8 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2019
OVERSIGHT BILL
WILL CUOMO SIGN? HEMPSTEAD
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
Hempstead education reformers
who cheered the New York State
Legislature’s passage of a bill creating
an oversight panel to correct
myriad issues in the troubled Hempstead
School District are urging Gov.
Andrew Cuomo to sign it into law.
The bill authorizes the state commissioner
of education to appoint a
panel of three monitors to oversee
the district, requires the school
board to enact a conflict of interest
policy, and develop plans to improve
the schools’ academics and finances.
The governor, who has not indicated
whether he plans to sign or veto the
bill, has until the end of September
to make a decision or it gets automatically
vetoed.
“This is a huge problem for New
York State,” freshman Assemb.
Taylor Darling (D-Hempstead),
the bill’s sponsor, told the state
legislative chamber in June while
getting choked up. “We have, if not
the worst, one of the worst school
districts in the United States.”
The school district has long been
plagued by corruption, low graduation
rates, and crime. Until recently,
it had a 37 percent graduation
rate, which ranks among the worst
in the nation. School officials said
they have made improvements that
have gotten the graduation rate up
to 60 percent, which is the national
average.
The school board had hired Superintendent
Shimon Waronker, who
has turned around troubled New
York City schools, but then a new
school board majority was elected,
it suspended Waronker, and accused
him of corruption.
Waronker and his attorney, Frederick
K. Brewington, have been
critical of the district’s previously
state-appointed special adviser Jack
Bierwirth, whose recent report on
the district indicated that “substantial
progress” has been made in
Hempstead schools.
Among the members of the
school board are a former
Hempstead village police officer
who was forced off the job after
pleading guilty to theft. Some
of the many issues facing the
school district include a lack of
bus service for its high school
students, who are forced to walk
more than two miles to and from
school, often across busy intersections
and through dangerous
neighborhoods.
Jack Bierwirth to work with
the board is a wise move, as the
future of the district is directly
dependent upon board leadership,”
says Thomas Dolan, a former St.
John’s University professor and
superintendent pf the Great Neck
Public Schools. “Good boards establish
policy, work with the superintendent
and otherwise stay out of
the way.”
Hempstead schools have been facing
issues for years. (Long Island Press photo)
SCHOOL
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