Port Jeff BOE unveils plan to tackle child sexual abuse settlement
By Sabrina Artusa
The Port Jefferson Board of Education announced its strategy to pay for the $16.5 million settlement to be paid to the seven victims who filed a lawsuit under the New York State Child Victims Act. at its Jan. 14 meeting.
The board obtained $5.1 million from the district’s capital reserve and is borrowing $11.5 million under a one-year contract from Oppenheimer &Cco.
Deputy Superintendent Sean Leister said they committed to a short-term loan “to see what type of advocacy and state support comes through.”
“At the end of that year we will see if any of the money comes to the forefront, otherwise we will enter a long-term borrow,” he said.
The district is held to a time restriction and wanted to take steps toward paying the settlement so as to focus more energy toward actually securing the funds without the time pressure. The year-long contract gives them time to explore solutions within legislature.
Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said “there are multiple legislative solutions to help school districts with the CVA settlements” and that she and members of other districts dealing with settlements have spoken with legislators about “resurrecting bills.”
“I don’t think when they passed the Child Victims Act law they didn’t realize how it would impact the school districts,” Schmettan said. “We can’t just declare bankruptcy like the Catholic Church can. I think they wanted to help the victims but weren’t thinking of the financial aspect. “
One speaker expressed anxiety over the seemingly slow progress of securing funds.
Vice President Tracy Zamek said, “We don’t have access to some of these reserves. It’s not an easy thing [to gain access]. We are advocating for access – that’s what we are fighting for.”
The loan begins on Jan. 23, and the district will only have to pay the 3.25% interest, amounting to over $300,000.
Other business
The district initiates new programs to popularize reading among the student body. To increase literacy, the district is being less strict about which books are included in curriculum, and are instead allowing students to interact with books that interest them.
Required reading is still an important part of the lessons, but allowing students to have a choice has increased their interest and enjoyment in reading, according to teachers.
Port Jefferson Middle School English teacher Chuck Ruoff embraced the initiative. “A lot of time the books were chosen for the classroom. Sometimes students are turned off. I’m just interested in getting as many books in the classroom as we could. I got the feeling that I was holding some students back, in a way… reading isn’t just something that we do in the classroom with essays and short answer questions attached to it.”