Hempstead school board extends Waronker’s leave; hires security expert

Hempstead school Superintendent Shimon Waronker will remain on administrative leave with pay from the district until at least April 1, after the school board voted to extend the leave period that started in January.

In addition, the five trustees voted in a separate action late Thursday to hire a security consultant in response to a special state adviser’s report detailing district safety issues.

On those issues and others, the votes came after more than two hours in a closed executive session.

Waronker, who started work as Hempstead’s schools chief on June 2 with an annual base salary of $265,000, was placed on 60-day administrative leave with pay seven months later, on Jan. 9.

That leave was due to expire on March 10, according to the resolution published in the school board’s meeting agenda.

Waronker arrived in the district with a reputation as an educator who knew how to turn around dysfunctional public schools in New York City. But opponents in Hempstead have questioned his effectiveness as a reformer because, among other criticisms, the former principal had no experience as a suburban school superintendent.

The terms of Waronker’s Jan. 9 leave barred him from Hempstead school property. Thursday night’s board resolution allows him to continue collecting his full salary and benefits for another 22 days, beginning March 11.

Waronker unsuccessfully sued the district in federal court, saying its action had stigmatized him and that his constitutional rights to free speech and due process had been violated. U.S. District Court Judge Denis Hurley rejected those claims on Jan. 30.

Asked Friday about the board’s action extending the administrative leave, Frederick Brewington, a Hempstead attorney who represents the superintendent, noted the district’s continuing difficulties, saying, “Based on recent events, they need Dr. Waronker back there.”

Another measure passed by the board dealing with Waronker’s leave waived attorney-client privilege to allow the district to cooperate in a Nassau BOCES investigation into Waronker and New American Initiative, a consulting firm he founded and from which he had hired a number of key staffers.

Board members also voted to approve the hiring of security consultant Willie Freeman at a rate of $700 a day, not to exceed 40 days of work performed between March 2 and June 30.

That action came nearly two months after a wide-ranging report by veteran educator Jack Bierwirth, who was appointed last fall as a special adviser to the district — called a Distinguished Educator — by state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. In the role, Bierwirth has a broad mandate to assess all district operations and recommend changes.

In his findings on school security, the adviser wrote, “School safety was the top issue raised by many parents and community members during this assessment, particularly with regards to the high school.” He noted that more than 50 fights had taken place in the high school since September, and that “gang presence and recruitment” remained a concern in both the Hempstead district and neighboring systems.

Elia endorsed Bierwirth’s recommendations and ordered the district to create its own response plan and submit it to her by Feb. 2, which the district did.

However, in a Feb. 15 letter to Acting Superintendent Regina Armstrong, Elia said the district must strengthen a number of areas in its “Course of Action Response” plan, including school safety, and ordered Armstrong to send her monthly progress reports.

Armstrong, at the start of Thursday night’s meeting, said, “I’m bringing in a consultant to help us make assessments” regarding school security.

She said the deadly Valentine’s Day shootings that killed 17 students and faculty at a high school in Parkland, Florida, also was a consideration in hiring Freeman.

Hempstead has beefed up its existing security measures since the Feb. 14 massacre, Armstrong said, which include restricting access points in schools, closer screening of visitors and using metal detectors.

With John Hildebrand