By JOSEPH KELLARD
Three boys and two girls, ages 12 and 13, were walking south on Skillman Avenue, past the football field bleachers, when a man walked past them onto the school property, began to follow them and stopped to completely disrobe sometime around 7:30 p.m. July 9.
³When the kids turned around, at first they thought he was bending down to tie his shoe or something like that, but when he stood up he was stark naked,² said the mother, who asked that her name not be used.
³He kind of just stood there,² the woman¹s daughter said. ³ ... He started walking toward us and we started running.²
The girl and her friends approached another man walking on Skillman Avenue and asked to use his cell phone, and they saw the nude man put his clothes back on by the bleachers and walk north toward Brower Avenue. One girl called her mother, and the mother called police, who canvassed the high school and the surrounding area but were unable to find the man, the mother said.
The children said the man, who was in his late 30s to early 40s, was bald and clean shaven, and had a regular build except for a ³beer belly,² the woman¹s daughter said. He wore a white T-shirt, navy blue shorts and possibly Nike sneakers.
The following day, before going on vacation, the mother called the district¹s summer school program and reported the incident. After she returned, she called the administration office on July 19, the day she reported the incident to the Herald, and spoke with Assistant Superintendent Lou Frontario. Neither Frontario nor Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown had been informed about the incident.
³What I¹ll do now is have the security staff be on the lookout,² Brown said, noting that high school security routinely checks the school grounds in the evenings and on weekends. Brown also mailed a letter, dated July 19, to parents involved in the summer school program informing them of the incident. ³While more than a week passed before the incident was reported to the district, we believe it is important to bring it to your attention,² Brown wrote.
If this type of incident occurs during the school year, the district typically mails letters to parents informing them about it. ³We¹ll do it if we feel the circumstance is something the parents ought to know about,² Brown said. He added that if such an incident occurs during the summer, he may mail a letter only to parents of children involved in summer programs.
Police were unable to provide additional information about the incident, since the mother who called them declined to fill out an official report, fearing that the suspect, if arrested, might one day threaten or harm her family, she said. ³I just wanted to get the word out there,² she said about her decision to call the Herald, ³so that parents are aware in town.²
Comments about this article? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
