FEBRUARY 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 9
IN THE NEWS
STILL STRUGGLING
SUPERINTENDENT SAGA CONTINUES
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
It’s been more than a year since
the Hempstead School District’s
controversial decision to suspend its
embattled superintendent Shimon
Waronker, but an end to the uproar
it unleashed is nowhere in sight.
Waronker was suspended with
pay amid allegations of official misconduct,
bid-rigging and breach of
contract in the district, the largest
K-12 system in Nassau County, which
has been plagued with troubles that
include corruption, gang violence,
subpar graduation rates, and political
infighting since the 1960s. A
judge dismissed Waronker’s federal
lawsuit that sought reinstatement,
but he’s still fighting.
"I was suspended with pay for no
clear reason," says Waronker, who
added that the administration has
neither scheduled a hearing in his
case nor selected a hearing officer. "I
tried to uncover neglect, abuse, and
corruption in Hempstead that has
gone unchecked in this district for
decades."
Waronker says that the district's
lawyers have "padded their pockets,"
to the tune of nearly $810,000 in less
than eight months working for the
district on a variety of legal issues,
with 45 percent being used in the case
against him.
Waronker’s attorney, Frederick
K. Brewington, produced law firm
bills and school district documents
showing that the district has diverted
$500,000 from teacher salaries to
pay the district's lawyers, The Scher
Law Firm. School board meeting minutes
showed budget transfers from
accounts labeled "Salaries Teachers
6-8" to accounts earmarked for "Arbitration
Fees" and "Labor Counsel."
“The board treats the district’s more
than $200 million budget like its ‘gameboard
money,’” Brewington says.
"The cycle of failure in Hempstead
is pathetic," says Joseph Ortego, an
attorney from the law firm Nixon Peabody
who recently joined Waronker's
legal team.
Ortego believes the district needs
a reformer such as Waronker, who
has helped to turn around struggling
schools in hardscrabble neighborhoods
in the South Bronx and
Brownsville, Brooklyn. Waronker, a
Harvard grad and veteran educator,
maintains he has a “moral mandate”
to uncover abuse and corruption that
has plagued the Hempstead district
for decades.
“If there is no struggle, there is no
progress,” Waronker says, quoting
Frederick Douglass.
Despite the obstacles he’s faced,
Waronker wants to return to his job
and believes the children of Hempstead
are worth the fight.
“This board repeatedly fails to
make good decisions,” Brewington
says.
Although a federal judge last month
dismissed Waronker’s lawsuit, ruling it
“has not set forth any actionable federal
claims,” and the school board is now
seeking attorney’s fees from Waronker,
Brewington is not giving up.
“Some very wrong actions have
been taken against Waronker, and
we remain committed to seeing that
our client’s rights are vindicated and
that the law be fully and properly
applied,” Brewington told Newsday
after the ruling.
He was also skeptical of the work
of New York State-appointed special
adviser Jack Bierwirth, whose recent
report on the district indicated “substantial
progress” has been made in
Hempstead schools.
Brewington and Waronker expressed
"serious concerns" regarding
Bierwirth's findings. Brewington
said more information would be
forthcoming regarding the findings
of the special adviser, but he did not
elaborate. But, Bierwirth still has his
supporters.
“The appointment of Jack Bierwirth
to work with the board is
a wise move, as the future of the
district is directly dependent upon
board leadership,” says Thomas
Dolan, a former St. John’s University
professor and superintendent pf the
Great Neck Public Schools. “Good
boards establish policy, work with
the superintendent and otherwise
stay out of the way.”
“This board repeatedly fails to make good
decisions,”
says attorney Frederick K. Brewington.
HEMPSTEAD
SCHOOL
CRISIS
Suspended Hempstead School Superintendent Shimon Waronker with his legal team during a January news conference. (Photo by Tab Hauser)
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