Josh is a Partner of the Firm and Chairman of the Litigation Group. His commercial litigation practice is diverse, with varied experience in all areas of real estate litigation, title and easement matters, contract and corporate disputes, commercial landlord-tenant proceedings, employment-related issues and appellate advocacy.
Read more at https://www.cuddyfeder.com/attorney/joshua-e-kimerling/#4RmBjZ8zpXpzJWJJ.99
School Where Teacher Held Alleged Mock Slave Auction Agrees to Diversity Plan & challenge to letitia james for her silence on ny pml sec 109 & its unconstitutionality ( ny const art 1 sec 3) & or inapplicabiltyto nassau otb
Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Agreement comes as many private and public schools struggle to deal with incidents involving race
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the Chapel School had agreed to hire a chief diversity officer. PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
A private school in Westchester County where a teacher allegedly held a mock slave auction of black students said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the New York attorney general to improve its approach to diversity.
In two fifth-grade social studies classes at the Chapel School in Bronxville, a teacher conducted re-enactments of a slave auction as part of March lessons on colonial America, according to a civil rights investigation by the attorney general’s office. It found that a teacher told the African-American students in each class to line up wearing imaginary shackles, and she simulated selling them to white classmates.
“Lessons designed to separate children on the basis of race have no place in New York classrooms, or in classrooms throughout this country,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a release. The school terminated the teacher after the re-enactments, she said. The teacher involved disputes the allegations.
Representatives for the attorney general said their agency didn’t reach out to the teacher or her lawyer, because she had already been fired, and their focus was how the school should proceed.
The school’s agreement comes as many private and public schools struggle to deal with incidents involving race. Some have hired antibias trainers to help students and staff become more thoughtful.
Michael Schultz, principal of the small Lutheran school, said in a release “we accept responsibility for the overall findings, and we are committed to implementing all items outlined by the attorney general to help us deepen our cultural competence.”
A representative for the predominantly white school said 21% of its students were African-American, 9% Hispanic, 6% Asian and 7% unreported.
Ms. James, a Democrat, said the Chapel School had agreed to hire a chief diversity officer and a diversity consultant, develop a plan to diversify its faculty and boost financial aid to diversify its student body.
The school must also revise its code of conduct to address discrimination and ensure discipline is meted out fairly, with details to be approved by the attorney general, among other steps. Ms. James noted that even before the slave re-enactments, parents had complained to administrators about the school’s unequal discipline and lack of racial sensitivity.
Joshua Kimerling, lawyer for the terminated teacher, Rebecca Antinozzi, said she had received overwhelming support from her students and parents, including many African-American families. “The history lesson has been falsely characterized, and many portions of the lesson as reported did not occur,” he said by email. “For instance, she did not conduct a simulated auction of the African-American students and the students did not re-enact the sale of African-American students to their white counterparts.”
The Chapel School’s principal said it was founded on a doctrine of equality, and brought in counselors after the March incidents to help its community heal.
It has about 330 students from preschool through eighth grade, according to its website. Tuition in kindergarten and above runs from $12,400 to $13,900.
Write to Leslie Brody at leslie.brody@wsj.com
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