Bad Education: Where Frank Tassone Is Now

HBO’s Bad Education tells the story of disgraced superintendent Frank Tassone, leading up to his arrest in 2004; the film may leave viewers asking, where is he now? The biopic is directed by Cory Finley and written by Mike Makowsky, who based the screenplay on real events that affected his former high school. Hugh Jackman stars as Dr. Frank Tassone, a school superintendent who embezzled large sums of money. The film recounts the events that uncovered Tassone’s crimes and shocked the Rosyln School District.

Bad Education aired on HBO on April 25th, 2020. It centers around Dr. Tassone, an esteemed diplomat and book-club host — a paragon of success. However, when a student starts picking away at Long Island’s Rosyln School District records, she uncovers that over $11 million has been siphoned from the finances, with all evidence pointing back to Dr. Tassone. Much like any film based on reality, the accuracy of these true stories can often be doubted. Bad Education certainly has a narrative that sounds too surreal to be true.

Yet, Bad Education is based on a true events. Tassone’s scandal rocked Long Island in the early 2000s. The film documents the timeline up to his arrest in 2004, and he was sentenced to 4-12 years of imprisonment for embezzling $11.2 million from the district a couple of years later. He wasn’t the only one responsible, however, as his associate Pam Gluckin — played in the film by Allison Janney — was also incarcerated, amongst others. Regardless, it was Tassone who orchestrated the events; he was responsible for $2.2 million of that sum, which he spent on luxurious vacations and obscene amounts of gambling.

Where is the real Frank Tassone now? He was released from prison in 2010, on account of good behavior and completing rehabilitative programs whilst incarcerated. This means that his sentence was only 3 years — as opposed to the 4-12 he was initially sentenced to receive. Tassone was on probation until 2018, and is now not allowed to work in any job in which money is involved. He wrote to the New York Times in 2005, disputing the facts they were reporting on the whole scandal. But, he has since tried to forget the events, though having Logan star Hugh Jackman depict him in a film is not much help.

The only other time that Tassone has spoken on the events, and the film adaption specifically, was on Mike Bayer’s Coach Mike podcast. On Finley’s Bad Education, Tassone had the following to say: “I thought, my god, I thought this finally was over. You know, it’ll never be over for me, because every day I feel pain.” He wasn’t the only one that expressed concerns over the film; Rosyln Public Schools also issued an official statement lashing out against the Hugh Jackman-led film: “While the film is purportedly meant to entertain, it’s important to remember that what occurred in our school district was far from entertaining” (via The Roslyn News). While Tassone now enjoys a quiet life in New York, having repaid all the money he stole from the Rosyln School District, his podcast testimony suggests past crimes do still haunt him. Bad Education is just a reminder for him of the criminal he once was. As he said on Coach Mike, “I’m afraid of seeing myself portrayed as being a liar and a cheat and a thief. And I was a thief, no question.”

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