Student Mistreatment Prompts Evasion by Manhasset School Board

by Maggie Parker

Last month, the Manhasset schools segregated students by mask and vaccine status in opposition to the anti-forced masking rulings by the County Executive and local Courts. That prompted a harsh reaction from parents, angry that their children were being segregated and locked-up by the School Board in the library.

Local parents have now questioned the Manhasset School Board for the introduction of a new program of psychological evaluations of students.

But rather than address these concerns, the Board scheduled an over four-hour long program of "happy talk" presentations on February 17th to push the evening Board meeting to nearly midnight - hoping to drive the concerned parents home before they can speak. With public comments not commencing well after 10PM, most working parents had just given-up and could no longer attend.

At the February 17th School Board meeting, the room was filled with parents concerned about the proposed psychological evaluation partnership that the School Board wants with Northwell's School Mental Health Dept.

Except that the parents could not speak. The Manhasset School Board, presumably aware of why the majority of the parents were there, moved public comment until the end of the meeting. The Board then filled the meeting with long presentations, clearly drawn-out in the hopes that parents would just go away. For over five hours, parents sat through the Board's presentations agenda. One frustrated Manhasset father expressed his concern that the School Board "just wants to shut us up, and not address parents' concerns about our kids education."