ELDRED, NY — In the wake of recent bullying trial against Eldred School District that resulted in a million dollar settlement, Dr. John Morgano, interim superintendent of the Eldred Central School District, talked about plans for how the district can move forward. One of the first steps was to appoint Jean Maxson as an interim Jr./Sr. High School principal after Scott Krebs, who was the principal when the incidents leading to the bullying lawsuit took place, was moved to an administrative position away from high school premises. Over 300 people signed an online petition requesting his removal.

Krebs remains on the district payroll on special assignments doing grant writing, state reporting and curriculum, and Morgano talks to him daily, but he said he didn’t know what was going to happen to him in future.

Morgano has worked with Maxson as a colleague at Monroe-Woodbury school district. Both have 40 years experience in education.

Among new initiatives in the planning stages are bringing in a New York State mentoring program, upgrading the existing button on the district website where anyone can report bullying, and forming a taskforce that will eventually present its recommendations to the board of education.

Morgano expects that to take place in February, after which the board of education will decide what steps to take.

“They are my boss,” Morgano said good humouredly. He also stated several times he’s not here to dictate to anyone what to do, but to facilitate changes deemed necessary. “I was not here with the issue with bullying, but I’m here now, and I’m putting a taskforce together,” he said.

Although the district has had a taskforce initiative before, this time it’s going to be larger, Morgano said.

“It will include one grandparent, two principals, 10 people from the community, three students from the high school plus a couple of sixth graders, 16 staff and six parents. People from the community don’t have students in school right now. Parents do,” he said.

To attract the total of 78 on the taskforce, Morgano posted a note for volunteers on the district website and Facebook page. “I didn’t want to turn anyone away who wanted to volunteer; we’ll make it work,” he said.

The new taskforce has not met yet; the first meeting is planned for the end of November.

Morgano said, “I will facilitate it. Our mission is to identify what’s working for anti-bullying, what’s not working, and to talk about what else we can do to make coming to Eldred a more pleasurable experience for kids.”

He showed nearby Monticello school district’s website, which has an extensive form to report bullying as an example of what could be put in place in Eldred. He said the principal and guidance counselor have to be very sensitive how to address bullying when anyone reports it. 

The proposed mentoring program is out of the Office of Children and Family Services, with Brad DiPietro as the Regional Coordinator for Eastern New York. He explained the mentoring would be for ninth graders by trained adults, with a staff member present.

As to his personal approach, Morgano wants to get to know every single person in the district.

“I greet the children every morning when I’m at the elementary or high school. I say hello to every student, how are you?” he said. Often, the kids respond, “How are you doing?”

Morgano has found the student to be very respectful and polite, more so than anywhere he’s ever been.

He continued, “I wasn’t privileged to anything at the trial. I know what the outcome was; I spoke to people. This taskforce will be critical. It’s a positive initiative to move forward, we all know what the problems are, now we have to fix it. When you put 78 people together, there will be lots of ideas; everybody has a voice.”

Morgano said he thought the overwhelming majority of students are very well behaved, and that sometimes even good kids make mistakes, and then you need to correct and educate them.

“Punishment has its purpose, but it doesn’t change the behavior,” he stated. “Positive reinforcement, education about what’s right and wrong, otherwise how would they know, sometimes we have to do that at school. You have to work with students to educate them what’s socially appropriate behavior.

“I’m not here to control them, and want to hear from the students,” Morgano said several times.

So far, he’s heard students say bullying occurs but it’s a small number, and that things have gotten better recently, but work still needs to be done. He also explained that sometimes students think they are being bullied when they are not, for example, when kids stop talking to each other.

“Students don’t have to be friends,” he said. “We need to work with people to explain what bullying is and what is not wanting to be friends.”

While teasing is mostly harmless, Morgano said, “Teasing needs to be addressed before it turns to bullying. You need to speak with the student, to educate them how their behavior is affecting the other person. You may need to discipline them.”

Morgano has a special-education background where he taught emotionally disturbed kids. “Sometimes kids have a poor self image; a lot of kids who are bullies are trying to fix what’s broken inside them by bullying others. They may need to get involved in activities like sports, music, art, something to feel good about themselves. Then they don’t pick on others.”

He stated, “I wouldn’t bring the bullies and the bullied together. It would give power to the bully, make them feel important. The bully needs education; the bullied needs support.” The bullied may need strategies of how to deal with the bullies, by either ignoring them, or by saying different things.

“You can’t be there all the time,” he acknowledged, “I don’t have all the answers, or I would be rich. That’s why I’ll get the taskforce. Whatever happened, shortcomings can’t rest on only one person. I wasn’t here; it’s never one person. But all these 78 people will help fix it.”

Instead of focusing on the past mistakes, Morgano is eager to move forward, and said he is aware he may not see the fruits of his efforts, as he’s only in for one year. 

He also had nothing but praise for the board of education (BOE), which doesn’t micromanage him. “They give me responsibility as a superintendent. I keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Anytime something happens, I let them know. Communication is important. We should be able to communicate; this is not General Motors.”

Before he started working in the district, Morgano watched all the BOE meetings on YouTube.

Since he took over, there has been one incident where a student had an interaction with another student that was unacceptable, and he was suspended for five days. He was inappropriate with a female student verbally and by touching.

“The person understands now it was wrong; evidently he thought she’d like it.” Morgano cited current constant news of many celebrities behaving inappropriately as one of the reasons why that might be.

“I spent some time speaking to her, and have been speaking with the student twice a week, told him he’s my special project. He was very respectful, accepting of my mentoring. Every quarter I want him in my room to talk. He has had trouble for years. It’s a small school; I can spend a lot of time with them in a school. It’s a great opportunity for kids to get a lot of attention. Also, the person who was harassed sees me, the guidance counselor and principal. I want to hear if it occurs again. I have to address it, I can’t ignore it.

Morgano is also looking at possibly recruiting a representative of the sheriff’s department for the taskforce to give another perspective. “Kids don’t realize sometimes what they are doing can result in law enforcement, especially when they’re older,” he stated.

He continued, “As I told the board when I got hired, I’m in this for the kids. I’m not prejudiced [as to] who’s on the committee, I can be a 100% objective; I don’t have history or an agenda. Staff, community, parents are not as important as the kids; that’s why we are here. I think it’s important for kids to know who I am.”

Morgano has heard conflicting views as to the number of bullies. Some say it’s small, some huge, some a handful. He said that the school has to model appropriate behavior, and if parents are going to act unkind on, for example, Facebook, “What are kids going to learn?”

In the end, Morgano is optimistic.

“I have to be optimistic. If I thought I couldn't make a difference I wouldn’t be here. I used to live in Jeffersonville; I’m familiar with Eldred. I used to catch fish, go rafting—I’m not unfamiliar with area. If I were to get a job in the Monticello casino, this is where I would live. It’s convenient, and nice. No community is perfect. There are some schools I wouldn’t try to fix, because it’s insurmountable. This is a very nice community. The problems we have are not insurmountable.”

As in many small communities, the school is the core of community, he concluded, “We need to address community issues in schools.”

“I’m not in it for the money; I’m in it for the kids,” Morgano concluded.