He Wrote the Book on School Board Controversies

Frank Borzellieri hasn’t served on a school board since 2004, but he still has a bone to pick with some former colleagues.

So he’s airing his pent-up frustrations in a new book, “Lynched: A Conservative’s Life on a New York City School Board.”

“It wasn’t enough for the other members of the board to have me outnumbered and vote me down,” said the often-controversial Borzellieri.

“They tried to ruin my career and silence me.”

The book, published Monday, recounts his 11-year stint as a board member of Queens’ District 24, encompassing Elmhurst, Corona, Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth.

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In his book, Borzellieri, 46, now a journalism professor at St. John’s University and a resident of Ridgewood, calls his fellow board members hypocrites for voting against the opinions he believes reflected those of his constituents.

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In his book, Borzellieri recounts his version of when, in 1994, he compiled a list of books–including “Daniel Boone: Man of the Forests”–that he believed should be used in Queens schools.

On the other hand, books like “Jambo Means Hello: A Swahili Alphabet Book” should be banned, he said.

Other members of the board disagreed, and none of the 15 books on Borzellieri’s reading list ever made it onto school library shelves.

“The state of education today is bad,” Borzellieri said. “Without me on the board to bring attention to it, it’s even worse.”

[Editor’s Note: Lynched: A Conservative’s Life on a New York City School Board, by Frank Borzellieri, can be purchased here.]