Ousted former Queens Library CEO and President Tom Galante.
File Photo
A new week has bequeathed but more new developments in the now year-long saga of the beleaguered Queens Borough Public Library.
Four top aids to ousted former Chief Executive Officer and President Tom Galante resigned last week, according to a Daily News report. Each individual was a vice president in the Library system and earned nearly $200,000 a year in various positions.
This marks five resignations in the past month for the Library. Jennifer Manley, director of government and community affairs who previously worked in the Bloomberg administration in the Queens Community Affairs Unit, resigned shortly after Galante was forced out in December.
“The Queens Library is cleaning up shop,” said a spokesperson for Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. “This is all part of moving in the right direction and restoring it back to a system the public can trust.”
Katz, an ex-officio member of the Library’s Board of Trustees, later added at an unrelated media event that “transparency is the best disinfectant.”
The upheaval at the Library began last January after the Daily News published several scathing reports detailing Galante’s hefty six-figure salary and questionable spending practices.
Additionally this week, Katz appointed two new trustees to the Library board. Adrienne Adams and Eli Shapiro, Ed.D, LCSW, are the sixteenth and seventeenth members of the 19-member board. Katz indicated that she would fill the final two spots “at a later date.”
Adams is an independent educator and corporate training professional and is the chairwoman of Queens Community Board 12. She previously served as CB 12’s Education Committee chairwoman and has been a leading advocate for education equity, Katz said.
Adams also has experience in corporate training, business management and marketing. She has worked with high-profile firms such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Revlon, Colgate-Palmolive, RJR Nabisco, Bristol Myers-Squibb and WinStar Communications.
Shapiro is a school social worker with Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which provides specialized programs and services to students in the county’s 56 school districts. His responsibilities include advocating for students, assessing the social and emotional functioning of students and ensuring that all aspects of student individualized education plans are met.
“Both Ms. Adams and Dr. Shapiro have impressive backgrounds in education and they both have a deep commitment to ensuring that the Queens Library remains a top-notch resource for our borough,” Katz said. “I look forward to working with these talented individuals who are going to be great assets to the Library.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
