One Founder Fired; Another Has Resigned

The last of the four founders of the Child Development Center of the Hamptons Preschool, Kelly Quartuccio, resigned from the school on Monday, just two weeks after a fellow founder, Dr. Stephen Sicilian, was fired by the school's new administrators.

A third founder, Dr. Florence Kelson, has died since the school was started in 1996. The fourth and final founder, Dawn Zimmerman Hummel, moved to California over the summer but has continued to play a role in making decisions at the school.

About three dozen staff members and parents of children enrolled at the preschool, which is in Wainscott, were left unhappy with the answers to their questions about the firing of Dr. Sicilian, who they call Dr. Steve, and about the school's future, following a meeting with the school's administration on Tuesday evening.

The three-hour meeting was led by Donna Colonna, the school's new executive director, and Louis Cavaliere, the new assistant executive director. Both came to the school from Services for the Underserved, a nonprofit organization that merged with the school in July and has run it since then. Janice Goldman, the preschool principal who has been at the school for five years, also attended.

Dr. Sicilian was fired on Oct. 3 and left the school on Friday. He had served as chief financial officer and chief operational officer, as well as a clinical psychologist, carrying a case/load of about 10 students in therapy sessions.

"The reality of this is I can't change the decision that the board made," Ms. Goldman told the parents and staff members. "I can't undo the issues that have been done, but I can commit to starting to address these things in a very direct way. I wish that we could go back and start the year again."

Ms. Colonna said that Dr. Sicilian's positions as chief financial officer and chief operational officer were taken over by Services for the Underserved when it began administering C.D.C.H. this summer.

Ms. Hummel, who spoke yesterday from her car on a freeway in San Diego, said that the board had determined that making Dr. Sicilian a full-time clinician at the school "was not an option."

At Tuesday's meeting, Ms. Colonna and Mr. Cavaliere alluded to other conflicts between Dr. Sicilian and the school's board of directors, but Ms. Colonna said she could not disclose them due to mutual confidentiality agreements.

"There were evaluations and transitions that took place over the summer that went into the decision," Mr. Cavaliere said.

No members of the board of directors attended the meeting.

"The fact that they aren't here speaks volumes," said Gail Ficorilli, a parent. The group wanted to meet with the board before its next meeting, on Nov. 7. Ms. Zimmerman Hummel said that the board would meet with parents and staff to address their questions and to "do what's best for the kids in the East End community."

Dr. Sicilian's firing, just one month into the school year, surprised parents and staff, who wondered who would provide counseling to the 10 students who had met with Dr. Sicilian, many of whom have special needs. Ms. Colonna said that a social worker, Iris Pons-Gala, will take over Dr. Sicilian's clinical caseload, and that Ms. Pons-Gala is now a full-time, rather than part-time, employee.

"He wasn't just Dr. Steve, he was a father to a lot of us, and the kids as well," said Trabia Miller, a staff member and parent at the school.

Ms. Quartuccio, a lead teacher, handed in her resignation this week. "We've had Steve in charge for 10 years and it was working fine," she said. In tears, she sat at the back of the room during the meeting, being comforted by fellow staff members who also broke into tears.

"Kelly made the decision that she did, and I am hopeful that other staff members do not make that decision," Ms. Goldman said. "We need to get past this and move forward."

Several staff members said that they, too, might resign, and voiced their lack of confidence in C.D.C.H.'s reorganization.

"They're putting Band-Aids on a bigger problem," said Jeanette Krempler, a senior educational administrative assistant at the preschool.

"You can't rip out a rug from under these people and then say it's their responsibility to put the pieces back together," said Ms. Ficorilli.

The staff's dissatisfaction has caused a dilemma for several parents, who said they were upset at Dr. Sicilian's departure but depend upon the special services the school provides to children with special needs.

"We moved out here so our children could attend this school," said Fred Melamed, the father of two autistic children, who pleaded with staff members to remain at the preschool. "The survival of this school is vitally important to us."