Politics & Government

Syosset Supports Hankin at Board Meeting

Residents defended the superintendent at Monday night's meeting.

The first shots fired in a statewide fight to rein in school budgets have put Syosset superintendent Carole Hankin and her salary in the crosshairs. At Monday night's Board of Education meeting, Hankin's proponents -- parents, teachers and residents -- came to her defense.

Hankin makes a base salary of $386,868 a year, highest in the state. But after benefits and other compensation, that figure breaks the half a million mark. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently for superintendents that would limit Hankin to $175,000. 

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"Did you know the schools are a mess and taxes are out of control? And it’s all because of Dr. Hankin’s salary?" resident Mitch Parker said sarcastically during audience to the public. "The Dr. Hankin witch hunt is counter-productive, and it’s frankly offensive."

Another resident said he felt that Cuomo is trying to draw the attention away from a larger issue he faces. 

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"[Cuomo] is faced with a budget in terms of education – he has to make the cuts," said resident Frederic Gang before the meeting. "So to take the heat off of it, to divert the attention away from the cuts he has to make, he picks on school superintendents, teachers with tenure, last hired first fired.  You haven’t heard much about his budget recently, have you?"

Syosset PTA members were quick to come to Hankin's support and pointed toward the outstanding programs the school district offer as an example of how she is invaluable. 

"We moved briefly to California -- I  interviewed eight school districts and we could not find one that could compare to Syosset," said Shelley Tessler, who has three children who went through the school system and graduated. "There’s just nothing comparable to what Syosset offers its students." 

Board President Dr. Marc W. Herman got emotional in his defense of Hankin during the meeting, pausing to collect himself.

"I hope [the media] gets the message right -- it’s that this district puts the education of the children, No. 1. Upon everything else," Herman said. 

But one resident, who wished to remain nameless, said high administrative salaries like Hankin's are creating big problems for taxpayers. 

"They are choking the Syosset taxpayers," he said before the meeting. "People can’t sell their houses because of the high taxes. Everybody says a great district brings people in. But who’s going to come in and spend 'X' amount of money to get hit with these taxes?"

Notes

  • The Board of Education Budget Meeting (and monthly meeting) has been scheduled for Thursday, April 14 at South Woods, 8 p.m.
  • Voter Registration -- There will be five school district election registrations held prior to the May 17 annual election. Each registration will be held at all seven elementary schools. The next will be on April 8 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.


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