Islip schools Superintendent Dennis O'Hara returns to work after he is cleared in lifeguard photo controversy

Islip schools Superintendent Dennis O'Hara returned to work this week after investigations into photos he took of female lifeguard colleagues found no evidence of wrongdoing — but he must cover the nearly $29,000 cost of the district's probes and his contract was cut short by a year.

The Islip school board voted 4-0, with two members abstaining, to amend O’Hara’s contract at its regular meeting Monday. The change reduces his contract term by one year, amounting to a roughly $300,000 reduction in pay, and requires him to reimburse the district for its investigative costs in four annual payments, the board wrote in a letter posted on the district's website and read aloud at its meeting Monday. O'Hara's contract will now end in June 2027, according to the district.

Terminating O’Hara’s employment contract “without cause is neither legally nor financially a viable option” based on the outcome of probes by the state, the district and a third-party investigator, the board wrote.

O’Hara returned to work Tuesday, writing in a letter to the community that he was “thrilled to be back today among our students, faculty, and staff.” He had missed the “energy, passion, and excitement” of the school district, he wrote in his letter on the district’s website, adding that he was grateful for “the diligence and due process afforded me.”

O’Hara and the board members declined to comment further, a district spokeswoman said. O’Hara’s base salary was $252,567.50 in the 2023-24 school year.

The superintendent had come under fire this past summer for photos he took of female lifeguards at Robert Moses State Park. 

In August, O’Hara stated in a letter to the community that he took the photos to express his "concern about the bathing attire" the lifeguards were wearing. O’Hara had worked as a lifeguard at the state park over the summer and wanted to alert his supervisors about his adult colleagues’ attire, he has said.

That same month, the school board installed Kathleen O'Callaghan, the district’s assistant superintendent for student support, as acting superintendent while O'Hara used accrued paid leave, Newsday has reported.

Last month, the board reported that investigations into his conduct found O'Hara did not violate state policy on workplace sexual harassment and discrimination. An investigation into a separate claim made by a former colleague, regarding the alleged sharing of a photograph more than 20 years ago, was not substantiated, the board said.

O’Hara “has acknowledged that he should have used better judgment in the manner in which he made his complaint to his lifeguard supervisors," the board of education wrote in its recent letter.

The board does not “believe this incident defines him,” but, the members wrote, “We do not condone these actions.”

In his letter last summer, O’Hara called the incident a "deeply regrettable mistake.”

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.