Crime & Safety

Amid Chaos in North Merrick, Heroes Emerge

District credits two in helping keep the school safe during incident with an armed suspect.

On Tuesday, the students and staff of Harold D. Fayette School were thrown into a scenario that nobody thought could have happened: An armed carjacking suspect ran towards a school entrance in an attempt to evade the police.

Two individuals put themselves on the line - without even knowing it - for the safety of the students and staff.

After watching the events surrounding the collision into the school unfold, James Saitta, director of facilities for the district, ran to make sure that the cafeteria door was locked and secure. He didn't know what was going on outside and was not aware of the fact that the suspect, who police say attempted to flee towards the door, was armed.

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"I want to single out Saitta who saw the crash in the lot and whose first instinct was to run to the cafeteria door to make certain it was locked without any regard for his own safety," Superintendent of North Merrick Schools, David Feller, said.

Thalia Piacquadio, who is a parent of Fayette students, said that she was grateful for Saitta's reaction. "[His] prompt reaction – to put our children first and out of danger – reassures me that the staff at Fayette has our children as their number one priority," she said.

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Dr. Matthew Kuschner, a North Merrick Board of Education member, echoed her sentiments.

"[Saitta] is a dedicated administrator and his actions reinforce the knowledge that he puts the safety of the children first," he said.

Trish Appello, president of the Fayette PTA, added that Saitta's actions were very brave and she was not surprised that he reacted that way when he realized that the children were in danger.

"I have gotten to know [Saitta] during the last two years. He is very thorough when it comes to his job as director of facilities; he is someone who takes pride in his work. He also is a very loving father. He was full of pride when he shared his children's pictures with me and another teacher. I feel as director of facilities, he wanted to make sure the doors were locked, but as a loving father he protected the Fayette kids as if they were his own," she said.

In addition to Saitta's heroic action, Feller also acknowledged custodian June Lunn who was outside disposing of trash at the time of the incident.

"[She] had the good judgment to make certain the door was closed when she left the building – even though she knew that it would only take a minute to unload the trash," Feller said.

Feller added, "To me, Mr. Saitta and Ms. Lunn were true heroes."

Even though there were two standouts among the crowd, Feller noted that the actions of everyone in the school should be applauded.

"I am very grateful to our entire district-wide staff for the calm and professional manner in which they handled yesterday's situation. Their number one priority was the safety of our children," he said.

Feller explained that Howard Merims, principal of Fayette School, showed excellent leadership with his faculty and students and Beth Friedman, deputy superintendent, immediately and effectively communicated to all parents via the district's mass calling system that all children were safe.

"As a result of all of these efforts, our children were safe and secure throughout the afternoon," Feller said.


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