The Covert Act

On July 10th, the Malverne board of education approved a resolution that increased salary of the administrators and extended the superintendent’s contract for another 2 years. It was executed in the form of an amendment to the meeting agenda, never discussed outside of the circle of the school district administration and members of the Malverne board of education. The conspiracy was kept secret during the meeting and wasn’t revealed until August 1st in an article posted in The Patch.

The Malverne board of education already tried to extend the superintendent’s contract unsuccessfully in March 2011. In a similar, covert manner on a Friday, they announced and scheduled a special meeting for Monday. Due to the community response, the meeting has been canceled before it started. The plot to increase salary to select few and extend the superintendent’s contract resurfaced only after the Malverne board of education cut school services, programs, and positions in both, 2011 and 2012 budgets. The Malverne school district consists of 4 schools, is attended by approximately 1700 students and managed by a superintendent and his 2 assistants.

Despite summer vacations and the schools being closed, such a disgraceful and anti-community plot didn’t escape attention of the school district residents who rallied and sent a notice condemning the Malverne board of education for their act. In my 16 years of living in Malverne I haven’t encountered a response of such magnitude. The full text of the petition was available and open to signing at Change.org at the time of writing of this post.