Demand the Resignation of School Board President Gail Nedbor Gross

We the undersigned call for the resignation of Glen Cove School District Board of Education President Gail Nedbor Gross for the following reasons:

Gail Nedbor Gross has been on the board for over a decade and in that time has served on the facilities committee, where she was fully aware of the critical need for renovations and major repairs to the buildings, yet failed to push to address them, even in the face of numerous incidents involving failing infrastructure and the near injury of students and staff.

Nedbor Gross also served on the audit committee with a clear understanding of finances, yet never advocated for the establishment of a capital reserve fund for the district that might have addressed some of the repairs that were clearly needed.

During her tenure she has avoided and delayed attempts by others on the board to put forth a bond, which contributed to the need for a progressively bigger bond as time passed, ultimately putting the district in the dire position it now finds itself in.

Against the best efforts of her fellow Board of Education members and the Bond Committee, which spent over a year and half developing a bond proposal, Gail Nedbor Gross downplayed the need for the bond in a statement at a Bond Hearing on Wednesday, October 16, (40 minutes into the hearing) when she said:
"I just want to clarify for plan B that there are a number of things we can still do if the bond does not pass. If we continue to budget for capital projects, there is now a capital reserve that we're going to start funding so that we can apply it to certain major projects that might be needed right away."
These words were repeated on social media by detractors of the Bond to help fuel the Vote No campaign.

However, the capital reserve fund was just established this year and the district has only been able to project earmarking $2.5 million, not nearly enough to address the multiple major projects that are critically needed. In the face of the potential for injury and lawsuits related to lack of repairs, and with Homeland Security's recommendations for the removal of the link between Deasy and Finley Schools, for updated doors, hardware and windows, the sum is inadequate for the work the district needs to undertake immediately.

Nedbor Gross is the only remaining BOE member who served on the board during the RXR PILOT vote and voted to approve it. This vote resulted in the district accepting a lesser share of tax payments than it was due. Although that money would not have fully addressed the need for facilities repairs in the district, the public perception that the BOE accepted such a deal when the facilities were in such dire need was cited as another reason to oppose the school bond both times it went up for a vote. Nedbor Gross' resignation from the BOE would allow the remaining board, of whom all had no part in that vote, to move forward without that political baggage.

Two school bonds to repair our schools have now been voted down. It is clear that the trust between parents and community members and the Board of Education has been broken. Parents are concerned about the safety of their children. Community members are concerned about their home values as the district buildings are visibly in need of repair. Given that the majority of the board demonstrated active support for the bond, Nedbor Gross would do her fellow board members a great service in taking responsibility for her role in getting us to the place we find ourselves in and resigning from the Board of Education.

With all the challenges and threats to public education, the last thing the district needs is an enemy from within.