Lakeview learns about the struggle of integration

It’s time to raise awareness about the state of integration in the Malverne school district, according to Sherwyn Besson, a part-time teacher at Malverne High School and founder of the Save Our Sons Network.

To do so, the Lakeview resident held two community forums last week, one with Hofstra professor Alan Singer and the other with three local women who shared their personal stories of struggle and success. While Singer, author of the book “New York and Slavery,” was able to bring about a decent turnout on Feb. 21, the second forum the following day failed to, much to Besson’s chagrin. He had hoped to use the opportunity to reach out to members of the Malverne and Lakeview communities and open their eyes to what he considers a grave problem that has damaged the school district.

“There’s apathy in both communities,” Besson said, noting that it hadn’t always been like that. One of the speakers from the Feb. 22 forum, Rener Reed, a Lakeview activist whose children attended Malverne schools several decades ago, reminisced about the days of the Better Education Organization, a group made up of parents, teachers, district administrators and even school board members from Lakeview, North Lynbrook and Malverne that worked in unity for the betterment of the district and the children.

“Back then, there actually was a coalition of people actually trying to make the district better, from both sides of the Ocean,” Besson said. “Unfortunately we don’t have that now. … Parochialism took place in our district. We do have a political situation where the votes favor one side of the Ocean,” which is why Lakeview doesn’t have fair representation on the Board of Education.

Besson went on to say the school community lost those people who wanted to see improvement and serve the students. “Now it’s more like a self-serving, very opaque organization — the board — and it’s hurting our kids,” he said.