Almost three years after the death of Robert Schneider, who was principal at Pierson Middle and High School for seven years in the 1990s, a plaque commemorating a major building expansion in 2003 will be replaced with one that acknowledges his contributions to the project.
On Monday, Marian Cassata, Mr. Schneider’s widow and a former school principal elsewhere, was joined by three former school board members and a past superintendent in urging the Sag Harbor School Board to install a new plaque with the late principal’s name included.
The consensus at the school board meeting on Monday was that it was an accidental omission, but one that has bothered Ms. Cassata for a long time.
“Bob provided the vision of what the community needed,” she said. When the district was floating an approximately $14 million bond in the mid-1990s, “he met with hundreds of residents. The bond passed, the instructional program expanded, and the students flourished. He led by example.”
The plaque, which hangs on the wall near the school’s Division Street entrance, also misspells the name of a school board member.
Ms. Cassata recalled that before his death in December of 2016, Mr. Schneider would write his name on a yellow Post-it note and place it on the plaque whenever he visited Pierson.
“I’m asking you to please put his name on that plaque as an enduring reminder” of his contributions, Ms. Cassata said. “He needs more than a yellow Post-it.”
Walter Tice, whose daughter Chris Tice is a current school board member, also urged the board to update the plaque. “He was a quality person with a great sense of humor, and he did wonderful things for this district,” Mr. Tice said. “History, I hate to tell you this — they’ll forget your name. That’s good in a sense, but this is a name that we should not forget.”
Sandi Kruel, another former longtime school board member, spoke up in support of the idea and read a letter from Kathryn Holden, who was district superintendent at the tail end of the 2003 expansion. Mr. Schneider “took Pierson to the next level of excellence,” the letter said.
Peter Solow, a past board member who has taught at Pierson for 19 years, said Mr. Schneider was “instrumental in developing an architectural program that addressed the needs of the educational program.”
At the end of the meeting, the board agreed to buy a new plaque that would include Mr. Schneider’s name and would also correct the spelling of David Pharaoh’s name. The vote was 6-to-0, with Diana Kolhoff absent.
While some suggested that Jeff Nichols’s name should also be on the plaque, since he was principal when the building project was completed, he declined the recognition.
“For me, the priority should be putting [Mr. Schneider’s] name on. I don’t need to be there,” said Mr. Nichols, who was hired by Mr. Schneider as dean of students in 1998. “I think he deserves all of the credit for that, and I’m fine with that.”
After the meeting, with tears in her eyes, Ms. Cassata smiled and said, “This was a long time coming.”
Also on Monday, Kevin Martin, a Pierson Middle School parent, asked the school board to consider having “open gym” for students on Sundays during the winter because there’s very little for kids to do when it’s cold outside.
Ms. Tice urged Mr. Martin to check the school district’s website for a facilities use form that could be filled out to make a formal request.