Editorial: Roslyn school officials flunk a big test, again

The Island Now

Many Roslyn residents expressed excitement last week that a Hollywood movie about the Roslyn school scandal, starring box office idol Hugh Jackman and written by a former Roslyn resident, would be filming in Roslyn.

But Roslyn school officials apparently did not share their excitement.

They emailed a letter to parents of students – but not taxpayers who don’t have children in school – announcing that they would not be cooperating in the making of the film.

“The media has reported that filming will begin this week,” the email said. “The school district is not associated with the movie or its production, is not participating in this movie in any way, and no filming will be permitted on school grounds.”

But just why is it a good idea for school officials to impede a movie retelling the history of what was described as the nation’s largest school system embezzlement?

School officials provided an answer in the next paragraph of the email.

“While the film is purportedly meant to entertain, it’s important to remember that what occurred in our school district was far from entertaining,” the email continued, citing the harm done – the theft of $11.2 million “meant for our children’s education.”

Well, we’ll leave judgment on the entertainment value to the makers of the movie and the public that will be invited to view it.

But do Roslyn school officials really believe that movies that deal with dark and even unsettling subjects should not be made?

This would seem to imply that movies such as “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Sophie’s Choice” and a thousand other dramas should not have been made.

Movies, and books, often teach important lessons about people and history while also entertaining.

We would expect school officials to encourage the telling of the Roslyn school scandal as a teachable moment, not oppose its making.

The story of the Roslyn school scandal centers on former Roslyn School Superintendent Frank A. Tassone, a beloved figure who, according to the New York Times, “regularly lunched with high school students, who led a Dickens book group for parents, who brought foreign language education to the elementary school and seemed to relish his personal bonds with the P.T.A. and the school board.”

A film website said he sought to make Roslyn High School, already ranked among the nation’s best, the No. 1 high school in the country.

But Tassone also wanted the good life and would be convicted of stealing $2.2 million to spend on luxury vacations, gambling junkets, fees for his Upper East Side apartment, dry cleaning bills and a vacation home.

No question this is the stuff of literature throughout the ages – as well as stories from federal prisons across the country.

Tassone was joined in a scheme to steal money by Pamela Gluckin, the former assistant superintendent for business, other school officials and their friends and family.

Combined, they made off with $11.2 million.

Then state Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, who himself would later go to prison on corruption charges, described the Roslyn scandal as “the largest, most remarkable, most extraordinary theft” from a school system in “American history.”

What seems clear is that Roslyn school officials’ response in the email sent last week was largely based on concerns about the school district’s reputation and that of its officials, both past and present.

If this was actually about protecting students from ugly incidents from the past, American history in Roslyn would be taught without mentioning slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, Jim Crow and Japanese internment camps during World War II.

The email continued in both a defense of the district and as a taxpayer-funded plug for board members.

“Since those days, the transformation of Roslyn Public Schools has been nothing short of remarkable,” the district said. “Under the leadership of a new, reform-minded Board of Education, the school district worked tirelessly to recover millions that had been stolen. The nationally-recognized Roslyn Public Schools of 2018 bears no resemblance to the organization as it existed 15 years ago.”

This may be true, but in defending their reputation, Roslyn school officials have missed an important lesson from the school scandal – that truth is more important than reputation.

The first indication of wrongdoing in the school district came in 2002 when a Home Depot clerk in Selden reported to the school district that a district credit card had been used to purchase $85,000 worth of construction material for a private contracting company, which it turns out was owned by Gluckin’s son.

“But instead of leading directly to a criminal investigation, the tip was checked first by the school’s auditor, Andrew Miller,” The New York Times reported.

Miller, who would later be charged, reported his findings to Tassone – that the business administrator and her son had stolen $250,000.

Tassone, The Times reported, “took the matter to the Roslyn School Board with a dire warning” – that the district’s reputation would suffer if the matter became public.

Rather than reporting the crime, the school board decided to allow Gluckin and her son to repay $250,000 – a small fraction of the $4 million Gluckin was later found to have stolen – and to resign.

The true scope of the embezzlement did not emerge for another two years.

Sweeping embarrassing facts about the school district under the carpet is a movie Roslyn officials have already seen.

We would have thought they would have learned something about that the second time around.

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