Amagansett School Principal Maria Dorr back at work after being cleared on theft accusation

The elementary school principal who was cleared of disciplinary charges that alleged she stole a co-worker’s gift card returned to work Monday, her attorney and the Amagansett district said.

Principal Maria Dorr, who had been suspended with pay since January of 2024, said she returns to work at Amagansett School with “renewed commitment” in a statement shared by her attorney Arthur Scheuermann with the School Administrators Association of New York State based in upstate Latham.

“I am deeply grateful that this process has come to an end, allowing me to refocus on what matters most — serving the students and community of Amagansett,” her statement read in part.

Dorr was accused of taking a $25 Amazon gift card intended for a co-worker in December 2023. A state-designated hearing officer last week found her not guilty of the misconduct charges levied by the Amagansett district, which had sought to fire her.

Timothy Taylor, the arbitrator who heard testimony from 15 witnesses over the course of seven hearings spanning months last year, sided with Dorr. He ruled Dorr be “immediately reinstated” as the school principal and required the district to expunge the disciplinary charges from her personnel files.

The alleged theft rocked the small community of Amagansett, where the one-building school district houses 120 students in prekindergarten through sixth grade.

“Our school community has experienced a great deal of emotional turbulence over this matter,” Wayne Gauger, the Amagansett school board president, wrote in a statement Friday, the same day board members approved a resolution to implement Taylor’s decision.

Gauger said board members disagreed with Taylor’s decision but accepted it.

“The Board of Education believes that it is time to put this matter behind us and remain focused on the exceptional work that our educators do on behalf of students and families in Amagansett,” his statement read in part.

District officials did not respond to a request for comment Monday, other than to confirm that Dorr returned to work earlier in the day.

Dorr, principal at the Amagansett School since 2015, was never criminally charged.

The missing gift card intended for a part-time occupational therapist went missing shortly before Christmas break in 2023. It was never found.

With Darwin Yanes

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.