SCHOOLS

Forum furor: Morellos meet residents miffed by charter proposal

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Malvernite Jodi Morello said she, her husband, Matt, and several colleagues are just a group of teachers trying to help improve the quality of education available to local children. She tried to explain this to about two dozen people at a forum she and Matt held last week at the Lakeview Public Library, where they discussed their proposal to bring a charter school to Lakeview.

Jodi may as well have been talking to the walls. Many of those in attendance said they refused to believe that the Morellos’ sole motive for making the proposal was to provide an alternative for Malverne and Lakeview parents who send their children to Malverne public schools or to private and parochial schools. Several people accused the Morellos of wanting to secure jobs for themselves by opening their own charter school. Others called them racists.

“We were met by an audience packed primarily with school board politicians and special-interest groups protecting either their voting constituency or their perceived community power and influence,” Matt wrote in an email to the Herald. “If these individuals were truly interested in helping students instead of each other, they wouldn’t fight to restrict education choices. Money and power exist in maintaining the status quo. I’m starting to think that educating children is the last thing on their collective agenda.”

The discussion at the Aug. 30 forum often strayed from the subject of education, as a few audience members went off on historical, racial and geographic tangents. Many claimed that the Morellos must understand the history of Lakeview, particularly as it relates to the Malverne school district, before they can introduce the idea of a charter school.

After giving them a brief history lesson, West Hempstead resident Dino Delaney, who was born and raised in Lakeview and attended Malverne schools, told the couple that they can’t expect to bring a proposal such as this into the community and be welcomed with open arms. “Scars [run] deep in the community,” he said. “Everybody wants to be part of change, but people are suspicious.”

Delaney went on to say that the Morellos’ proposal smacks of an “agenda to privatize and take resources away from the public school.”

Several times, Matt Morello explained the financial structure of a charter school to the audience, saying it would have little effect on the public schools’ resources. Each student who leaves a public school to attend a charter takes about 75 percent of his tuition with him. The number varies for special needs-children. Charters receive state and federal funding, but rely primarily on private donations: The burden to generate start-up and other funds lies primarily on the charter itself, Matt said.

Hazel “Scottie” Gourdine-Coads, a local activist who was awarded the New York state NAACP’s highest award last year, said that taking children out of Malverne schools would be “a detriment,” ruining the public schools and lowering property values. She acknowledged that problems exist in the school district — both social and educational — saying there is still “a long way to go,” but added that a charter school simply isn’t the answer.

Lifelong Malverne resident Hope Orfano said the district has come a long way since the turbulence of the 1960s. People have worked hard to improve the schools and quality of education, she said, and bringing a charter into the mix will be the “breaking apart” of the district. Orfano praised the school district, which both she and her husband attended all the way through high school and where her two young children are now enrolled.

“’To know someone is saying ‘you’re broken’ is insulting,” Orfano said.

Lakeview resident Phyllis Wright, who served as a principal in the Malverne school district and on the Malverne Board of Education, made several suggestions to the Morellos for how to go about handling their proposal. She told them to attend board meetings and make known their feelings about the quality of education in the district. Wright also spoke to the Morellos’ assertion that it is an “indictment” of the school district that a large percentage of Malverne residents send their children to private schools. If the problem is in Malverne, she said, that’s where the Morellos should take their proposal; bringing it to Lakeview makes little sense.

Orfano also asked that the Morellos bring their ideas for improvement to the district before going off and creating a different school. Bringing a charter in instead of fixing a problematic school district is like building a new house instead of fixing a broken washing machine, Orfano said. In response, Matt Morello said that you can’t continue to fix a broken washing machine for 40 years. At some point, you buy a new machine.

As to the idea of attending board meetings, Matt said he doesn’t believe progressive ideas will be taken seriously. “Unfortunately, school boards are often platforms for greater political ambitions,” he said, “and not venues for serious exchanges about education.”

The forum also failed to produce the meaningful exchange about education that they had hoped for, Matt said. “As far as I’m concerned, an actual discussion about starting a charter school never actually happened,” he said, adding that he hears every day from parents who say they are interested in discussing the idea of a charter school. “I have a core of avid supporters who only want to better the education in a great community.”

As for the Morellos’ next steps in proposing the charter, Matt said, “Stay tuned.”