Letters

There is a Board of Education official who keeps calling me a liar, but to respond to him would cut into my 450-word limit that The Sag Harbor Express holds us to. I am not a liar — and as John Steinbeck said in my favorite Steinbeck book (“Travels With Charley”), “When people are engaged in something they are not proud of, they do not welcome witnesses.”

Is there a board other than Sag Harbor that you know of that will spend nearly $10 million to purchase just the land, and that will then need to beg to spend unknown millions more on the same property, while keeping its plans a big secret? Spoiler alert: The Board of Education’s “current plan” is likely its “prior plan” that they communicated publicly since September 2022 and includes an artificial turf regulation-sized soccer field, a 72-car asphalt parking lot, bathrooms and some sort of concession stand on lots that are so small that the board can’t even promise buffering for all the neighboring homes.

People for the project can’t understand why the neighbors are standing up for themselves; wouldn’t you have “stood” up for yourself? When the board did have a plan, they communicated widely that it was the only plan for the properties. At that time, the Southampton Town Board asked them to do important environmental studies prior to the purchase. In exchange, the Town Board would likely have given them $6 million via the Community Preservation Fund.

Well, completing the required environmental studies requested by the Town Board was out of the question for this board — getting their $6 million down payment from the taxpayers was deemed preferable. Seriously?

Additionally, whoever says that the board has a plan is a liar and is spreading misinformation. This so-called misinformation is the exact information that this Board of Education has been spreading themselves for many months. Catching on?

A few things the board hasn’t mentioned as possible uses for nearly $10 million in taxpayer dollars are programs supporting math, science, literature, writing, computers, robotics, artificial intelligence or the arts. I have attended nearly every Board of Education meeting since they announced their plans to acquire Marsden. I watch presentations by our educators, and I believe in those programs and in those educators, and I believe in Pierson. I am thankful for my public school education, as I attribute my ability to stand up to this rogue board to that education.

Jeff Nichols, in my opinion, wants to educate our children the best he can — please give him the excuse to do exactly that.

Vote no on Proposition 2 on May 16.

Grover Pagano

Sag Harbor