', {});
    var cooke = new pym.Parent('cooke', 'http://opinion.newsday.com/hempstead-school-board/ricky-cooke.html', {});
</script>

Editorial: Vote for Ricky Cooke and Maribel Touré in Hempstead school board elections

Editorial: Time for change on the Hempstead school board

<p>It really should come as little surprise that a judge has found that the Hempstead school board acted improperly when it fired three principals last year. The ruling exposes once again the dysfunction, deception and ineffectiveness that has characterized this board for years.</p> 
<p>The school board violated state law in firing the principals in April 2013 because it failed to evaluate them through a required annual professional performance review, according to Nassau Supreme Court Justice Norman Janowitz. The relevant statute says a review must be "a significant factor" in employment decisions, including termination. It doesn't get more basic than that. Without a review, the board's decision to fire the trio looks suspiciously like many other arbitrary decisions made by a body notorious for cronyism and nepotism.</p> 
<p>One of the justifications offered in court by Hempstead's attorneys was that "dismal" student scores likely would have led to poor reviews and termination anyway. By that measure, hardly anyone should be retained in Hempstead, one of the poorest-performing districts on Long Island. But that and other post-firing rationalizations disguise some simple truths yet to be learned by this school board.</p> 
<p>Process matters. Transparency matters. Law matters.</p> 
<p>The episode highlights the need for strong advocates in the community, and opposition on the ballot to give residents choices. Fortunately, we're seeing more of both as school board elections approach in May. And that will give residents a chance to decide what kind of school board they would like to have.</p>

VPHEMP03

Editorial: Hempstead school district is exposed again

toHEMPxx cropped

<p>The Hempstead school district has big problems. Now the board of education has hatched a big plan. It wants to demolish and rebuild nine schools. The facilities in Hempstead, one of Long Island's poorest-performing districts, are indeed an issue. But this proposal does not merit a passing grade.</p>
<p>The buildings are old. And overcrowding is a concern: The use of several dozen trailers as classrooms is troubling; most of them are for elementary school kids as young as kindergarten-age. But it is far from clear that widespread demolition and reconstruction is the answer.</p>
<p>Our concern is the plan is a smoke screen to give the appearance of action, diverting attention from the increasing scrutiny the board is receiving for its dysfunction, corruption and lack of transparency -- on display in a raucous community meeting Tuesday night.</p>
<p>In the most recent inspection reports submitted by the district to the state Education Department, seven of the nine buildings received a "satisfactory" overall building rating and an eighth was rated "unsatisfactory." The ninth, Rhodes Elementary, has been closed since 2004 because of deterioration. While a building with a satisfactory rating might need replacing, the district has the burden of making that case. Hempstead has yet to approach the state. And in only one of the eight inspections did the district abide by state requirements that it consult with its health and safety committee before establishing a rating. Also worrisome is the insistence of board members that renovation would be more costly than reconstruction, as they acknowledge they do not have estimates for either.</p>
<p>What raises suspicions even more about the purpose of a massive reconstruction is the district's eagerness to hire a consultant to help secure funding -- for a plan that does not yet exist, especially a plan that by law would be eligible for state reimbursement of 88 percent because Hempstead is considered a poor wealth district. What exactly would the consultant do?</p>
<p>We all have a stake in the vetting of this plan. Taxpayers from outside the district will cover the bulk of project costs that could approach $350 million, based on state figures. Meanwhile, there is a massive redevelopment project in Hempstead Village, with the potential to revitalize the community. That blossoming won't happen if its school system remains a pernicious vacuum that sucks away the futures of its young. </p>
<p>Hempstead's students should have the best facilities in which to learn, but the process to accomplish that must be cost-effective and transparent. Hempstead's school board conducts too much of its business in secret, has not seriously taken on the task of reducing tensions between black and Latino students, and makes too many leadership changes. Two schools, including the high school, are on the state's "priority" list, meaning they rank among the lowest 5 percent in the state, and the district's graduation rate is Long Island's lowest.</p>
<p>Some improvement to the facilities is essential. The Rhodes school must be torn down and rebuilt, and children must be moved out of trailers. But simply demolishing a raft of buildings does nothing to dismantle an educational culture that seems to operate more for the benefit of the adults in control than for the children they are supposed to serve. We have to get Hempstead's schools right, for the sake of the students the district is charged to educate.</p>

VPHEMP20

Editorial: Worries building in Hempstead

Hempstead School Cropped

<p>When it comes to secrecy and deception, the Hempstead school board has few peers. Alas, that's the only standard by which the board can be judged exceptional. It continues to flunk basic tests of openness and transparency required of all public institutions.</p> 
<p>The latest example was the firing of Deputy Superintendent Julius Brown. Whatever the merits of his termination -- Brown was dismissed after publicly admitting last summer that the district was routinely rounding up final course grades of 63 and 64 to passing marks of 65 -- the process was lacking.</p> 
<p>The board discussed his firing during the private executive session that preceded its regular meeting on Jan. 16, and all five members agreed to the termination. But a vote must be done in public, and no specific vote on Brown's firing was taken that night. A district spokesman said the resolution to fire Brown was part of the consent calendar -- a group of resolutions voted on as one when board approval is unanimous. But Brown's firing was not on the agenda given to the public that night and was not amended verbally at the meeting. So no one was aware the board was voting to fire Brown.</p> 
<p>The spokesman said the board has nothing to hide. It is true the board met its legal obligation to put the resolution to fire Brown in the meeting's minutes. But it long ago forfeited the benefit of the doubt on matters related to secrecy and misleading the public. On several occasions, for example, it has called special meetings on controversial issues and failed to notify the public and media.</p> 
<p>The district has myriad problems, including an abysmal graduation rate and continual turnover of top academic officials. These issues are best dealt with openly. "If there are steps we have to take to ensure people we have nothing to hide, we'll do that," the spokesman said.</p> 
<p>The board is on notice. The shenanigans must stop.</p>

VPHEMP06

Editorial: Hempstead school board should stop playing games

toHEMP07 cropped

<p>The question of how to fill a vacant trustee seat provided the Hempstead school board with another chance to demonstrate some integrity, to show it is responsive to community concerns, and to indicate it takes seriously its educational mission. But once again, the board failed miserably. Its selection of Leonard Myers to fill the open seat smacks of the cronyism and dysfunction that for years has held down Long Island's worst-performing school district. It simply fails the smell test -- on its merits, on the process, and on its symbolism.</p>
<p>Myers, 80, a former businessman, has lived in Hempstead Village for 50 years. More important, he is a former campaign manager and longtime confidant to board president Betty Cross, whose nepotistic hires and backroom dealing is the stuff of legend. It's not like the board lacked for candidates. In August, it asked for resumes and cover letters from anyone interested in serving. Eleven people responded -- but not Myers. The board conducted interviews in November. Then it chose Myers. Cross has not explained the decision or said anything about the qualifications of the 11 respondents. Included in that group were two Hispanic candidates, both of whom were interviewed. Some community members had lobbied loudly for such representation in a district where nearly 60 percent of the students are Hispanic. Instead, the board remains entirely African-American.</p>
<p>The Hempstead school district is beset by myriad problems. Its graduation rate is the Island's lowest. Cross' reign of error has featured continual turnover of district superintendents and building principals. Residents should take matters into their own hands. Those seeking Hispanic representation should draft candidates for May's elections and vote for them. And anyone frustrated by the corrosive lack of leadership should note that Cross' seat is one of those up for grabs.</p>

VPHEMP27

Editorial: Hempstead school board fails to lead -- again

hlHEMP29/jz - crop

<p> Current Hempstead students have grown up in a public school district bereft of stability. Its glaring absence in both district governance and administration has only exacerbated existing fault lines, including power-hungry elected officials who have lost the community's trust and racial tensions among both children and parents.</p> 
<p> Students have understandably struggled to gain their academic footing on such a precarious foundation. Nowhere is it more noticeable than at Hempstead High School, which the district began separating in 2010 into distinct college preparatory academies, a massive structural shift reversed in April by a trigger-happy school board.</p> 
<p> The regular high school's graduation rate fell to 38 percent during the short-lived experiment. Envisioned as a way for students to specialize and work more closely with teachers, it was abandoned largely due to administrative inefficiency. But it's impossible to say whether the academies would have been successful long-term. The school board pulled the plug before the construct could be properly analyzed and refined.</p> 
<p> Now -- as Hempstead High School seeks to return to its old model and boost its disgraceful graduation rate -- the last principal to oversee progress at the school is returning to pick up the pieces.</p> 
<p> Reginald Stroughn, 61, was hired last week as the high school's executive principal, a position he held from 2003 until his retirement in 2009. Along with closing campus during school hours, pushing for Regents exam preparation and instituting night classes, the no-nonsense disciplinarian began to change the school's learning climate. Graduation rates jumped from 38 percent to 65 percent over his first five years as principal. Within three years of his retirement, however, those modest academic gains disappeared as violence, often racially motivated or gang-related, picked up.</p> 
<p> Stroughn was brought back to shepherd the consolidation. While students will still be able to specialize in specific fields of study -- the highlight of the academy system -- they'll share the same administrative roof. He plans to reapply many of the successful reforms from his first stint at the helm. And he's seeking a Spanish-speaking assistant principal to round out his cast of four deputies.</p> 
<p> That's a smart move in a district with rapidly changing demographics -- 57 percent of students are Hispanic, nearly half of whom speak limited English, and 39 percent are black. The school board should at least consider following Stroughn's lead when it appoints a member to its vacant seat. Hispanic members of the community, meanwhile, should run candidates in May's election if they want a more representative school board.</p> 
<p> What would also help is for this overly reactive school board to stay out of the way of Stroughn and other administrators. It made seven superintendent changes over the past eight years. That volatility prevents the district from establishing a clear direction, an instability that cascades down the ranks. The board fired all three college preparatory academy principals in April. And the high school saw 32 percent annual turnover among teachers from 2009 to 2011.</p> 
<p> Now that the school board and superintendent have settled on Hempstead High School's structure, they must stick with it. It's far from certain whether Stroughn can mimic his previous successes. But he can't move forward if he's constantly looking over his shoulder.</p>

VPHEMP15

Editorial: Returning Hempstead High principal needs leeway

toHEMP11hs - reginald stroughn - cropped

<p> A Hempstead school district official merely said that "unfortunate clerical errors" led to a botched summer reading list with dozens of misspelled books and authors, adding that the employee who produced the list was reprimanded. That answer earns a failing grade, one that even Hempstead administrators can't round up.</p> 
<p> The district didn't release the employee's name or title at a short news conference Thursday. It didn't specify what disciplinary action had been taken. It didn't clarify how such blatant incompetence made it up the administrative ladder and into students' hands.</p> 
<p> And after all that, the district's spokeswoman didn't take questions. For a story that embarrassed Hempstead nationwide, even the attempt at damage control was inept.</p> 
<p> The Hempstead district is rife with systemic problems that range from an incapable administration to a dysfunctional school board. Students are left to pick up the pieces, and they understandably struggle to do so.</p> 
<p> It's one thing if a low-level aide made a handful of typos. But it's a much more serious error if a librarian, teacher or administrator signed off on a reading list that suggests students read "The Great Gypsy."</p> 
<p> Officials should detail just how a reading list ironic to the point of parody went unnoticed on all levels. And parents deserve to know how far up the line that laziness, ignorance or stupidity extended.</p> 
<p> Top district officials obviously don't want to get into the details. The same can be said about their explanations of bigger failures.</p> 
<p> In a school system starving for accountability, someone needs to step up and take responsibility for administrative breakdowns, big and small.</p>

VPHEMP12

Editorial: Hempstead school leaders need to be accountable

Schools

<p> If you can't achieve your goals the right way, cut corners.</p> 
<p> That's the message Hempstead school district administrators are sending their nearly 6,000 students by automatically rounding up failing marks to make the cut.</p> 
<p> School leaders say the systematic grade inflation has been official policy in the dysfunctional school district for years. Grade-recording software programs raise failing final course grades of 63 or 64 to passing scores of 65 in grades 6-12. A district administrator said boosting marks is standard procedure on Long Island, though other districts denied the claim. And in a school district with a 38 percent graduation rate in 2011-12 -- worst among Long Island's 124 public school districts -- the policy doesn't so much nudge borderline high school students toward college as it masks the difficulties of just graduating.</p> 
<p> Hempstead students are already plagued by underlying challenges: poverty, limited English proficiency and racial tensions, to name a few. The district's admission of grade boosting highlights yet another way administrators have failed to help students overcome those hurdles.</p> 
<p> Hempstead director of technology Carlos Ramirez finally blew the whistle on grade inflation in June, emailing other school officials, "I personally consider the process inappropriate."</p> 
<p> Critics have also alleged mismanagement and irresponsible spending in programs ranging from special education to English as a second language. Students, meanwhile, have seen seven superintendent changes in the last eight years. And the school board voted in April to consolidate the district's three college prep academies and one senior academy -- a construct created less than three years ago -- back into one four-year high school.</p> 
<p> Underperforming schools need leaders who set examples by making the tough choices, not by cutting corners. Hempstead school district is cheating its students. That's a failing grade that can't be rounded up.</p>

VPHEMP02

Editorial: Hempstead grade inflation cheats students

Opinion and analysis: Hempstead School District

Newsday

Opinion Columns

Opinion Rail Module

Can a putative Gov. Blakeman amass the support and alliances to win, then thrive?

For Blakeman, a rocky path to Albany success

His message was needed after years of AI growing in a regulatory vacuum.

Leo's important guideposts for AI

This spring has provided entertainment, escapism and feeling part of something larger.

This wild ride in sports is why we watch

As it turns out, weeks ago Hochul was essentially shouting "last call, all aboard."

In budget spin, timing isn't everything

We underestimate El Niño's impacts to our peril

Opinion Article Bottom Module

Republicans won't find it difficult to write the attack ads.

Graham Platner is the Democrats' Ken Paxton

There's a learning curve involved with safely using electric two-wheelers.

Fast e-scooters are a menace. Don't lump e-bikes with them.

Jor'Dynn Duncan and Thomas Valva both deserved better.

In Suffolk, can we prevent another child tragedy?

NYU Langone, volunteer deputy's arrest, solar energy, Trump's weight

Understanding what has gone wrong at the station, in the tunnels and with the new train fleet is critical.

Amtrak needs to get back on track

The Point is Newsday Opinion's daily newsletter inside the local, city and state political scenes.

Dem party fight comes down to 'the gubes'

Sign up for the Viewpoints newsletter

Viewpoints Newsletter Widget

Google is being led somewhere uncomfortable.

Google's AI shift is causing a collective freak-out

Opinion Video Playlist

Pulte seems even less qualified for the job than Gabbard.

Pulte will drag U.S. intelligence from bad to worse

His death evoked memories of a humid confrontation at the Boston Fed.

Recalling Barney Frank, and that time he yelled at me

Greenport's vacant storefronts, Penn Station fire

Build on the success by evaluating other technologies used in the classroom.

Banning cellphones was a start. Next up: Tackling tech

Some GOP candidates look to rebrand with a new third party line

Computer-reliant white-collar jobs are most amenable to working from home.

Can't find a job after graduation? Blame WFH, not AI.

We need all hands on deck to stop the spread.

U.S. should help contain Ebola outbreak, not aggravate the crisis

According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, "1 in 3 Americans are under-babied."

Moms.gov falls short of needed resources for all

For a brief moment last fall, hunger in America commanded the attention it deserved.

SNAP needs protection again, now

Death of 7-year-old Jor'Dynn Duncan, government checks

Behind-the-scenes back-and-forth between Suffolk and Albany

App Nativo Ad Unit Slot

Opinion - megaslot

Nassau County and Suffolk County editorials, columns, guest essays, cartoons, letters and more.

Opinion Columns

Stay logged in.