ERASE Racism, a New York-based civil rights organization that works to expose and address the impacts of structural racism in public education and housing, has announced the election of new leadership to its board of directors, including two longtime Freeport residents.
Dr. Lorna Lewis was elected co-chair of the board, and Wilma Holmes Tootle was elected secretary. Both women, who live in Freeport, have decades of experience in public education and equity advocacy. They join Dr. Joan K. Lange, of Westbury, who was also elected co-chair.
Lewis, a veteran educator with nearly 40 years of experience, most recently served as superintendent of the Malverne school district. She previously led the Plainview-Old Bethpage and East Williston school districts and, in 2018, became the first woman of color to preside over the New York State Council of School Superintendents, which represents more than 800 education leaders statewide.
An outspoken advocate for inclusion and equity, Lewis is a founding member of the council’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusivity, and chairs its Curriculum Committee. In 2019, the NAACP recognized her with a Legacy Award.
“As an educator, I have spent much of my career advocating for educational equity and inclusion,” Lewis wrote in a statement “Having now retired professionally, I look forward to continuing that advocacy through my new role as Co-Chair of ERASE Racism, a leading champion of civil rights in New York — with a focus on the closely related fields of public-school education and housing.”
Tootle, a longtime Freeport resident, began her career as a teacher and went on to serve as principal of Uniondale High School and district director of personnel for the Uniondale school district. She is currently president of W.H. Tootle Consulting Services and co-president of A Better You Consulting Services LLC.
She is the immediate past president of the Long Island Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, chairs the national organization’s Ethics Committee and is a nongovernmental-organization representative to the United Nations. In 1988 Tootle was conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Monrovia College in Monrovia, Liberia.
“This is a crucial time for civil rights in America, in New York and on Long Island,” Tootle wrote. “I’m, therefore, pleased now to be an officer of the Board of Directors of ERASE Racism, whose work is so vital to protecting and expanding our civil rights. I look forward to helping energize and advance that work locally, statewide, and nationally.”
Lange, a former assistant superintendent in six Long Island school districts — Roosevelt, Rockville Centre, Brentwood, Amityville, Islip and William Floyd — has been recognized a number of times as Educator of the Year by regional and statewide professional organizations.
The board’s remaining officers, Treasurer Lauren Furst and Assistant Treasurer Craig J. Wolfson, will continue in their current roles. Lange and Lewis succeed Kalpana Bhandarkar and Ed Pichardo, who have completed their terms as co-chairs.
“ERASE Racism is grateful (for) the extraordinary leadership exhibited by its Board of Directors, and the willingness of its members to fulfill different roles at different times,” Elaine Gross, the organization’s founder and president emerita, wrote. “We thank Kalpana Bhandarkar and Ed Pichardo for all that they have done and will continue to do for ERASE Racism, and we thank Lorna Lewis, Joan Lange, and Wilma Tootle for assuming their new roles at this crucial time for civil rights. ERASE Racism’s focus on overcoming structural racism to ensure equal rights for all is as vital as ever, and we look forward to their leadership in the years ahead.”
