Letters to the Malverne/West Hempstead Herald July 19, 2012

Restore DiMiceli’s reputation now

To the Editor:

This is an open letter to the West Hempstead Board of Education. It is about time that you put an end to the controversy you have generated around your fellow board member Cynthia DiMiceli.

She stands accused of breaking the law for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of speech as well as her fiduciary responsibility to her constituents by expressing her personal views on the proposed school budget in a letter mailed to the community with her own funds.

You all very well know, including your seasoned veteran attorney, that the legal authority of individual school board members, as outlined in the handbook given to each and every one of you when first elected, states:

“School board members have the right to express their own personal views on school district issues, including the school budget and other propositions.” However, when writing a letter: a) They must explicitly state that the letter expresses their personal views and b) Not use district funds.

The personality conflict among the seven of you is the real problem. In your eagerness to discredit DiMiceli, you have succeeded in discrediting yourselves as a trustworthy and transparent governing body.

It is time you look in the mirror and ask yourselves: If your children behaved in this manner, if they withheld the truth and allowed a person they dislike to be wrongfully accused, what would you expect them to do?

It is about time you restored an innocent person’s most valuable commodity — her reputation. It is time you apologized to the community you serve and restore your own credibility. Prove to all you were worth electing.

West Hempstead and its students need to look up to something better than what they see right now.

Honesty is more than not lying — It is about truth telling.

Lilly Haliasos

West Hempstead resident