Hempstead school officials extend term of acting superintendent
Susan Johnson’s appointment will be through June 30 unless it is ended earlier by the school board. Credit: Jeff Bachner
The Hempstead school district will pay two superintendents for the rest of the school year after extending the contract of its acting superintendent through June.
The school board, in a special meeting last week, again extended the contract of Susan Johnson, a former superintendent appointed to do the job of Regina Armstrong, the district’s superintendent since 2018, who was put on administrative leave in September.
Now twice extended, Johnson’s appointment will be through June 30 “unless otherwise terminated earlier” by the board, according to a meeting resolution.
Johnson originally was appointed in September, through Oct. 9. Last month, the board extended her contract through Nov. 13 and raised her pay from $800 per workday to $1,500. The board will continue to pay her at the higher rate, according to board minutes of the meeting.
A school year includes a minimum of 180 instructional days, but superintendents typically work more days than that.
Johnson, who serves as the acting superintendent, is not receiving benefits, the district previously said.
The vote Nov. 4 to keep Johnson through the end of the year was 4-1, with trustee LaMont Johnson voting against it. He also was the sole dissenter in the vote to put Armstrong on leave pending a review of her conduct.
LaMont Johnson, who is unrelated to Susan Johnson, did not respond to a request for comment.
Armstrong was forced out of her position leading the 5,500-student district with a budget of $328 million just days after the school year started.
While on leave, Armstrong will continue to be paid until the end of her contract on June 30, the district said. State records showed her contract provides an annual salary of $310,000, with an additional $29,047 in benefits and other compensation, Newsday previously reported.
Board President Victor J. Pratt has cited policy disagreements between the board majority and Armstrong as reasons for the superintendent’s reassignment.
Pratt said in an interview Friday that Armstrong is “conducting duties from home.” She will be “doing some curriculum and instruction work” and working on a five-year plan for the district, he said.
Pratt previously cited an incident when the Hempstead district allegedly allowed its high school building to be used for a regional administration of the SAT college admissions exam without board approval.
Keith White, a Brooklyn-based attorney representing Armstrong, said “using a school building to administer SAT exams so that students can gain entry into college is not inappropriate and it's within the parameters of her job description.”
In the interview, Pratt also said he took issue with spending requests Armstrong made and said they eroded trust between the superintendent and the board majority.
“It's not that she violated anything that she was supposed to do,” Pratt said. “She just didn't fulfill the duties that would have instilled the trust in the board members. Without trust [between] board members and a superintendent, the district can't function.”
White called the allegations retaliation against Armstrong and said the board has “identified nothing that is either improper or inappropriate from Ms. Armstrong's conduct.”
“Ms. Armstrong's record of cleaning up corruption in the district, Ms. Armstrong's record of improving scores [and] improving student outcomes is well documented,” he said. “This change in the leadership at the board is designed to roll back on the accountability and the efficiencies that Ms. Armstrong brought” to the district.
School officials are still searching for a permanent superintendent to lead the Nassau district, one of only two on Long Island to have state-appointed monitors.
Years of financial mismanagement and poor graduation rates prompted state lawmakers to adopt legislation to install the monitor. William Johnson, a retired Rockville Centre schools superintendent, has been the monitor in Hempstead since 2020.
Ken Girardin, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based think tank, said superintendents serve at the pleasure of the board.
“Superintendents and school boards separate for a lot of reasons,” he said. “It can be anything from a disciplinary matter to just a difference in vision.”
In Hempstead’s case, Girardin said, taxpayers are owed a justification for such leadership change.
“The level of justification becomes higher when you have someone remaining on the payroll,” he said.
The Hempstead school district will pay two superintendents for the rest of the school year after extending the contract of its acting superintendent through June.
The school board, in a special meeting last week, again extended the contract of Susan Johnson, a former superintendent appointed to do the job of Regina Armstrong, the district’s superintendent since 2018, who was put on administrative leave in September.
Now twice extended, Johnson’s appointment will be through June 30 “unless otherwise terminated earlier” by the board, according to a meeting resolution.
Johnson originally was appointed in September, through Oct. 9. Last month, the board extended her contract through Nov. 13 and raised her pay from $800 per workday to $1,500. The board will continue to pay her at the higher rate, according to board minutes of the meeting.
A school year includes a minimum of 180 instructional days, but superintendents typically work more days than that.
Johnson, who serves as the acting superintendent, is not receiving benefits, the district previously said.
The vote Nov. 4 to keep Johnson through the end of the year was 4-1, with trustee LaMont Johnson voting against it. He also was the sole dissenter in the vote to put Armstrong on leave pending a review of her conduct.
LaMont Johnson, who is unrelated to Susan Johnson, did not respond to a request for comment.
Armstrong was forced out of her position leading the 5,500-student district with a budget of $328 million just days after the school year started.
While on leave, Armstrong will continue to be paid until the end of her contract on June 30, the district said. State records showed her contract provides an annual salary of $310,000, with an additional $29,047 in benefits and other compensation, Newsday previously reported.
Board President Victor J. Pratt has cited policy disagreements between the board majority and Armstrong as reasons for the superintendent’s reassignment.
School board President Victor J. Pratt and acting Superintendent Susan Johnson at a school board meeting in Hempstead on Sept. 18. Credit: Jeff Bachner
Pratt said in an interview Friday that Armstrong is “conducting duties from home.” She will be “doing some curriculum and instruction work” and working on a five-year plan for the district, he said.
Pratt previously cited an incident when the Hempstead district allegedly allowed its high school building to be used for a regional administration of the SAT college admissions exam without board approval.
Keith White, a Brooklyn-based attorney representing Armstrong, said “using a school building to administer SAT exams so that students can gain entry into college is not inappropriate and it's within the parameters of her job description.”
In the interview, Pratt also said he took issue with spending requests Armstrong made and said they eroded trust between the superintendent and the board majority.
“It's not that she violated anything that she was supposed to do,” Pratt said. “She just didn't fulfill the duties that would have instilled the trust in the board members. Without trust [between] board members and a superintendent, the district can't function.”
White called the allegations retaliation against Armstrong and said the board has “identified nothing that is either improper or inappropriate from Ms. Armstrong's conduct.”
“Ms. Armstrong's record of cleaning up corruption in the district, Ms. Armstrong's record of improving scores [and] improving student outcomes is well documented,” he said. “This change in the leadership at the board is designed to roll back on the accountability and the efficiencies that Ms. Armstrong brought” to the district.
School officials are still searching for a permanent superintendent to lead the Nassau district, one of only two on Long Island to have state-appointed monitors.
Years of financial mismanagement and poor graduation rates prompted state lawmakers to adopt legislation to install the monitor. William Johnson, a retired Rockville Centre schools superintendent, has been the monitor in Hempstead since 2020.
Ken Girardin, research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany-based think tank, said superintendents serve at the pleasure of the board.
“Superintendents and school boards separate for a lot of reasons,” he said. “It can be anything from a disciplinary matter to just a difference in vision.”
In Hempstead’s case, Girardin said, taxpayers are owed a justification for such leadership change.
“The level of justification becomes higher when you have someone remaining on the payroll,” he said.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
