Bay Shore district residents call for changes after charges against ex-teacher Thomas Bernagozzi

Community members urged Bay Shore officials to improve school policies to help prevent abuse in light of the criminal charges brought against Thomas Bernagozzi, a retired third-grade teacher who is accused of sexually abusing dozens of male students.

Some of those who attended Monday night’s school board meeting at Bay Shore High School were dressed in black and pinned with a teal ribbon, symbolizing sexual abuse awareness.

Among those who spoke was April Castillo, a Gardiner Manor Elementary School alumna who returned to the Bay Shore community to raise her children in the same district she grew up in. Castillo criticized the board’s letters to the community so far as tone-deaf and without the substance parents like her are looking for.

“In those same letters to see ‘no one is in danger now, and your children are safe’ without having a policy and evidence of ‘this is how things have changed and this is how we're now protecting you’ makes it feel like lip service,” she said. “What we need is policy and change.”

Tonya Wyss, another parent who graduated from the district, asked the board to go over the current process for reporting “potential or perceived inappropriate behavior” by teachers or school employees.

“In addition, what is the policy for that to be recorded, filed, investigated and documented?” she asked. “How can I make a formal complaint about our issues to ensure that they are documented and future administrations know that issue existed?”

District facing 45 claims

A Newsday investigation earlier this month found the district kept Bernagozzi despite sexual abuse allegations spanning decades. The Bay Shore school district is facing 45 Child Victims Act claims where Bernagozzi's former students said in separate lawsuits he sexually abused them. They also accused the district of failing to protect them. The district has sued Bernagozzi, arguing he should be held responsible instead of the school system.

Suffolk County prosecutors referred to Bernagozzi as “a serial child abuser” who is accused of sexually abusing male students between the ages of 4 and 12 during a 30-year teaching career that ended in 2000.

In January, Bernagozzi, who taught at Bay Shore’s Gardiner Manor and Mary G. Clarkson elementary schools, pleaded not guilty to charges, involving two former students, of sodomy and sexual conduct against a child.

Before public comment, board president Jennifer Brownyard stressed the board’s inability to comment due to pending litigation.

“We, too, share your frustration about the restrictions involving the communication in the [Child Victims Act] cases,” she said. “We do so on our attorneys’ advice. We are hopeful that there will be a time in the future where the restrictions will be lifted or lessened and we will have conversations about the situations going on when we are allowed to. But right now, we cannot.”

In her comment, Christina Puccio, a parent who helped organize a vigil last month in honor of the survivors, asked the district to “address the survivors and their families in a way that shows compassion, empathy and acknowledgment of their pain.”

“You're dealing with children and families, not corporations,” Puccio said. “Your statements thus far read like clinical disclaimers when what we need is a heartfelt response.” 

Brownyard repeatedly said that the public’s voices are heard.

“I know that there's a disconnect … in this great community that we live in. We obviously want to bridge that. … Our hands are tied in obvious ways. But we're listening,” she said. 

Neil Block, an attorney with Ingerman Smith representing the district, said the district regularly reviews policies.

“There are laws that are in place; there are policies that are in place,” he said. “We're constantly reviewing those policies, constantly engaging in the training of staff. … This administration will do its best to make sure that students are safe in Bay Shore and that this community can heal.” 

Law firm appointed special counsel

Also on Monday, the board appointed Saxe Doernberger & Vita P.C., a Trumbull, Connecticut-based law firm that represents policyholders in insurance coverage disputes, as special counsel “for defense related to multiple actions” that Utica Mutual Insurance Co. and others have brought against the district.

Utica Mutual and Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Co. have sued the district to seek a judgment to declare the two companies “have no obligation to defend or [indemnify] the School District” for some of the Child Victims Act claims.

Block briefed the public on the insurance coverage for the 45 lawsuits the district is facing. The district has coverage for six cases and is in dispute with insurance companies for 11 other cases involving the extent of that coverage. Other claims are under review, or the companies are now defunct, he said.

A Newsday review of Child Victims Act lawsuits found that insurance companies covered the cost of the districts' settlements and legal fees in only a handful of cases.