Dear Great Neck Community,
Whether your family is new to Great Neck, or lived here for generations, Great Neck is our home. For over 200 years, Great Neck has been home for students of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, socio-economic strata, religions, and genders. Families choose Great Neck primarily for the consistently outstanding educational opportunities which have historically been offered here by previous generations who made Great Neck their home.
Our hope remains that schools will continue to feel for students and staff like extensions of home: places to feel safe, respected, creative, and valued. When there are instances that this does not occur, the Board of Education has policies in place for implementation by the Superintendent of Schools and administration to rectify matters which arise. The Board’s role as effective stewards relies both on overview of the administration and on feedback from the schools’ community. As individual concerns are raised, the Board directs the administration to investigate each allegation made and to follow up, as appropriate. Please know that it is our promise to oversee, listen and be responsive to concerns you may have, even if the response is not as immediate or the solution exactly what you had desired.
For Great Neck to remain a home which ensures the well-being of students and staff and the appropriate use of public resources, conduct and decorum befitting our wonderful community and prominent schools is vitally important. Particularly in an era when public opinions are passionately and sharply divided on a host of issues – including curriculum – we must model civility even as views with which we disagree are expressed. We request that all members of the community continue to treat the administration, staff and one another with the respect that we, too, have always extended to the public.
The Board’s next public action meeting is scheduled in-person on Dec. 15 at 7:30 pm at Great Neck North High School (note location change). The meeting will also be broadcast on YouTube, with a recording available on the GNPS website: www.greatneck.k12.ny.us/domain/27. It is our hope that those who attend in person or view our meetings realize that our behavior must serve as a model for that of our children and others.
The Board of Education remains honored to live and volunteer in a community which places such a high value on education, and thank all the staff, families, students, and community involved in the effort. We are dedicated to ensuring that the bountiful opportunities of Great Neck and America, which we celebrate at Thanksgiving, may continue for all Great Neck’s children and families.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Sassouni, President
Donna Peirez, Vice President
Barbara Berkowitz, Trustee
Jeff Shi, Trustee
Grant Toch, Trustee
Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education
