Board of Ed: No Wrongdoing in Supe's Investigation of Community Member Complaint

An investigation into a complaint by a community member regarding a district employee was handled correctly according to the Board of Education, which released a statement regarding the incident at the Tuesday evening meeting, at which time it was also revealed that a board member had her petition to run for the board of education signed while she was on school property during school hours.

President of the board Marie Goldstein, received a complaint  at the June 4 board of education meeting from a Kings Park resident who asked not to be named, that alleged District Superintendent Susan Agruso targeted certain employees who signed a school board candidate’s petition.  The complaint also alleged that the superintendent acted outside her “purvue of authority” The complaintant asked that the response be handled publicly.

The board responded with a statement read at Tuesday's meeting, which concluded that the investigation was handled properly and it was in the scope of Agruso’s job as superintendent. The statement also said that there was no violation of election law.

“The issue was, was the staff member doing their job. In the course of looking at it two other things took place ,” said Agruso.  “It was found that a board member had been in the building getting signatures for a petition and that an employee didn’t follow security procedures. My part is to find out if a staff member was doing what they are supposed to be doing at the time they are working.”

Union representatives were with the district employees, according to the statement, when they were questioned by Agruso and no disciplinary action has been taken or is planned against any of these employees as a result of the investigation.

It was revealed that board trustee Liz Barrett, not a school employee had the petition signed by staff. Barrett said publicly that she had done that in the prior election and didn’t know it was a problem.

“I went into the building to drop off my son’s lunch and there were non-teaching employees in the hall,” said Barrett in a phone interview on Friday. “I had recently decided that I was going to run for the board again and had my petition on me and we went into the cafeteria to lean on the table to sign it.

Barrett said she obtained seven signatures at the school that day.

“I spoke with the New York State Board of Election attorney in Albany who said there was noting wrong with obtaining the signatures,” said Barrett.

Calls made by Patch to the Board of Elections were not returned by the time this story posted.

Goldstein said that procedures for garnering petition signatures will be reviewed so that there is no confusion.

“The Board will be reviewing its policies and procedures to ensure that all of its obligations under the law and to the community are met and that impropriety is avoided in all situations,” said Goldstein.

Click here to read the complaint and statement.