The Manhasset Board of Education Thursday night unanimously opted to enter into an Article 78 filing along with several other Long Island school districts challenging the state Department of Education’s Regionalization initiative, which would provide channels for school districts to collaborate and share resources.
“Why should we sit back and let other districts do the work?” Board of Education Trustee Nadia Giannopoulos said. “We’re going to sit back and say, ‘you do this, you spend your money so I can get the benefit after it?’ No, we support each other. We’re all Long Island, we’re all Nassau, we’re all New York State.”
Regionalization is a state education initiative to bolster educational equity and operational efficiency across school districts. The purpose is to address disparities among districts and financial challenges.
The program was proposed as an emergency regulation in September and is slated to be adopted in January.
“There is no emergency, it’s a bad idea,” Board of Education Vice President Ted Post said. “We should push back.”
The Board of Education further discussed the issue at its meeting on Thursday night.
Other school districts have already initiated an Article 78, which Board of Education President Steven Panzik said is planned to be filed at the beginning of December. The grievance would cost about $125,000, Board of Education Trustee Maria Pescatore said, but that if Manhasset joined they would pay a portion of it based on the number of districts involved.
Manhasset Superintendent Gaurav Passi said some districts are not opting to challenge the initiative legally until it is formally adopted in January. He said this prevents legal filing amendments that may be needed in response to changes made to the initiative once adopted.
Board of Education Trustee Marianna Bruno said she did not consider this a deterrent, arguing that any legal action usually involves amendments.
“Unless there’s another big deterrent, I don’t see a reason to wait,” Bruno said.
The Manhasset Board of Education sent a letter Thursday opposing the state’s Regionalization. Their reasons included threats to the district’s local control and resources.
While the state Department of Education has stated that districts will be able to choose their participation in the initiative, the Board of Education said in its letter that the initiative’s verbiage does not state this. Other local school officials have also pointed out this discrepancy.
Passi said this has been the main concern of the district.
Pescatore said resource sharing among districts already occurs, explaining why the program is unnecessary. Passi said this resource sharing is also only when it benefits the Manhasset Public Schools.
Examples Passi provided include athletes competing on other school district teams and sharing specialized part-time employees.
“The examples of how school districts collaborate in Nassau County are plentiful,” Passi said.
Giannopoulos expressed concerns over regionalization greenlighting districts to pool resources, which may create competition that pushes out districts who do not partake in regionalization, such as through garnering contracts.
“This plan is not a one-size-fits-all for our very small district,” Giannopoulos said.
Passi and Pescatore were present at a news conference Thursday that advocated against the program.
“It is critically important that local control and local Boards of Education do not lose any authority to make decisions for their community,” Passi said.
Bruno urged residents to send individual letters as well.
In other news, the Board of Education also discussed course enhancement for the next school year and a new bus camera system. No action was taken on either of these proposals.
Course enhancements suggested including additions to the high school’s entrepreneurship curriculum, computer science curriculum and broadcast curriculum.
The bus camera program is a ticketing system that fines drivers who do not stop for buses as required under the law. The school district can opt in through a contract with the Town of North Hempstead.
The board opted to have the district’s Safety Committee review the program and propose questions before making a decision.
