Lockhart Parents Clash with Sulc over Principal Shift

Massapequa school superintendent Charles Sulc met Wednesday with angry parents at Lockhart Elementary  School who are upset over his plans to transfer the school's principal.

Sulc told them  he will recommend that Lori Dano be moved to Fairfield Elementary School while Stepehen Scarallo the current principal at Berner Middle School will come to Lockhart.

The moves are a part of a massive reorganization of the district's administration, which Sulc will report on at Thursday night's Board of Education meeting.  A total of ten administrative changes will be proposed.

If the plan is approved, Scarallo will become Lockhart's fifth principal in the last twelve years, and several parents say they're fed up.

"The children are going to be affected," said Theresa Colosono, the mother of a first-grader at the school.  "I think part of education is stability. The kids don't want this and I don't want this."

Sulc outlined the reasons for the proposed move during the meeting  attended by dozens of parents, which lasted a bit more than an hour.

He also answered emotional questions from parents, some of whom said they were clad in black to protest the proposed plan.

The superintendent said events were set in motion 18 months ago when the district began to look at the administrative organization of the schools.  That effort started involving personnel this year, he said. Some moves were made as a result of the district's efforts to shore up its special education program and  some were the result of the retirement of two assistant principals.

The principal's position at Fairfield opened up when the board began to explore the possibility of their current principal Jason Esposito moving to Berner, which had been rumored for several years.

Sulc said  Esposito "expressed an interest[in the position,] he's got the skill set, I can't say a lot more about that, but we certainly wanted to support it."

In searching for Esposito's replacement, Sulc said they turned to Dano in part because of her experience working in the district's central office and because of her experience working with students who speak English as a second language.

"In terms of where we are now, and in terms of what's best for our kids, and terms of the conversation we had with her, we decided that Fairfield was the place."

Sulc denied rumors that Scarallo's placement in Lockhart was a demotion, noting that he had previously been an elementary school principal prior to his arrival at Berner.  He said Scarallo was going to Lockhart because of "his passion and desire to return to his roots." 

Scarallo "can do the things that Mrs. Dano has done," he said.  

While he was interrupted occasionally, the crowd was mostly well behaved.  Several parents walked out of the meeting when Sulc indicated he would not change his recommendation and he bristled a bit when a mother accused him of running the school system more like a business than a community.

"If you ever think that I'd make a recommendation that would hurt children, then you don't know me very well," he said.

The superintendent said he was prohibited from commenting on discussions involving personnel which prevented him from explaining some factors in his decision, but insisted ,"We think the organizational changes would benefit all kids, I don't think I can change my opinion on that."

But many parents came away from the meeting unimpressed.

"This was just one big circle. He gave us no tangible reason why this change is occurring," said Liz Melendez a parent of a fourth-grader.  "Why can't you make a swap between Berner and Fairfield?"

Several said they were going to protest at Thursday's board meeting.

"There are parents who say  there's nothing we can do, you can't fight the board." said Suzanne Thelian, the mother of two Lockhart students.  "That's not the fight anymore.  The fight is to stop this from continually happening."