In November and December, Education Commissioner Richard Mills threatened to oust the Roosevelt School Board and enact needed budget cuts himself, if the board refused to make them. The board rejected the cuts at its December meeting. It did so again before an audience of roughly 300 Roosevelt residents at a special meeting on Jan. 3.
The very next day, Commissioner Mills said he would intervene and cut $3.5 million from Roosevelt's budget himself, but he made no mention of removing the Roosevelt School Board.
So, once again, the commissioner is making idle threats, with the Roosevelt board steadfastly opposing him, knowing that he's not likely to do what he says.
Few believe much of anything Mills has to say anymore because, to date, he's done little to nothing.
Case in point: Since the summer of 2000, he's said he might dissolve Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School because of its terrible student failure rate on important exams and the school board's fiscal mismanagement of the school. Students would then be sent to neighboring districts like Baldwin, Bellmore-Merrick, East Meadow, perhaps even Oceanside and Rockville Centre.
He's floated the idea several times in a vain attempt to get the state Legislature to pass a takeover bill for Roosevelt. So far, no dice.
In November 2001, Mills revisited the dissolution "solution." This time, however, he upped the ante, saying breakup of the entire Roosevelt district was possible, with all 3,200 pupils being sent to nearby school systems. Again, he made threats, saying the Regents could order a breakup immediately if the Legislature failed to enact takeover legislation.
Once again, the Legislature didn't pass a takeover bill; the commissioner did nothing.
The commissioner has huffed and puffed and bluffed his way through this issue, as if he were playing poker with a bad hand. Eventually, though, he will have to show his true cards.
When he does, people in and out of Roosevelt might not like what they see. There's no reason Mills can't break apart Roosevelt and ferry its students elsewhere.
It would be unfortunate if local residents let their guards down, believing the education commissioner will, in the end, do nothing over Roosevelt, a low-income, primarily minority district.
The Roosevelt School Board is now in chaos. Superintendent Horace Williams appears vanquished; sitting silently with his head bowed throughout last week's critical board meeting.
Student test scores aren't getting much better, and the district's finances remain in shambles, according to state reports.
On top of all this, the Education Department now is to cut $3.5 million from Roosevelt's budget, leaving only a shell of a school district. With the cuts, the state is to abolish 72 staff positions, including 36 teachers, and eliminate the district's kindergarten, athletics, occupational-education, teenage-pregnancy, mother-child and library programs.
What will be left? Not much, frankly.
At last week's special meeting, a refrain heard often in the audience after the board ticked off the cuts went something like this: If the state's going to cut us to the bone, then go ahead, break us up. Send our kids to where they'll get an education.
Thus far, most Roosevelt residents have opposed dissolution of their school district, saying it would waste valuable education time and dollars in busing students to other districts. They also have said that, in eliminating the district, the state would destroy one of the community's few identity markers.
Now, with no takeover in sight and devastating cuts on the way, Roosevelt residents face a Hobson's choice: save their ravaged shell of a school district, or save their children's chance for a decent education. At some point, there's really no choice; the kids must come first.
The refrain heard in surrounding districts these days goes something like this: Don't worry. Sen. Fuschillo is fighting hard to save Roosevelt. He would never let the commissioner break up the district. That would be political suicide.
That, however, is an unfair assumption. Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) has done all he can over the Roosevelt issue. He's met often with Roosevelt activists. He's spoken out vehemently against dissolution. In June, he passed a takeover bill in the state Senate. The measure is being held up in the Assembly. That's not his fault.
In the end, Fuschillo might not be able to persuade the education commissioner to keep Roosevelt whole. The commissioner answers only to the governor. And for Gov. Pataki, who still is reeling after Sept. 11, the Roosevelt question appears to be merely a blip on his radar screen.
Local residents in and out of Roosevelt must write to Commissioner Mills, Gov. Pataki, Sen. Fuschillo and state Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper Hill in support of a state takeover of Roosevelt that provides enough financial aid to see the district through its current fiscal crisis and preserves student programming.
Then, the state must truly concentrate on finding long-term solutions to preserving Roosevelt, including ensuring adequate funding over the long term to keep the district viable.
Without a business base, Roosevelt, a low-wealth, high-tax district, simply can't support its schools through residential taxes alone.
The state and Roosevelt School Board have played chicken with students' lives long enough. Now is the time to stop gambling and start acting. The commissioner should start proposing viable, long-range solutions for the district, not stop-gap measures. And the Legislature should pass a takeover bill ASAP.
In the end, the only losers in this crapshoot are Roosevelt students, who have no say in the matter. For them, like all children, a sound education should be a sure thing, not a roll of the dice.
