By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-16 21:17:23 | Updated at 2025-03-17 04:08:12
7 hours ago
Parent advocates at a Long Island high school are demanding that local sports authorities take the extraordinary step of keeping schools in a rival district off their kids’ athletic schedule — because of race issues.
Elmont High School’s Parent Teacher Student Association and Dad’s Club recently held a town hall with officials from Nassau County’s sports Section VIII over what the parents said is a long history of racist behavior against their kids by the Bellmore-Merrick School District crowd.
Reps from Elmont High’s Sewanhaka School District and Bellmore-Merrick district were in attendance, too.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” said Lynette Battle, a Sewanhaka board of trustee, former PTSA president and Elmont mom, to The Post.
“Something different has to be done. And someone needs to be courageous enough to stand on business,’’ she said.
The straw that apparently broke the camel’s back for Elmont’s advocates involved a varsity girls basketball game on Feb. 7 at Kennedy High School in the Bellmore-Merrick district.
An Elmont player and a Kennedy player got into a scuffle during the game, but only the Elmont girl, who is black, was kicked out after she was seen swinging at the Kennedy girl, who is white.
Elmont appealed the suspension when video emerged showing their student was hit first.
Section VIII upheld the suspension initially but then reinstated the girl after a second appeal, allowing her to suit up for a play-off game.
Bellmore-Merrick meanwhile suspended its Kennedy player for two games voluntarily.
But for the activist parents at Elmont, the incident provided enough fuel to make them want to redress the history of problems between the districts.
At the recent meeting, the Elmont camp demanded that Bellmore-Merrick schools be kept off its high school’s athletic schedule, as well as that of its middle school, starting next fall.
Lynette Battle, a mother of a recent graduate of Elmont High, alleged a long list of racially charged incidents since 2019.
In February 2019, Elmont cheerleaders were called racial slurs by Bellmore-Merrick spectators, one of whom wore an afro-wig to mock the black players, Battle told The Post.
That November, a workshop was held for students from the two schools.
Players from Elmont alleged at the session that their Bellmore-Merrick rivals had on occasion spit on them, refused to shake their hands and used racial slurs, Battle said.
In December 2021, some fans at a Bellmore-Merrick Mepham High School vs. Elmont junior varsity basketball game hurled racial taunts involving “bananas’” and called the girls “monkeys.”
Two fans who were involved were disciplined, and both the superintendent and district athletic director from Bellmore-Merrick apologized to the Elmont team in person at their high school, according to Patrick Pizzarelli, Section VIII director, to The Post.
In 2023, at a junior varsity volleyball game between Elmont and Kennedy, fans once again taunted Elmont players with bananas and “monkey” comments.
Other racially tinged incidents, which were not officially reported to local sports authorities, also occurred in August 2022, twice in September 2022 and again in October 2023 between the schools’ students, according to Battle.
Section VIII and school districts have responded by holding workshops with involved teams and by instituting the reading of a civility statement before games.
That’s not enough for at least some Elmont parents.
“Our children are the ones being victimized. Why do they need to be in the room for a kumbaya moment?” Battle said.
Jon Johnson of the Dad’s Club told The Post that his three adult children — now ages 37, 29, and 23 — all went through Elmont High, all played sports, and all had their own experience with on-the-field racism.
“So when my middle son was playing against [Wellington C. Mepham High School in the Bellmore-Merrick district] he was playing lacrosse, and in the middle of the game, the opposing player, after Elmont scored, the opposing player called him flat-out the n-word and told him to get off of the field,’’ said the dad, who is black.
“We have trusted our district to help look over our kids, but I don’t think that they have, because they keep doing things to put a Band-Aid to a gunshot wound.”
Pizzarelli said he believes his group has been working well to respond to any racial incidents that occur and that progress has been made in recent years through collaborative town halls and open dialogue.
When asked about years-old alleged incidents, he expresses empathy for the parents and players, but said it is impossible for Nassau officials to respond appropriately if things aren’t officially reported.
Pizzarelli said Section VIII will make a decision on scheduling in the coming months.
Neither Bellmore-Merrick Superintendent Michael Harrington nor Sewanhaka Superintendent Regina Agrusa responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
