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BROOKLYN, New York, August 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A member of the New York City Council is inserting himself into a tragic situation outside of his constituency while also intruding in the oversight of a religious institution.
Councilman Daniel Dromm called for Michael Long, chairman of the board for Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Brooklyn and also chairman of the New York State Conservative Party (NYSCP), to step down from the school board after a student there recently committed suicide, the reported result of bullying.
The Democratic councilman issued a press release accusing Long of negligence and responsibility in the child’s death because of Long’s opposition to anti-bullying measures. He also said Long was not fit to serve on any school board because of hostility toward LGBT individuals.
“Michael Long has been negligent in his duty to protect (the student) from bullying and, in fact, holds some responsibility for his death because of his longstanding, staunch opposition to anti-bullying education,” Dromm stated. “Mr. Long should not serve on any school board because of the hatred and malice he has shown toward many groups of people in our society but especially against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.”
“I was shocked to learn that Mr. Long was the chairperson of the Board of Holy Angels Catholic Academy,” said Dromm, whose district is in Queens. “He does not make the connection between his style of bullying and how it affects young people. I suspect that Daniel's pleas were not taken seriously because Mr. Long doesn't take bullying seriously.”
In the press release, Dromm cited Long’s opposition to the “Dignity for All Students Act” passed in New York in 2010, purportedly because of its creation of a protected class for LGBT students.
Dromm also referred to comments Long made in 2003 that were bluntly critical of segregating students by such protected classes when Long voiced his opposition to the creation of the Harvey Milk School for LGBT students in New York.
Harvey Milk was the first openly homosexual candidate elected to public office (San Francisco city commissioner) and was notorious for his penchant and predation of vulnerable, at-risk, young men.
Dromm, who calls himself a “progressive leader,” is a former public school teacher and chair of the council’s Education Committee.
He has an extensive background promoting LGBT issues, having founded of the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee and organized the first Queens LGBT Pride Parade and Festival, which he still stages each year. The councilman also co-founded the Queens Chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG), and the LGBT outreach Generation Q Youth Services Program in Astoria, as well as helping to found the Queens Pride House, and LGBT center.
Dromm’s torrent against Long, a longtime political figure in New York who himself served on the city council in the early 1980s, also included calling upon the local Catholic bishop to remove Long from the Holy Angels board should Long refuse to step down. And he pushed the bishop to officially denounce “all types” of bullying, as well as guarantee the entire diocesan school staff was on board with the decree.
“Should Mr. Long not resign, I call on Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio to remove him,” Dromm said. “I urge Bishop DiMarzio to immediately issue a statement condemning all types of bullying and to ensure that all school administrators, teachers and support staff understand and take this issue seriously.”
Dromm said he was the target of bullying in the 1970s in Catholic school and it was “distressing to learn that this was still going on 40 years later.”
Bishop DiMarzio could not be reached for comment initially but later provided a statement to LifeSiteNews. Diocese of Brooklyn spokeswoman Carolyn Erstad told LifeSiteNews the bishop would not be in a position to fire a board member or intervene in board business without serious malfeasance.
The diocese takes bullying very seriously, Erstad said, and the school has a bullying prevention program on which the staff has been trained.
Long told LifeSiteNews that Dromm’s statements in the press were political in nature and he also condemned Dromm’s interjection into administration of the school.
“He’s taken a very cheap shot using the death of a boy to get a headline,” Long stated.
Everyone at Holy Angels did everything humanly possible to help the child, he continued, and the entire school community was suffering a great deal with the tragedy, exacerbated by intense social media backlash and imbalanced media coverage.
“It’s a very sad commentary,” Long said. “There’s no winner here.”
Regarding Dromm and his public offensive toward him, Long noted the two have never met, but it’s clear they have opposing philosophies.
Long said he takes his responsibility for all of the children and families at Holy Angels very seriously and that for Dromm to suggest he had some responsibility in what happened “is quite outrageous and very shameful.”
“We have a public official who lives in a different borough and county, who knows nothing about Holy Angels, and didn’t bother to pick up the phone,” Long told LifeSiteNews. “He doesn’t even know the facts. Why not pick up the phone and find out the story?”
“The councilman has no right to ask me to do anything; this is a Catholic private school,” he continued. “It’s totally irresponsible as a public official; pick up the phone before you take a shot.”
Long said his priority now is safety and healing for the Holy Angels community as it prepares for the coming school year, and he called for prayers for everyone involved in the heartbreaking loss of the student.