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. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/