Many people in the Roslyn community find it more comfortable to believe that the school scandal was the result of the actions of a few bad people rather than the inevitable consequence of the breaching of fiduciary responsibility by one current and past board members. A review of the Hevesi report leads to the inescapable conclusion that incalculable harm was to our children, as much by board ineptitude as by Tassone's and Glucken's criminality. It is no wonder that former board members can't face their responsibility and try to rationalize away their role with the excuses of commitment to public service and good intentions. Claims of having been cleared by the DA or past activity in local civic organizations, incorrectly shifts the focus from the central issue to competency to the unquestioned ones of criminality and character.

At recent board meetings many speakers have stated that "we must move on" and that further examination of the genesis of the scandal somehow impedes the unification of the community. When these statements are paired with criticism of the areas of expertise of current board members they show an alarming lack of appreciation of past events and the skills needed to prevent their recurrence.

The nature of a school board's responsibilities can no longer be confined to what books belong in the library or whether condoms belong in the school nurse's office. A free education isn't free and in this district costs approximately $80 million per year. Expertise in construction, regulatory issues, health care, pension, benefits, labor contracts and governance are required. Such expertise does not preclude interest in and the ability to contribute to educational issues. Unfortunately, we have seen that the reverse is not true. A well-balanced board is imperative to the proper supervision of the district, therefore it is vital that professional educators be on the board. Otherwise, we risk repetition of the past board's failure to recognize that the English curriculum had not been reviewed in 17 years. This is especially upsetting in view of that board's authorization of a $65,000 bonus to the retiring assistant superintendent of curriculum. A school district's reputation can only be truly sustained if it is based upon substance, not show.

Not everyone in Roslyn is rich; many of us struggle to pay our taxes, fund pensions, meet mortgage obligations and pay college tuition. These obligations will certainly be compounded by the increased school taxes needed to fund the untold costs of avoidable building repairs resulting from the neglect and inadequate maintenance of our school's physical plant. All the past board members had to do was to look up at water cascading from ceilings or down at torn cushions in the high school auditorium to know something was very wrong. Against this background the failure of past board members to acknowledge their ineptitude as the underlying cause of the scandal is galling.

Louis R. Heisler