The Jericho Board of Education discussed transparency and anonymity within the Parent Teacher Association and school board, clarifying how community members can participate in the organizations.
The Thursday, April 24, meeting began with a celebration as 19 of the district’s teachers received tenure. The educators represented the district’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
“Earning tenure in Jericho is a challenge,” said Superintendent Hank Grishman. “We are a district that demands excellence, we demand professionalism, we demand commitment to kids and to the profession. And we set a standard that I would argue is probably the highest standard in any district.”
Grishman said the teachers featured at the meeting “truly earned” their tenure at Jericho. He said teachers and staff are held to high standards within the district and that earning tenure is an impressive achievement.
“Tenure is not a recognition of time spent. It is a recognition of impact made,” said Kim Libertini, the curriculum associate for science and technology education.
After the celebrations had concluded, the school board discussed transparency and anonymity within the district. Resident and longtime PTA member Angela Bankson spoke about recent issues within the Parent Teacher Association.
“There’s been a lot of concern among many parents in the Jericho School District for the lack of transparency in our PTAs,” Bankson said.
She said information about the organization is not public or easily available, even for members and chairs of the organization. Bankson said parents have previously reached out to the administration about this issue, which has not been resolved.
“Isn’t the PTA here for the parents and the school community at large? We’re just parents who want to volunteer and give back,” Bankson said.
She said the PTA leaders are an “isolated group,” and that she has not gotten information that she had requested from them even though it is public information.
“Bylaws have been violated, and I can’t get information, and I’m a chair,” Bankson said.
Grishman said he has “no recollection” of receiving a complaint or question about the Jericho PTAs, and that the association operates as an individual entity. He said the organization follows county and state regulations and the school district is not involved in their operations.
“The PTA is a separate and independent organization, and again the school district has no legal authority over the PTA,” he said.
School Board Trustee Samuel Perlman said each PTA has a page on the school district’s website but that many of the pages are blank. He said the pages should be either updated with information or taken down to avoid confusion about school oversight in the organization.
School Board Vice President Jill Citron said each school has the information for its PTAs, and that parents should reach out to their principal for more information.
“PTAs have been nothing but supportive….and really enriched our kids lives,” Citron said.
“I only have compliments for the hard work of our PTA and our PTA leadership,” Grishmann said.
Cyndi Pressman, who has been a PTA member for over 10 years, said she has never had an issue with the PTAs in the district and events are posted on social media and through email.
“I have always been able to find who is on the board,” she said.
Pressman said parents receive annual letters about the following year’s committees, usually in April. She said each PTA has an Instagram account containing more information.
“I also want everybody to understand that PTA is volunteers. We have volunteered to do this…we do not get any recognition besides the fact that we try to help out,” she said.
The school board also received a comment via the Board of Education’s email that looked at anonymity within the district.
Resident Cherilyn Weiss said the school board has been inconsistent by allowing anonymous entities to discuss school politics. (For transparency purposes, Cherilyn Weiss works at Schneps Media Long Island.)
At the March board meeting, the school board discussed whether anonymous or non-resident comments should be allowed at public meetings. The board did not come to a conclusion on the matter, but said a policy should be created in the future to determine what is allowable.
This conversation arose shortly after an anonymous website, the Jericho Voice, had petitioned against the Cantiague School renaming. The proposed renaming intended to honor Grishman as he steps down from his role in the district after 30 years. After community debate, including the circulated online petition from the Jericho Voice, Grishman withdrew from the renaming.
Weiss said that last year an anonymous website called the Jericho Lighthouse was brought to the board’s attention and was “excused” as freedom of speech. She said school staff had been liking and commenting on posts that were part of a “smear campaign” against current school board members.
Weiss said when residents had emailed the Board of Education their concerns about the Jericho Lighthouse, the comments were not read aloud at meetings. Weiss said the board should remain consistent with its allowance of anonymity in the district.
Victor Manuel, district clerk and assistant superintendent of business, said he has always read non-anonymous emails that the writer asked to be read aloud at meetings.
“The board receives tons of emails. Unless someone says ‘can you please read this aloud,’ we don’t read those,” Manuel said. “I’ve never read a statement from any anonymous website. I’ve never read a statement from anyone anonymous in general.”
Manuel said any non-anonymous comment indicating it is intended to be read at the board’s public meetings will be read aloud.
