By Alexa Pepa
Elmont High School athletes will continue to compete against Bellmore-Merrick teams after a series of racist incidents during games in 2021 and 2023, but with new security measures in place, according to Newsday.
Sewanhaka Central Schools Superintendent Regina Agrusa made the announcement on March 25, only one day before the Elmont Parent Teacher Association was scheduled to hold a second session to review the issue of racist taunting at games.
At a Feb. 26 Elmont PTSA meeting covered by The Advocate, parents sought the removal of Bellmore-Merrick High School District athletic teams from Elmont’s sports schedule owing to a history of racist behavior by certain students during games at Mepham High School in North Bellmore.
Mepham is one of three high schools in the Bellmore-Merrick district. The others are Kennedy in Bellmore and Calhoun in Merrick.
Lynette Battle, a former PTSA president and mother of a recent Elmont High graduate, expressed frustration in February over the response to the offenses. “Our children are the ones being victimized,” Battle said.
Elmont parents said what should have been friendly back-talk at games turned into hateful racism, leading to an unsafe environment for their children. The Elmont students, they said, were attacked and targeted by Bellmore-Merrick spectators.
The calls to remove Bellmore-Merrick from Elmont’s schedule followed a recent incident in which a Kennedy High School basketball player, during a game, punched an Elmont athlete, who struck back, according to Newsday. The Elmont player was immediately penalized, but not the Kennedy athlete.
“It looked like I started it,” said Amaya Haley, the Black Elmont athlete who was removed from the basketball game, during the February PTSA meeting. She noted the opposing player faced no repercussions at the time. The Kennedy athlete was later suspended by the Bellmore-Merrick district for two games after the incident was reviewed.
“The referees took no time to see what actually happened,” Haley said.
Many Elmont parents have raised the issue of racist attacks over the years. In December 2021, during a basketball game between Elmont and Mepham high schools, spectators in the stands made racist remarks and taunted the Elmont student athletes with insults. The offending students were suspended, and Bellmore-Merrick Superintendent Michael Harrington offered an apology on behalf of the district.
Despite this, incidents continued in the next years, including a 2023 volleyball game at which similar racial slurs were used. Many Elmont parents argued that efforts to address the issue, including workshops and the reading of civility statements before games, were insufficient.
“You can’t talk about race without talking about race,” said Laura Harding, former president of the Syosset-based ERASE Racism, in February. She called for mandatory anti-racism training for officials, coaches and referees. “You can’t have unity when you haven’t addressed the underlying issues that are causing disunity and harm.”
Harrington emphasized the racist incidents were addressed with zero tolerance, with consequences for offending students. Still, many Elmont parents say they remain skeptical about the district’s efforts.
Patrick Pizzarelli, executive director of Section VIII high school sports in Nassau County, expressed empathy for the parents and players who experienced racist taunting. “I understand there’s been incidents with Bellmore-Merrick,” Pizzarelli said.
He said some incidents, though, may not have resulted from racism, but instead were owing to the nature of athletic competition.
