Thursday, October 1, 2026
According to Michael Pomerico, new school board president of Freeport Public Schools, the swearing in of two new board members and the selections of a new board president and vice president signals that “change is here” in the district. However, this change has not been without division and tension among the district’s administration and residents.
Gabriela Castillo, who was elected board vice president, and Edward Gordon were officially sworn in to the board during a July 1 district reorganization meeting, joining Pomerico who began his term in May. The trio, who campaigned together, have been very outspoken about a perceived lack of transparency and mismanagement from the previous iteration of the board, and spoke about their plans to enact meaningful change for Freeport students and the community.
“I promise that I will continue to be a fierce fighter and defender of public education and to our public schools,” Castillo said during the meeting. “I cannot promise you specific outcomes, but I can promise you a process that is rooted in fairness, a process that’s centered around dignity and respect that each and every one of you deserves.”
The comments of Pomerico and Gordon were similar, emphasizing a need for respect and transparency in board affairs. Pomerico specified what he intends that transparency to look like.
“The plan is to do away with committee meetings, we’re going back to planning meetings, and (there will) be public comments,” Pomerico said. “You will hear everything that we are planning for the agenda. The meetings might be a little longer, but they’ll be open and they’ll be transparent.”
Pomerico went on to criticize or comment on previous board decisions, from the ongoing lawsuit against Fia Davis, the district’s reassigned superintendent, to calling into question district expenditures on consultants and attorneys.
Pre-existing trustees Sunday Coward and Alphonso Hardwick have continued to maintain that the board has committed no legal wrongdoing and malpractice. Coward went a step further, describing the current board as a “segregated board,” in response to the three-person majority Pomerico, Castillo and Gordon have secured on the five-person board.
“People may not agree with me, but as a world, as a nation, we are struggling around racial issues,” Coward said. “Freeport has always been diverse, and while we’ve had issues, it has never been to the level of what this is right now.”
Coward’s words were outspokenly rejected by some of the Freeport teachers and residents present at the meeting who jeered or scoffed loudly. The reasoning behind her comments on race and segregation was also confusing, seeing that three out of the five board members, Coward, Hardwick and Gordon, are Black, with Interim Superintendent Shakirah Miller also being a Black woman.
These comments and others sparked passionate debate between Coward and Pomerico during and after the reorganization meeting. Additionally, an altercation between Pomerico and Miller after the meeting resulted in Freeport police officers reporting to the scene. These changes leave residents with questions as to how the board will manage to work efficiently with one another for its students and staff.
