The Sewanhaka Central High School District continues to deal with the fallout of racist incidents with Bellmore-Merrick students at athletic events.
Regina Agrusa, Sewanhaka’s superintendent, addressed recent allegations made against her in an Instagram post by an Elmont Memorial High School parent at the district’s July 8 board of education meeting.
Agrusa said that the post questioned her integrity and accused her of covering up racist events that occurred during the school year, particularly a more recent incident at an April lacrosse game.
“I would like to be clear that I have provided the community with information,” she said, referring to a February incident between two student-athletes from Elmont and John F. Kennedy High Schools that happened during a girls’ basketball game. The white Kennedy student hit the student from Elmont, who was black.
Parents demanded that Sewanhaka stop playing sporting events against Bellmore-Merrick students, citing what they said was a long history of racially discriminatory incidents against their children.
Sewanhaka decided in March to continue scheduling games with Bellmore-Merrick schools.
Agrusa insisted that she had been open with the public about the process, attending an Elmont town hall in February and providing updates at subsequent board of education meetings.
On July 2, she met with another roundtable of Elmont parents to discuss the district’s response to racism, in which she disclosed that an additional incident had occurred during a lacrosse game in April. The Instagram post claimed Agrusa was covering the instance up, as she was asked directly at the district’s May 27 board meeting whether any other racially-charged exchanges had occurred since February and said “no.”
In her statement on Tuesday, Agrusa said that she had known about the lacrosse game situation then but was unable to comment on it at the time.
“Not every incident is able to be openly discussed and shared,” she said. “The sensitivity of students involved requires our attention to detail.”
An Elmont parent took issue with this in the public comment portion of the meeting, saying it was not acceptable that Agrusa had not mentioned the April incident when questioned.
“This is not garnering a feeling of confidence and collaboration if, when we’re talking as parents to you, we’re being lied to,” she said.
The parent also said that an email sent to Agrusa seeking clarification on the subject after the roundtable meeting had gone unanswered. Board President William Leder asked that she resend the email and assured her that she would soon get a response.
Later in the meeting, new board of education members were sworn into their posts.
Binu Jacob took over Patricia Rudd’s spot as a representative of the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Free School District. James Reddan, the other member from New Hyde Park, was sworn in as the board’s vice president, the position he held the previous year.
Lynette Battle joined Tiffany Capers as a representative of the Elmont Union Free School District. She replaced Trecia Wong from last year’s board.
Leder was reappointed president of the board, representing Franklin Square Union Free School District along with Stephen Toto. Rosemarie Peltonen and Jaclyn O’Donohue are again the delegates from the Floral Park-Bellerose Union Free School District.
Separately, the board approved changes to the school calendar, which included adding a back-to-school night and a day off for Eid al-Adha.
