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MSD controversy over instrument repair raises debate The owner of Atlantic Instruments, drawn into a controversy in the Massapequa School District involving the former Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Maureen Flaherty, said this week that a sitting school board member did nothing wrong in asking that the school district pay for damages to her son's musical instrument. The trustee, Christine Perrino, is running for the school board this month and the store owner, John W. Murphy, said that he wanted to clear up the issue. Atlantic Instruments was mentioned in a story that ran in the Massapequa Post in April. The story outlined the charges brought against Flaherty by the school board when they suspended her with pay in June of 2007. In that article, Flaherty said that one of the charges against her was prompted by several options she gave to the board on how to handle the issue after Perrino's bill was rejected. Murphy was never accused of doing anything inappropriate in forwarding the bill to the district, but Flaherty was accused by the board of suggesting that an insurance policy be taken out and a claim then be submitted, inferring that she was advising the district to defraud the insurance company, a charge she vehemently denies. "My understanding was that this instrument was damaged during a school function and it is not unusual for a school to pick up the cost of repairing an instrument under those circumstances," said Murphy, adding that there was an inference that since Perrino is a school board member, she was abusing her position by expecting preferential treatment in having the district foot the bill for her son's bass repair. "In my opinion, someone was out to make this woman's reasonable request seem like something shady. Because of this, she ultimately received less consideration, not more, than an average parent by having the bill denied and being held personally responsible for the repair." School officials disagree. While the district continues to decline discussing the case as it relates to their decision to suspend Flaherty, a school spokesman said that it would not have been "appropriate" for the district to be charged for the repair. "When an instrument is rented by an individual, that individual is responsible for it, not the district," said Michael Conte, the school spokesman. "That is why (Superintendent of Business) Alan Adcock flagged it." Conte said he was not aware of any official policy governing the school's responsibility or lack thereof, if they are damaged at school functions. "The bottom line was that the school did not own the instrument and is therefore not responsible."
Perrino declined to comment, saying the issue in-
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