To the Harvard-obsessed parents of Roslyn, Frank Tassone appeared to be the ideal schools chief.
Then $8 million went missing.
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For the first time in his long, charmed career, Frank Tassone had a problem.
That night, Tassone made a moving, eloquent argument for compassion and leniency.
The culprit, Pam Gluckin, had tearfully confessed, he said.
Her marriage was falling apart, she was ill, shed been desperate.
Not everybody went for it at first.
Some board members wondered if they had a moral obligation to throw the book at her.
Gluckin was a tenured civil-service worker who made $160,000.
But if she left on her own, Roslyn could save that moneyandget back what it lost.
No harm, no foul.
Others wondered if letting her go was even legal.
So it was something of a relief that Tassone had thought of this, too.
Did they want camera crews on school grounds, or auditors sniffing around the district office?
Would Ivy League admissions officers look at Roslyn students the same way?
What, Tassone said, would happen to property values?
His message was clear: No good could come from going public.
And he was probably right.
But what the board couldnt have known was that Tassone was not just protecting Pam Gluckin.
He was also protecting himself.
Then, in May, the roof fell in.
But its doubtful Roslyn will ever get back what was lost.
Theres a reported $8 million missing, and the district attorneys auditors havent finished counting.
After a wave of other resignations, the D.A.
says more arrests may be on the way.
How could a twelve-year, $8 million scam go down right under their noses?
Being the head of a wealthy school system is a little like being the headwaiter at Alain Ducasse.
Working here is about client satisfaction, says Charlie Piemonte, Roslyns assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
The concerns people have for their kids are serious at a very young age.
Its like a business.
Its an untenable job.
Tassone, however, made it look easy.
Frank was really the master, Piemonte says.
I mean, this guy was loved.
He walked on water.
His own credentials were certainly first-rate.
He worked as an administrator in Westchester and Levittown before landing in Roslyn in 1992.
Every new program Tassone started played into Roslyns sense of prideor, perhaps, vanity.
School employees learned to look forward to birthday cards signed Dr. Tassone, and congratulatory gift baskets on anniversaries.
One shirt read 2TEACH + 2TOUCH LIVES = 4EVER.
He couldnt do too much wrong in my eyes after that, one of the teachers says.
I liked that he was so approachable.
A few years after he arrived, the Rotary Club named him man of the year.
There were limits to how much Tassone would reveal about his private life.
The most hed tell colleagues was that hed been briefly married.
She had some kind of an illness.
He had a wedding picture in his office.
But outwardly, he lived the way the people of Roslyn seemed to want a superintendent to live.
His Mercedes was one example.
Serving lobster tails to other superintendents at a regional luncheon was another.
You dont want to appear overpaid.
He lived the opposite way.
He acted as if he was entitled to itto the car, to the clothes, to the money.
He thought the salaries of administrators should be as high as possible, says Piemonte.
That these jobs had a great deal of subtlety and required education.
Hed say, Look at the CEO of IBMtheyre making zillions and were making $200,000.
If Tassone was the proud father of the Roslyn family, Pam Gluckin was the fun-loving aunt.
Bubbly and industrious, the mother of two liked to poke fun at herself and how hard she worked.
Gluckin became one of Tassones closest confidantes at the office.
They were very comfortable with each other, playful, jovial, a former board member says.
After staff lunches, Gluckin would stay behind to kibitz with Tassone, sometimes for more than an hour.
Pam went everywhere with him, says Eleanor Russell.
He relied on Pam to do everything.
Hed say, Oh, Pam will work it out.
A few employees even got Jeeps.
Some say Tassone simply wasnt good with numbersthat language was his forte.
And if at times Gluckin seemed sloppy, too, Tassone would be protective of her.
I said, Are you kidding?
She said, Whats the big deal?
Well owe you money in a couple months and thatll cover it.
It was pure luck that allowed Tassone to get a look at the anonymous letter before the media did.
But before anyone could start pointing fingers at Tassone, he launched a preemptive defense.
And the community believed him.
Some even praised him for being so forthcoming.
Still, the target of Roslyns anger wasnt Tassone; it was the school board.
We called it The Seduction of Pam Gluckin, one former board member says.
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi vowed to audit Roslyns books.
And before long, the community rallied behind Tassone.
There was only one problem: The accountant and lawyer wouldnt take the fall.
Tassone said he was referred by Carol Hoffman, the districts usual lawyer.
But when Costigan called Hoffman, she was outraged, arguing that Hession had been brought in by Tassone.
And when Costigan confronted Tassone, Tassone changed his story, saying Hession was referred by someone else.
Had the whole Gluckin resignation been stage-managed by the superintendent?
From that point forward, Costigan decided never to meet with Tassone alone.
By late April, Tassones office was under siege.
Slowly, others besides Costigan started wondering how Tassone couldnt have known about this.
Now they wondered if he was ducking trouble.
We may have uncovered more than $1 million, Miller said.
And I think it involves Frank.
But Tassone brushed him off.
Look at my contract, they recall Tassone saying.
It covers all reasonable expenses.
Maybe we should have bought your clothes, too?
Well, thats a matter of opinion, said Tassone.
What if the D.A.
indicts you on this?
Thatll never happen, said Tassone.
The districts lawyers were also let go.
Were your supporters, said Faith Russo, a mother of two boys at Harbor Hill Elementary.
Why do we have to hear about this from someone else?
Russo was shocked to see Tassone pointing at her, screaming:Youre going to listen to me!
Youre going to listen to me!He wouldnt let her finish, says Denyse Dreksler, another mother.
He went from being the therapist to the manic.
She realized she was upsetting a powerful person in her life.
I was afraid my kids were gonna get custodians as teachers, she says.
To her relief, Amy Katz, another PTA member, came to her aid.
You keep changing your story, she said to Tassone.
And another mom, Lisa Levine, started asking about the districts new lawsuit against Gluckin.
I dont know, Tassone said, throwing up his hands.
The law firm knows.
Is that the same law firm that you just fired?
Steam seemed to be escaping from Tassones ears.
How many of you ladies in here are lawyers?
Sure enough, Russo, Katz, and Levine were all lawyers.
So were other moms in the room.
Before long, Annunziato spoke to Tassone, by phone, in Ft. Lauderdale.
Frank, Annunziato said.
These people live in your apartment.
Well, they live in my building, Tassone said.
Annunziato couldnt believe he was sticking to that story.
But then Tassone changed tactics.
We have to figure out how were going to spin this, Tassone said.
Im not sure it’s possible for you to, said Annunziato.
The whole thing reminded Annunziato of the movieNo Way Outwith Kevin Costner.
He knew he was going to get caught.
Bill Costigan called an emergency meeting for June 2.
Tassone caught wind of it and called Costigan from Florida.
The board doesnt meet without the superintendent, Tassone said coolly.
You told me youd be home today, Costigan said.
Ill see what I can do, Tassone said.
On June 4, the day after he came home, Tassone was relieved of duty by the board.
For an $8 million embezzlement, the Roslyn scandal was remarkably low-tech.
The trick, prosecutors say, was in the check-writing.
It also helped that Tassone appears to have stocked the district with friends.
When the leak persisted, Roslyn hired them to do it again, and again, and again.
Tassone kept him on the payroll even after the board declined to renew his contract.
Pertusi happened to be a close friend of Tassones from his days as superintendent in Levittown.
Who was minding the store?
No school district has that kind of oversightsomething Hevesi is addressing now.
Tassone and Gluckin, with years of experience between them, must have understood that.
As the scandal unfolded, details of Tassones private life became public.
This is a very socially advanced community, very liberal, one of Tassones old employees says.
Its like it wouldnt have been cool even to bring it up.
Neither Daugherty nor Signorelli has commented on their sexuality, or anything else.
Hindsight has dredged up all sorts of revisionist judgments of Tassone.
Some now remember him as popping herbal vitality pills, and, at one point, fen-phen.
Parents and teachers couldnt fail to notice long light scars behind his ears.
He said he had been boxing, but people in Roslyn know an eye tuck when they see one.
Not that any of this raised eyebrows at the time.
He made $250,000, says Bill Costigan.
He told us he lived in a rent-stabilized building.
So when he showed up in a Brooks Brothers suit, that made perfect sense.
And he had a $500 car allowance.
You could lease a Mercedes with that.
Hes the person who benefited from those checks.
Gluckin and Tassone, out on bail, arent commenting other than to profess their innocence.
Then there are those who believe Gluckin and Tassone are only part of the problem.
Its hard to keep your values if you ever had them.
I think people can get caught up in that.
And Frank may have gotten caught up in that.
So Roslyn is to blame?
Naturally, this isnt the most popular opinion in town.
There were so many things Frank tended to very carefully, says Charlie Piemonte.
It would be pretty hard to think he was this bumbling administrator who got swept up.
At the start of the school year, the scandal still hasnt stopped claiming careers.
Theres a new superintendent, a new school-board president, and a new high-school principal.
Of course, in making that claim, he has plenty of company.
My life is nowThe Sixth Sense, says Karen Bodner, who was voted out of office in June.
He was so distraught, she says.
He needed to ventHow could Pam do this?
And we talked for hourshes drawing this out of me!
And then later I learn that hes doing the same thing?
Maybe he was trying to figure out whether any of us suspected him, she goes on.
Here hes a Ph.D., hes a Dickens scholar.
Still, she cant help thinking fondly of the man she considered a mentor.
He seemed legitimately concerned.
And I cant tell you now that he wasnt.
But maybe that phone call was him making sure everyone was behind him.
These are questions Ill never have the answers to.
ItsThe Music Man, I suggest.
Yes, it is, Bodner says.
Thats exactly what it is.
