Last night I posted the following on the GLBT Asbury Yahoo group.
I hope that the folks here think it is a subject worthy of discussion.
Dear Group,
Since I have previously promised to keep the group informed about
Board of Education matters that affect us all, I have been wrestling
with my conscience since last night's important meeting on just how to
keep my pledge. I've concluded it is best to deliver the news, very
disturbing news, at least in my opinion.
You will recall that the board needed to fill the seats of Mrs.
Sonnier and Susan Bisaha, both of whom resigned recently. The Sonnier
position was filled by Ms. Marie Castro, a part-time professor of
English at Lehman College, part of the CUNY system. Personally, I
could not be happier about that; the children of Asbury Park will have
a great friend and role model in Marie.
It is the second position, the one left vacant by Susan Bisaha's
resignation that we should find most disturbing for a number of reasons.
The man chosen by the board has been the author, in my opinion, of
some of the most vile rascist AND homophobic "literature" in our city.
The greatest irony of it all is that this newly appointed school
board member, Gregory Hopson, Sr., was the very person who had accused
Susan of despicable, cruel, and most unprofessional acts, all reckless
allegations which then had to be investigated at great expense to us
and great distress to Susan. Upon thorough investigation by State
offcials, those charges were, of course, found to be completely
groundless. As his reward, he now gets to take the position of the
woman he unjustly maligned.
How this man came to be chosen may be the most disturbing part of
last night's meeting, and I've alluded to it in the subject line
above. If there is interest in this group for further details, I will
supply them to the best of my ability, keeping in mind however that as
a member of the school board I am bound by board policy, and I do not
speak for the board.
Suffice it to say for now that the person who nominated Mr.
Hopson was the Board of Education Vice President Garrett Giberson, Jr.
I do not think that I am being overly dramatic when I say that our
city and our school board suffered a real setback last night, and the
truly sad part is that the person most responsible for this
degradation was the vice-president. We had an opportunity to fill the
vacancy caused by the resignation of Susan Bisaha with another
well-qualified and caring resident of our troubled city. That
gentleman, and I do mean gentleman, was most eloquent in his responses
during the Board's public interview. The fact that he was passed over
in favor of one who has sought to divide the city with unrelentingly
ugly and inflamatory rascist, homophobic statements is mind-numbing.
Meanwhile, absolutely none of this helps raise one test score or
educates one child.
Score one for the bullies, the rascists, and the homophobes.
Regrettably, this travesty was initiated and made possible by the
board vice-president. I sincerely hope he will explain
why he did what he did.
Frank D'Alessandro
6th Ave.
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