A Great Neck Library trustee called for the resignation of library Board President Janet Esagoff after her 19-year-old son was arrested for allegedly accepting between $1,500 and $2,500 to impersonate students and take the SATs for them.
The arrest came just weeks before Great Neck voters decide the fate of a $20.8 million construction bond referendum that would renovate and expand the Main Branch.
“She should have tended her resignation,” said the trustee who asked not to be named. “I made the recommendation personally to the director and it fell flat. The response I got back was, ‘it’s a personal matter.'”
A story in the New York Post Oct. 12 included a photo of Esagoff and her young daughter. It references the “blow” Esagoff’s “library crusade” took due to her son’s alleged actions.
“The Post is a rag and it’s not fair,” said the trustee. “She’s dealing with a lot. She’s a single mother, she’s dealing with a lot of stuff, and she doesn’t need this. What I should have done is called her directly. I know her on a personal level.”
Sam Eshaghoff , a student at Emory University, faces up to four years in prison after allegedly taking the SATs for six Great Neck North students, including a girl whose exam he aced for free. Then a student at the University of Michigan, he flew home on six separate occasions, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Eshaghoff was charged with scheme to defraud in the first degree, falsifying business records in the second degree, and criminal impersonation in the second degree.
The state Committee on Higher Education will hold hearings on the SAT cheating scandal Oct. 25 at SUNY Farmingdale. The committee will investigate how students were able to cheat, how often cheating is discovered, what procedures are followed when a breach is suspected, what can be done to prevent cheating in the future.
“We are not going to comment at all,” said library Director Jane Marino when questioned about the arrest. “I am not going to comment. The board is not going to comment.”
Referendum critics and supporters agree that Esagoff’s personal problems are separate from the library construction project, but do not know to what extent the referendum will be impacted by the SAT scandal.
“I really honestly can’t say why one would have anything to do with the other,” said library Board Vice President Anna Kaplan, the Democratic candidate for Town of North Hempstead in District 4.
Kaplan has been a strong advocate for library renovation, but in recent months stepped back from the library referendum to concentrate on her own election.
Former library Trustee Ralene Adler criticized the silence from library officials. Adler is an active member of the Great Neck Library Watchdog, a group working to defeat the referendum.
She said her objections are based solely on the merits if the project, not Esagoff’s personal life.
“There is a leadership void in the library,” said Adler said. “It could have been remediated at any point. It still can.”
She said it is unfortunate that Esagoff’s personal life has become public, but that is the price of public office.
“Ms. Esagoff has made her decision to remain on the board. That is her right,” Adler said. “However, it has already become a distraction.”
The “vast majority” of voters will realize these are two separate issues, said Steve Markowitz, a member of the Committee for a 21st Century Library, a group advocating for the referendum.
“I don’t think she should resign, but I think she needs to think about whether she can devote any time and attention to the library while she has to deal with very, very serious family issues,” Markowitz said. “Janet has not done anything wrong, and certainly whatever happened with her son really is totally unrelated to the library referendum. I am very upset that people are trying to create some relationship between two totally separate issues.”
