Great Neck Library Levels Teen Center members and alumni submitted a petition with more than 1,000 signatures to library Interim Director Chris Johnson on Wednesday, calling for Ethan Mann to be reinstated as director of Levels.
“We were very surprised,” Michelle Geffner, a Levels teen, said of unconfirmed reports that Mann was fired by the library. “He had a pretty pristine reputation. He advanced the program and made it a much more popular arts program.”
The teens, parents and Levels alumni arrived at the library board’s Director Search Committee meeting Wednesday at the library’s Station Branch at 40B Great Neck Road to deliver the petition.
Although the meeting was closed to the public, Interim Library Director Chris Johnson accepted the petition outside the meeting room.
But Johnson declined to comment on the petition or Mann’s status.
Levels teens and their parents have been protesting since rumors began more than a week ago that Mann had been fired from the popular after-school program.
Neither Mann nor any library officials has confirmed that he has been fired.
Johnson said last week that the library had a confidential discussion with Mann, but would not elaborate on the nature of the discussion.
The signatures on the petition were gathered from a webpage called “Bring Ethan Back” created on change.org. Many of the petitioners were from Great Neck and other areas on the North Shore, but some had posted from as far as Wisconsin, Maryland and New Mexico.
Some who posted on the petition website said that Mann’s firing was best for Levels, but most were in support of him.
Many said that Mann was a mentor to them while they were struggling teens, that he was one of the most supportive people they have ever met and that he was trusted.
Unlike a protest on April 27, there were no picket signs present Wednesday, but emotions remained high among those present, which included a Level alumnus who travelled from Manhattan to show support for Mann.
Jordan Hoyda, who works in real estate in Manhattan, said she started at Levels around the time Mann was first named its director 17 years ago.
He said Mann taught him to be himself and be happy with himself.
“I didn’t have that many friends when I was younger, and it was just a place to hang out,” Hoyda said. “He was more like a father figure than just the Levels director.”
Geffner, a senior at Great Neck South High School, said she doubted that there was a legitimate reason for Mann’s firing.
“We want to get answers — we want to know if there were any terminable offenses,” Geffner said.
She said the board ignored those who asked about Mann.
“The board is supposed to represent the community and they don’t respond to people’s questions,” Geffner said. “If a principal got fired, there would be an obligation of the school board to tell us why.”
In August, about 100 teens and adults expressed concerns at a special board meeting that the library’s Main Branch renovation would result in drastic cuts to the Levels program.
Trustees later said there would be no staff cuts to the program during the renovation.
Some resident who use the library have expressed their opposition to Mann in the past.
On the Great Neck Library Watchdog website, criticism was directed at Mann for allegedly supporting Trustee Robert Schaufeld in his recent election to the library board.
Schaufeld, who is president of Public Access Television, defeated former library Trustee Ralene Adler to replace retiring library Trustee Janet Nina Esagoff.
“Though Levels has not been an issue, the Levels director, Ethan Mann, contrived [the issues of the Levels cuts] as an issue in an attempt to assure his job security. The word spread by Ethan Mann and a Levels parent, Amy Levinson, and [Great Neck News columnist] Karen Rubin, an opinionated hack, was that the Levels budget, salaries and ‘programs’ (no, that’s not a typo) were being cut, and that Ralene Adler was, and would be responsible,” the webpage reads.
“The assertions were made, despite that there was no factual basis, and there are six other trustees who also get to vote,” the webpage continues.
