Another trustee resigns

Al Semonella, an East Meadow Board of Education trustee, filed a letter of resignation with the school district on Monday.

Reached by the Herald on Tuesday, Semonella said only that he resigned for personal reasons, and declined to elaborate.

Semonella is the second trustee to leave the school board since June, when Diana DeVito resigned, also for unspecified reasons. DeVito was replaced by Joseph Parisi, who was appointed to the school board in July.

Like DeVito’s, Semonella’s term runs until June 2011.

School board President Brian O’Flaherty said he respected Semonella’s decision. “I know that being a trustee is a big commitment, and I know Al has a lot of commitments,” O’Flaherty said. “I think he decided that the best thing to do right now was to step down.”

At the Oct. 1 school board public communications session, residents asked why Semonella had been absent from meetings since July.

Now, the six remaining trustees have a decision to make. “I have to go back to the board and see what our options are,” O’Flaherty said. The trustees can vote to appoint a new member, or keep the seventh seat vacant until the trustee election next May.

If a new trustee is appointed, he or she would serve until the May 2010 election, and would then have to run for a one-year term to finish out Semonella’s tenure. That trustee could run for a full three-year term in the May 2011 election.

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