by Carolyn James

Sweeping moves to extend the Superintendents contract and grant tenure to a number of administrators in the Amityville School District brought a wave of vehement protest at a raucous school board meeting June 29. The meeting was one of the last for the MAC Pack majority, which lost power with the election of two MAC Pack opponents, Juliet Jordan-Thompson and Michelle Sikhrangkur, who took office July 1.

The changes were made by a split board, with trustees Diane Egglinger and Charles Walters opposing, and as Thompson and Sikhrangkur, and their supporters, attempted to shout down the votes from the audience.

Standing by were Amityville Village Police Officers who were called to the Park North building by Stephannie Andrews, school board president. Andrews, attempted numerous times to gain order, undaunted by the shout downs and hollering over the din to push through the waning majority’s proposals before the July 1 deadline.

When the dust had settled, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian DeSorbe’s contract was extended to June, 2007, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, Michael Cohen and Northeast principal Pauline Collins were granted tenure, and Cohen was given a $14,000 raise.

"I do not think that Michael Cohen deserves a $14,000 increase," said an angry Egglinger. "We are not being prudent with our money."

In addition, Egglinger said that extending the superintendent’s contract through 2007, despite the fact that he is doing a good job, was wrong. "It’s not responsible to the public, not responsible to the parents and not responsible for the taxpayers," said Egglinger.

Walters questioned the extension of DeSorbe’s contract, as well as granting tenure to Cohen and Collins who have been with the district for little more than a year. "There have been improvements made, but to lock us in to this extremely large expense should change be needed in the future is fiscally irresponsible at this time."

Residents meanwhile shouted that the moves showed a lack of respect for the public and the school system.

"You people are out of control," resident Alexandra Gilmore, a supporter of Thompson and Sikhrangkur, shouted at the MAC Pack members as they voted. "You are not thinking of the children of this district."

Rose Tejada-Torres, another resident said after the meeting that nothing had changed with the MAC Pack majority, and that she believes that pushing through the new appointments and contract extensions at the eleventh hour "was disgusting."

"What I saw at this meeting was a total lack of respect for a community that voted against them," said Thompson of Andrews and school board members Patricia Cahaney, Marietta Mee and Bill Manton who supported the resolutions. "But things will change and we have to be focused on children and have respect for the taxpayers."

Andrews defended the moves saying that De Sorbe was hired specifically to increase student achievement and that together with Cohen, had done so, dramatically. While all of the state results have not been publicly announced, Andrews called them "historical," saying they show improvement that has never been experienced by any district in the state.

"We hired these people to do a specific job, which was to get us better academic results, and they did it," said Andrews. "The scores were not only good, they were phenomenal."

Some statistics show a 30 percent increase in the number of students going on to college, dramatic increases in reading readiness at Collin’s school, and a 20 percent increase in student performance on the NYSED grade five social studies assessments.

Mathematics results for grades 4 and 8 showed an 80+ percent increase, while English Language arts also showed the highest performance index in the district’s history. School officials said one state official described the turnaround in mathematics assessments as "nothing short of miraculous."

In other business, the board:

•increased the salary of Daniel Sikorsky, district executive secretary to $52,000 a year;

•approved the Western Suffolk BOCES multi-year service agreement for technology at Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School for a total of $302,286. Egglinger voted against the measure and Walters abstained.

•appointed fall coaches Juanita Scott, Jonathan Bloom, Iesha Hamilton, Al Lorenzana, Jack Agostino, Richard Pellegrino, Michele Mancuso and Janine Cobian.

•appointed Judith O’Neill as district clerk;

•administered the oath of office to the clerk as well as to the district treasurer, Internal Claims Auditor Martin Durschlag, District Treasurer Maryanne Van Duyne, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian De Sorbe.