Babylon school district billed $40G for investigations
The Babylon school district hired an attorney with Ingerman Smith LLP in November to investigate claims made by women who said they were sexually harassed and abused by teachers when they attended Babylon Junior-Senior High School. Credit: James Carbone
A Hauppauge law firm has billed the Babylon school district more than $40,000 so far for work related to investigations over sexual misconduct allegations leveled by former students, records show.
The district hired Chris Powers, an attorney with Ingerman Smith LLP, in November to investigate claims made by women who said they were sexually harassed and abused by teachers when they attended Babylon Junior-Senior High School.
Ingerman Smith sent the district invoices totaling $40,742.17, including 147.25 hours of services from November to February at $265 per hour, according to district records obtained by Newsday under the state’s Freedom of Information Law.
Details of the itemized services were redacted. The district cited confidentiality, attorney-client privilege, privacy and law enforcement purposes, among others, as reasons for the redactions, the district’s records management officer, Deirdre Lunetta, wrote in a Wednesday response.
The law firm’s work involved the New York State attorney general's investigation, the Suffolk County district attorney’s investigation and the district’s internal investigation, officials wrote in an email sent by Deirdre Gilligan, a spokeswoman for the district.
District officials said Ingerman Smith is representing the district in the State attorney general's and Suffolk County district attorney’s investigations.
The investigation handled by Powers is separate from the probe being conducted by Attorney General Letitia James' office, a spokeswoman for James previously said. Both investigations are ongoing.
Newsday requested any report Ingerman Smith, or Powers, sent to the school district, to which Lunetta wrote “there are no records that exist which are responsive to this request.”
The district said Thursday it “has been in communication” with Ingerman Smith, but did not say whether it has received any reports from the firm.
Powers did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Other than hiring Powers, the district placed five employees on paid leave in November, including Timothy Harrison, a special education teacher at the district since 2002. Jeffrey Kenney, who was placed on leave in late October, resigned in early November.
Harrison, 46, was indicted in March on felony charges of rape and third-degree criminal sexual act involving a former student. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court in June.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
