Mineola School Board Reacts to Trustees’ Letter

Mineola Board of Education members reacted last Wednesday night during their regular meeting at the to a letter printed in a local newspaper criticizing them.

The letter, bearing the signatures of Trustees John McGrath and Irene Parrino, criticizes other board members, Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler, the , the and expressing fears over passage of .

Board President Terence Hale described the letter as “a knife in my back” as well as other board  members. “It is apparent that two of our board members do not advocate for all children, only a few,” Hale said. “The world overcame Marxism, the nation overcame McCarthyism and now Mineola will overcome McGrathism. It is clear you both are committed to sending this district up the creek.”

Trustee William Hornberger reacted by saying that decisions must be adhered to “in spite of differences of opinion” while “upholding the final majority of the board” and trustees are supposed to “communicate concerns” to the superintendent.

McGrath responded by initially saying that there may be a “stalemate” in negotiations since Mineola is “penalized” by being surrounded by “wealthier” districts who, in his view, are more inclined to give far more generous increases and are “limited” by restrictions in the state’s Taylor law. “The previous superintendents, if I had issue with their recommendations, they modified (them),” McGrath said.

Sitting down after concluding a , Dr. Nagler observed that “we obviously have two very different opinions on the board and I don’t want to say I’m stuck in the middle because I do believe in the direction that we’re going and I think its the right way to do it.”

Holding a copy of the newspaper in hand, Nagler added that “when I read this it comes as a great surprise to me because no one asked me about this. To me this is just sensationalist to stir people up because when you get down to the facts of it a lot doesn’t fly. I don’t like to be accused of upsetting seventh grade students and alienating their parents when you know I was on vacation.”

Before the end of the meeting, McGrath agreed to write a retraction.

McGrath had written earlier this year which also drew comments from the other members of the board of education.