Massapequa BOE Picks Committee Chairs

The Massapequa Board of Education came up with a unique way to make a committee appointment and dealt with a controversy surrounding a football coach at their most recent meeting.

Among the things  considered Thursday were the appointments of chairs for the board’s various advisory committees.

While the board had no trouble assigning members to chair the Buildings and Finance Committee and the Student Advisory Committees, but too many people wanted to chair the Budget and Finance Committee.

For the past three years, Board President Maryanne Fisher and Vice President Jane Ryan have chaired Budget and Finance, but newly elected trustee  Gary Bennett also expressed an interest.

“I’m going to say that I don’t think it should be  three people sharing it,” Fisher said, explaining that such a set-up would be unwieldy.

Things turned jovial when Bennett asked Fisher what they usually do with new members. Fisher drew laughs when she replied, “nothing.” Bennett said that his understanding was “The new board member usually got their choice of things.”

Fisher came up with a solution, proposing that they throw all three names in a basket and draw two out. Those two would be the committee chairs.

He also came up with the perfect person to draw the names, 73-year-old  Marie Festa, longtime resident and PTA member, who’s worked as a volunteer  with special education students  for more than 40 years.

“I thought, ‘Why me?’” Festa said about her feelings when Fisher called on her to perform the task.   “I figured two of three people were going to be mad at me.”

Festa pulled out Bennett and Ryan’s name, but chatted amicably with Fisher, whom she described as a longtime friend, after the meeting.

The School Board approved coaching appointments including a brand new varsity head coach, Kevin Shippos, who replaces Pat Nolan.

There was some controversy regarding the appointment of one of Shiposs’ assistants, Lou Andre, who once has a successful tenure as the Chiefs head coach two Long Island Championships in the early ‘90s.. 

Bennett voted said he voted against the appointment in part, because of a 2002 Newsday article that reported Andre had been directed to get sensitivity and anger management training  after he was accused of making an anti-Semitic remark to a junior varsity coach, while  Lawrence High School.

Bennett would not comment further on the matter, because it involved a personnel issue . Reached at his home Andre, also wouldn’t comment saying “I’m not getting involved in it.”