Email Campaign to Keep our Principal and Assistant Principal at Pine Tree

I address this to the parents / taxpayers in the MW community. Please pass it to as many of those individuals as possible. As you probably know, Pine Tree is losing our Principal, Mary Eppolito, and our Assistant Principal, Lauren Donahue. As far as I can tell, none of us have determined how this decision was reached; we are left to grasp at straws. I will post an updated list of Board Meetings and other venues where we can show our support to our team and our anger at this decision. There is a board meeting tomorrow 5/6 at 7:15pm – it has been moved to the HIGH SCHOOL. Although it is a BUDGET meeting, there are certainly many budget issues around this. For instance, what is the huge salary of our Superintendent going to be next year – after he has unilaterally made this awful decision that effects so many hard-working families? And did he actually turn down our request for a salary freeze in this terrible economy? What about the risk of a lawsuit? Letting go of THREE (yes, there is a third) women without basis is horrifying.

Please email your objection to this simply by replying to all – the right people are cc’d. In case you do not have time to read my entire note, I would like us to fight to keep these women. I believe an email campaign would be a step in the right direction. Please pass this on to everyone that you know in our district by BCC -- they do not have to be parents of kids at Pine Tree -- any taxpayer in MW should be offended by this action and want to stand with us on this matter. If enough of us stand up, we might actually do the impossible -- change something. Here is who I have cc'd (it is incomplete; as this gets passed around, I welcome you to add to this list) -- I believe that our politicians will stand with us on this issue if they see that WE stand first.

NY Senator, Bill Larkin (Larkin@senate.state.ny.us)
NY Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun (http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=096&sh=con)
NY Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt (http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=097&sh=con)
NY Senior Deputy, Commissioner of Education Johanna Duncan-Poitier (emscgen@mail.nysed.gov) Times Herald Reporter, Chris McKenna (cmckenna@th-record.com)Photo News Owner, Jeanne Straus (jeanne@strausnews.com)Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Carole O'Neill (caoneill@mw.k12.ny.us)
Superintendent of Schools, Joseph DiLorenzo (jdiloren@mw.k12.ny.us)Asst. Superintendent for HR, Edward J. Mehrhof (emehrhof@mw.k12.ny.us)

Finally, I have cc’d myself so that you may reach back to me if you wish (vetell@yahoo.com), and I have cc’d Mrs. Eppolito so that she will KNOW that many of us welcome her continued presence as our Principal at Pine Tree. If anyone has Mrs. Donahue’s email, please include her as well.
In case you are not aware, we are also set to lose a THIRD female administrator at Pine Tree. The common thread that are all female employees sets a tone for gender discrimination that I am loathe to see in our home town. I grew up in Monroe, went to MW schools from K thru 12, and I attended Pine Tree for seven years (K-6). Some of my teachers from childhood STILL teach there today. To see such a great team come into leadership roles there has been amazing. We are a community of parents, and to have role models like Mary Eppolito and Lauren Donahue -- well, that's a home town I am proud to be part of. Now what? They have being summarily dismissed for reasons that NONE of us can find. (Ask our Superintendent and you will meet a response about confidentiality.)

Let's talk about what we do KNOW. We know that our education staff get "report cards" twice a year. They have marks and goals and standards that they must meet. At mid-year (December +/-), both of these women got excellent reports. What changed? Don't we have a right to know? After much effort, I honestly think nothing changed. It is what we all grown to expect in our community: politics as usual. This decision is either a) the superintendent's or b) the school board's. But it should be OURS. Both of those bodies should be representing US. Are they? If we don’t think so, we need to elect someone else. If there is any chance at keeping Mary Eppolito and Lauren Donahue, it is obvious that we must be willing to fight for them. The same way that they fight for our faculty and our children. How many of us have had that experience? I know that I have.

Two last thoughts: 1) It is my understanding that our teachers -- who are also, quite often, tax payers in Monroe-Woodbury and PARENTS of children in our district, have been directed to NOT speak out on this issue? Who on Earth IS allowed? 2) Someone actually said to me that fighting for Mrs. Eppolito would be bad for my daughter. But I honestly believe that if I teach my child ONE thing in this world, to stand up for what she believes in, I will have served her well. Yours truly, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos (If you remember me from Pine Tree, I was Mary Vetell back then)



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