Outgoing board member thanks community after heckler

The South Country Central School District held a school board meeting on Wednesday, June 24.

Interim superintendent John Dolan gave his superintendent’s report, where he commended the community on coming together to vote in support of the second budget proposed.

“The superintendent’s report is going to be very simple, because we’re moving through finishing up school year closing down. We appreciate everyone who helped us celebrate the students and their families… a big thank you to the community, particularly people from my age group; they came out in droves and basically the message was let’s get this fixed, let’s get this fixed. People have suffered enough; let’s turn the page and get this fixed,” said Dolan.

Referring to the Gadsby rules and the Special Act legislation as “guidelines” and “guardrails” for the future fiscal health of the district, Dolan championed a measured and realistic approach for hedging against another financial situation like the one faced this year by South Country.

“I’ve said this over and over again, and hopefully this gets into the newspaper: Gadsby rules and the Special Act legislation are guidelines [and] guardrails to make sure we never fall into this again. If we stick to the plan, and everyone was part of it, the community was part of it, they voted they told us, people here, the students, next year will be different, the following year we’ll grow back and by the third year we should be moving in the way that the South Country community expects our schools to be. It has been a pleasure to go out in the community and the crowds and listen to people because even people who were so angry were only angry because they cared so much. Don’t ever mistake their anger for anything but simple frustration,” said Dolan.

Following the superintendent’s report, outgoing trustee Cheryl Felice, who has served for nine years, addressed a situation that occurred during the Patchogue Pride Parade, where she served, for the fourth consecutive year, as grand marshal.

“So happy Pride Month to those who celebrate and even those who don’t, they should be aware of Pride Month and why we celebrate. I’m a member of the Pride community. I was taking my role as the grand marshal for the fourth consecutive year and it was interesting this year because we haven’t had any hecklers at this parade. This year we had a heckler and we had a heckler because of my role on the Board of Education. And I just wanted the community and this board to be aware of that fact because it was the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Felice.

The man heckling, whom Felice did not publicly name, had previously requested petitions to run for the school board, but had not submitted the paperwork to run for trustee.

“And it was someone who had picked up petitions to run for the Board of Education [but] never turned those petitions in because, I’m hoping, he didn’t get signatures to run and he didn’t turn them in. [He] stood there with an ally shirt on, so someone who was supportive of the community but not of me. But chose to yell out at me, ‘Everybody hates you, Cheryl Felice, for the deficit you left us at South Country,’ and he used those words ‘hate’ at this parade with people around with his family around with children around… it’s there to give mostly young people a reason to feel good about themselves because so many children take their own lives because their own families won’t accept them,” said Felice.

Felice went on to describe the dual work she has completed as a board member and LGBTQIA+ with community members and district parents thanking her for “representing a good role model.”

Following a social media post on the incident, where the heckler was unnamed, Felice said she was contacted by three different people, who were able to deduce the person not mentioned. One of the three people who contacted Felice was a heckler’s family member, who told Felice that they also went to the parade with four children in need of the strength and love the parade has come to symbolize.

“Boy, did they get it that day,” said the family member who thanked Felice for “being a pillar of the community.”

“When the [board] president every day at every meeting says those words, that we live in a hate and bully free school.”