By Jeff Lipton
The State Education Commissioner has rejected a petition by a community activist to throw out the results of a June 20 public vote approving a $22.6 million bond to renovate school buildings in the Hewlett-Woodmere district.
Education Commissioner Richard Mills sided with the school district in a legal challenge by Corinne Boni, president of the Citizens Committee of Hewlett-Woodmere, who filed a petition to dismiss the results, alleging questionable practices employed by the district in getting out the vote. The citizens committee represents 3,700 residents.
Ms. Boni accused the district of taking partisan measures to ensure that the bond passed. At the center of the controversy was a letter from District 14 union leaders urging staff members to phone parents of students from school and imploring them to vote on the district-wide building improvements. The letter contained a confidential list of student phone numbers. Ms. Boni demanded a re-vote, arguing those practices are illegal and the results of the vote should be nullified. The June 20 vote passed with 984 residents favoring the bond and 856 opposing it.
The commissioner handed down his five-page ruling on Thursday, Nov. 9, saying that the challenge was "without merit." But the commissioner did caution the school district to avoid using any phrasing in district-sponsored "get-out-the-vote" efforts that could be interpreted as partisan. The commissioner said a proposed phone script given to District 14 staff days before a March 14 bond vote had contained the statement: "This is an important plan for our students and our schools."
Staff members are allowed to phone parents to urge them to vote, but cannot persuade them which way to vote.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Fowler said district officials are delighted that the education commissioner has ruled in their favor. "The commissioner has agreed with our position and that what we did was not improper."
"Of course, we're pleased with the commissioner's decision," said Richard Braverman, president of the Hewlett-Woodmere school board. "We made every effort to inform the public fully about each element in the June proposal, so residents could cast informed ballots. Because we strongly believe that these capital improvements will be of great benefit to our students, we are gratified both by the results of the vote and the commissioner's ruling on Nov. 9.
"But at the same time, we're disappointed that we had to spend thousands of dollars defending a challenge that was without merit," he added.
The $22.6 million bond was approved by 53 percent of the voters, after a bond of $85 million was overwhelmingly defeated on March 14. The revised bond was scaled back to about one-quarter of the original cost as school officials decided to exclude the construction of a new Woodmere Middle School and concentrate on meeting increased enrollment at Hewlett High School by adding space to the building. The district is preparing to bring plans for the high school's renovation to the state for approval before bond-anticipation notes are issued, said Dr. Fowler.
It was days before the March 14 vote that a confidential source showed Ms. Boni the union letter. She said that if these tactics were being employed before the March vote, then the same probably held true for the June vote, although she had no proof of that.
The education commissioner contends that Ms. Boni failed to meet her "burden of proving" that any irregularity occurred regarding the June 20 vote, and the presidents of two unions, the Hewlett-Woodmere Administrative and Supervisory Association and the Hewlett-Woodmere Faculty Association, have stated that their members were not asked to make any calls relating to the June 20 vote. In addition, Ms. Boni filed her petition on July 18, four months after the March 14 vote. A petition must be filed 30 days from the performance of the alleged impropriety, said the commissioner, who dismissed those claims for being untimely.
Ms. Boni said she honestly did not expect to win the appeal because she knew that she filed it too late in the process and the school district was already moving ahead with plans to rehabilitate the buildings. She filed the petition because she felt the tactics used were "unethical," she said.
"I almost passed out when I saw the [union] letter," Ms. Boni said. "That really hurt me. It was not just deceitful, it was unethical.
"I asked myself: 'What is the right thing to do, the right and ethical thing to do?'"
She said she remains neutral over the $22.6 million bond and had no objections to the bond, but was disturbed by the tactics used by the district to get residents out to vote.
In his ruling, the commissioner said, "While a board of education may provide informational material to the voters concerning a proposed budget or proposition, school- district funds may not be used to exhort the electorate to support a particular position...
"While the use of district telephones by district personnel does not invalidate the election results in this instance, respondent [the school district] is admonished to refrain from using selective telephone lists, using statements that support a particular position, and in general from engaging in activities that give an appearance of impermissible partisan activity or impropriety in future school-district meetings and elections."
In her appeal to the state Ed. Department, Ms. Boni, a long-time adversary of the school board, called the district's tactics "impermissible. Specifically, that staff and administration acknowledge routinely making partisan telephone calls to residents, improperly using district funds, facilities and resources to influence the June 20, 2000 bond vote with permission of the Board of Education."
In addition, she complained that "partisan videotapes stressing needed repairs to the building were played in at least one school," the Franklin Early Childhood Center, to influence the outcome of the vote, with the Board of Education's blessings.
