Sans Interviews, Board Fills Seat
On Tuesday night, the East Hampton School Board announced that it would not interview applicants for its open board seat and unanimously appointed Deme Minskoff, a middle school parent, to fill it. The position had remained vacant since Patricia Hope, board president, resigned in early July.
Tuesday night’s meeting was a long one, with the legality of the board’s earlier intention to hold private interviews with the candidates for the board debated. A different legal issue surfaced later in the night with regard to the district’s standing committees.
After Ms. Hope’s resignation, the board had considered whether to hold a special election, keep the seat vacant, or appoint someone. The decision to appoint someone was in early September and the board expressed interest in candidates who possessed a “financial background, including accounting, municipal finance, and budgeting.”
On Friday afternoon, Kerri Stevens, the district clerk, had reported that Charla Bikman, Stephen Grossman, and Ms. Minskoff had submitted paperwork for the open seat by the Oct. 1 deadline. Ms. Stevens also said the board planned to meet on Monday at a closed, or executive, session to conduct interviews. By Monday morning, however, the interviews had been cancelled.
Jonathan Heidelberger, an attorney with Frazer and Feldman, a Garden City-based firm, the district’s new counsel, addressed the aborted board intention to interview the candidates privately. “In the 40 years that I have been practicing, we can’t think of any boards that conducted them in public. They’ve uniformly conducted them in executive session,” Mr. Heidelberger said. “However, there is a growing sense of a need for school boards and other municipal governments to be transparent in their actions. Our recommendation would be that any discussion, any interviewing, any deliberation with regard to appointment of a successor should be conducted in public.”
Jackie Lowey, a board member, explained that initially the firm had advised it to hold the interviews in executive session; Mr. Heidlelberger eschewed that advice on Tuesday. She also noted that Sag Harbor, when recently faced with a similar situation, had held interviews in public.
As for the three East Hampton candidates, she said, “I know all of the candidates who ended up applying. We could do it over coffee. I already know them. The implication was that the board didn’t want to do it in public.”
“We know all three of them,” J.P. Foster, the board president, concurred. However, he wondered if the board was legally obligated to do interviews. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Heidelberger said.
“It’s taken a lot of our time and derails you from what’s the business at hand,” Mr. Foster said. “I’d like to move forward and don’t feel the need to have an interview. I’d like to move to appoint someone today. I don’t have trouble doing it in public, either.”
“I’d like to get it over with,” Liz Pucci, a board member, agreed.
At that point, Mr. Foster said he wanted to nominate Deme Minskoff. “All in favor?” he asked. A response did not occur until later in the meeting, when Ms. Stevens read a prepared resolution stating that Ms. Minskoff’s term would begin immediately and last until the annual district election on May 15. The motion, submitted by Richard Wilson, was quickly seconded by Wendy Geehreng. It received unanimous support. Ms. Stevens noted that Ms. Minskoff would be sworn in via telephone yesterday morning.
“Deme is far and away the best candidate,” said Ms. Lowey. “We would be lucky to have her on the board.” Mr. Foster thanked the other members of the public for stepping forward. However, he said, “You want to move along and get business done. That’s where you want to be.”
Ms. Minskoff is a member of the East Hampton Middle School PTA. A request for Ms. Minskoff’s résumé, in addition to the applications submitted by Mr. Grossman and Ms. Bikman, was not fulfilled by deadline.
“The process was terrible. There was no process. They said they were going to interview you. They never interviewed anyone,” Mr. Grossman said early yesterday. “I don’t know if the outcome would have been different, but the process is important. It’s a sad day, not because I didn’t get appointed, but because the process was a sham.”
Following an outside inquiry, Mr. Heidelberger updated the board on its committee policies. Though the district’s committees don’t take formal actions, and merely make recommendations, Mr. Heidelberger said “that’s public business, and it has to be an open meeting.” As such, he noted that minutes must be kept. This reverses the current policy of not making minutes available from committee meetings.
The district has athletics, audit, facilities, personnel, and policy committees, with three board members serving on each. The board calendar lists each committee meeting, with most occurring during the school day. The public is able to attend.
Other topics were raised earlier in the meeting. Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent, made a presentation concerning the district’s recent performance on state tests.
“We’re two to three years behind other districts in implementing the Common Core. We’re working very hard to catch up with other districts,” said Mr. Tymann, noting that East Hampton generally compares itself to Hampton Bays, Montauk, Riverhead, Southampton, and Springs, which he described as districts facing “similar demographics and similar hurdles.”
Bengt Hokanson, a father of two children in the district, described homework assignments as “ditto sheet learning.” He also questioned the district’s reluctance to begin foreign language instruction in younger grades. “Why not start a volunteer Spanish as a foreign language program, taught by the people who live here, the Latino community,” he asked. “What an opportunity, right? Half the community speaks Spanish.”
Richard Burns, the superintendent, briefly updated the board concerning its ongoing lawsuit with Sandpebble Builders. The multimillion dollar contract for school construction projects dates back to April of 2002. “It’s at the discretion of the judge,” Mr. Burns said, noting that deliberations could begin as early as December. “There’s been a strong request for this to be done as soon as possible.”
In other news, the board accepted the retirement of Kenneth Kobarg, a computer technician, effective Nov. 4. Ashley Pite was appointed to replace an elementary teacher on leave from now until Dec. 19 at a per diem rate of $262. In addition, Kylie Tekulsky was appointed to a .8 part-time English as a second language teaching position from now until June 30 at an annual salary of $48,332.
The board also approved a girls high school volleyball team trip to the Horseheads Classic Tournament later this month. The district will pay the $325 entry fee.
Finally, the board approved a 19-student trip to Nepal during the February break. William Barbour, who teaches social studies at East Hampton High School, will serve as a chaperone, as students work with the group BuildOn, a nonprofit organization that builds schools around the world.
The cost of the trip is estimated at $102,000, which will largely be offset by fund-raising and private donations. Already, the group has raised $76,000. It will hold a tag sale at the East Hampton Middle School on Saturday, with doors opening at 9 a.m. Donated items can be dropped off at the school on Friday afternoon.
The board will meet next on Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Looking ahead to Nov. 5, an education forum is planned at 6:30 p.m.