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Vol. 76 No. 34
AUGUST 20-26, 2026
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Board revote winner is ... Gwen Jackson By STACY DRIKS sdriks@liherald.com
Courtesy Diamond Charter School
Diamond Charter School is now preparing to open Sept 1.
Judge clears way for Diamond opening By AlYSSA R. GRIFFIN agriffin@liherald.com
A State Supreme Court judge has denied a request to block Diamond Charter School from temporarily relocating from Hempstead to West Hempstead, clearing the way for the school to open this fall while a legal challenge continues. Albany County Supreme Court Justice Adam W. Silverman issued the decision Aug. 13, denying a preliminary injunction sought by New York State United Teachers, the state teachers union, as well as parents and educators from Hempstead and West Hempstead. The lawsuit challenged the process the State University of New York used to
approve Diamond’s temporary relocation. “We are super excited to open our doors and start a new chapter together,” the organization’s founder, Mark Crusante, told the Herald. Although Silverman declined to stop the school from opening, he found that the petitioners were likely to succeed on a key part of their case, concluding that SUNY officials likely failed to comply with a mandatory provision of state law. “Parents, students, educators and entire affected communities have a right to be heard.” NYSUT President Melinda Person wrote in a statement to the Herald. “And it went further: The court found we are likely to prevail on the merits, because the Continued on page 3
H e m p s t e a d U n i o n F re e School District voters returned to the polls Monday to decide a Board of Education trustee seat that had been the subject of an unprecedented revote after the state Education Department annulled the results of the May 19 election. Gwendolyn Jackson won the state-ordered revote, securing a three-year term on the Hempstead Board of Education after finishing second in the initial election. Jackson received 255 votes, defeating Eugenia Girtman, who received 161; incumbent Trustee Victor Pratt, who received 49; and Caprice Rines, who received 17, according to results released by the district. The ballot count was also livestreamed on the district’s website. Voting took place at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School. Pratt had won the May 19 election with 288 votes, defeating challengers Gwendolyn Jackson, Eugenia Girtman and Caprice Rines. The revote was ordered by state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa after the district petitioned her to invalidate the trustee election. Rosa directed
the district to hold a new election within 60 days. The district had asked that only the trustee race be invalidated, leaving the voter-approved school budget and capital reserve proposition in place. The district’s 51-page petition, filed June 17, alleged multiple problems involving election materials, absentee ballots and election procedures. District officials argued that the irregularities undermined the integrity of the trustee election and made it impossible to determine whether the results accurately reflected the will of voters. The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office also investigated the handling of election materials. According to the district’s petition, ballots were discarded in a garbage bag that was later recovered from a dumpster outside the district’s administrative building. School officials said they could not determine exactly how many cast ballots had been destroyed because the remnants had been collected in a large bag. The discarded materials also included envelopes that could have been used to determine how many absentee ballot applications had been mailed. The state’s decision voided Continued on page 3