Talk of the Sound Publisher Robert Cox delivered the following remarks at the New Rochelle Board of Education Meeting on March 8, 2022:
There is no greater responsibility of a school leader than responding appropriately to the unexpected death of a student.
Twice now in four years, the leadership of this District has failed in that responsibility.
In 2018, the District issued statements in the hours after the violent death of a student caused by another student to distance the District from the violence, stating “the student was not in school today” and “the incident did not happen on school grounds”.
A subsequent investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney revealed those statements to be false.
In 2022, the District issued statements in the hours after the violent death of a student caused by another student to distance the District from the violence, stating the student had “previously attended New Rochelle High School” and the student “hadn’t been in school in some time”.
Subsequent testimony in the Westchester County Court – Youth Part revealed those statements to be false.
14 minutes after issuing a statement to me that a deceased student “previously attended” New Rochelle High School an email sent to parents said he was an “enrolled student”.
I immediately forwarded both emails to the Superintendent, the Principal and the Board President and requested a clarification.
I have never received a reply to that email.
How did it come to pass that within 14 minutes two official statements were released that said the exact opposite about the enrollment status of a recently deceased student?
Why was there no response to my request for clarification?
I do not know but I am told it is because it was not a mistake, that I was deliberately sent false information and the only “mistake” is that the Principal sent out accurate information.
In the weeks since the District first put out these false statements the District has doubled-down, with a series of belligerently obtuse or outright false statements.
I am at court for the hearings in White Plains. I sat there as the video of the shooting was played in court for the families to watch. I had to apologize for my publishing false information about Tommy and Julian.
I resent being deliberately used as conduit for false information to build a fake narrative to coverup the failure of incompetent administrators.
I would hope we would all want to know how it cane to pass that two contradictory statements were issued within a few minutes of each other and what role the Superintendent played in the release of the two contradictory statements.
Until these questions are answered, you have my undivided attention.
The Question New Rochelle Superintendent Jonathan Raymond Refuses to Answer
EDITOR’S NOTE: Last night was my first appearance before the New Rochelle Board of Education since February 2020. I felt the need to go in person and speak directly to board members to bypass the continued lying and deception by the Superintendent, his staff, and, more recently, the Board President.
Sometimes doing that sort of thing causes other information to pop loose (which is, in part, why I do it).
Here is an INTERNAL “Dear Colleague” letter from New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond dated January 28.
In the letter, Raymond makes a statement that contradicts that official press statement on January, 25 and confirms the letter sent to New Rochelle High School parents 14 minutes later.
He is admitting privately what he is denying publicly — that Tommy Rivera and Julian Oliveros were, in fact, New Rochelle High School students.
By this point the false narrative had already begun to unravel — and would unravel completely during hearings at the Westchester County Court Youth Part in the matter of People v. Tommy Rivera.
This letter is three days after the shooting.
This letter is three days after I received an official press statement claiming Julian Oliveros was not enrolled at New Rochelle High School
This letter is three days after I asked for clarification on the contradiction between the official press statement and a letter from the Principal to New Rochelle High School parents.
This letter is the same day, January 28, I received the first of many deliberately obtuse non-answer replies from the District Public Information Officer to my emails seeking clarification on the contradictory statements sent on January 25.
In short, the Superintendent knew what he released in an official press statement was false and let it stand despite knowing what he said was untrue.
This letter is 11 days before the Columbus Town Hall on February 8 when, for the first time, the Superintendent stated unequivocally and accurately, “Julian and Tommy were New Rochelle High School students.”
The statement itself was deceptive, what is known in journalism as a “rowback” — a story that attempts to correct a previous story without indicating that the prior story had been in error or without taking responsibility for the error.
Raymond appeared to be taking responsibility — “we failed them” — while not taking responsibility for failing the entire community by putting out false statements to create a narrative intended to disassociate the District with student-on-student violence.
He had to issue the rowback because my pushback on the false narrative backed him into a corner. However, correcting the record 14 days later, to a different audience, in a different room, while not acknowledging the record needed correcting and that a correction was being made, is not corrective.