It's not often the school board election in a Westchester town like Mamaroneck attracts much attention, but some parents were alarmed to discover that one of the candidates had done something that students are told over and over again they should never do: plagiarism.
Candidate Michael Rosenbaum emailed a letter of intent to the entire district last week, and large portions of it were taken from a letter posted on Facebook, written by another woman running for the school board in Florence, Alabama years ago.
Rosenbaum says he had no idea.
"This is embarrassing. It makes me look very stupid, to promote my candidacy for the board of education by plagiarizing something," he said.
The two letters begin almost exactly the same: "My involvement for Mamaroneck schools began the moment my four children entered the system."
Then the letter is word for word the same: "These are critical times for public education fraught with challenges."
Rosenbaum said he's not the one who plagiarized. He asked a friend to write the letter for him.
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"I spoke to the guy who had done me a 'favor,'" he told NBC 4 New York. "I said, 'You plagiarized! What kind of crap is this?' And he said, 'Well, I was looking on the 'net, and I took stuff,' and I said, 'Well, that's plagiarism. Don't you know what the word means?'"
Rosenbaum won't say who wrote the letter for him, but in hindsight he wishes he had made better choices. When asked he decided not to write his own letter, he said, "Because this guy said he would do it for me, and he would incorporate the data and so I thought, he's probably a better writer than I am, so why not."
He still believes that people should "of course" vote for him.
The school selection committee, which runs the election, has endorsed other candidates. Rosenbaum said he's not surprised.
His goal was to shake up the current leadership. Residents have been voting all day Tuesday, and polls stay open until 9 p.m.
