Regina Armstrong, Hempstead superintendent placed on leave, claims she was targeted as a whistleblower

The Hempstead schools superintendent who was placed on administrative leave last year has sued the district, the school board and its president, arguing she was targeted after reporting the president for alleged improper behavior.

Regina Armstrong, who filed suit in state court in April, claims she faced defamation, discrimination and a leave that amounted to “wrongful termination.”

Armstrong said in court papers that during her time as superintendent, “the many improvements to the district and critical acclaim by the public indicated that her work was outstanding and exceeded expectations.”

However, that work was “undermined” after she “whistleblew inappropriate activities being conducted by Victor Pratt,” the board’s president, including his votes as a school board member to hire two family members, she alleged in the lawsuit.

Pratt and his attorney, Cristina Soller, declined to comment Tuesday. The district said in a statement that on the advice of its legal counsel, it does not comment about ongoing litigation.

Defamation claim

Armstrong’s lawsuit is the latest development in a dispute that broke out in September, when the board voted 4-1 to place the schools chief on administrative leave. The board later hired Susan Johnson as interim superintendent at a rate of $1,500 a day, without benefits. Johnson is a previous Hempstead superintendent.

The district has said it is continuing to pay Armstrong’s salary until the end of her contract on June 30. Armstrong earns an annual salary of $310,000 under her contract, plus about $29,000 in benefits and other compensation, state records show.

Pratt has said her reassignment was due to disagreements between her and the board majority over policy, as well as a breakdown in trust related to Armstrong’s spending requests. 

“It's not that she violated anything that she was supposed to do,” Pratt said last year. “She just didn't fulfill the duties that would have instilled the trust in the board members.”

Last year, Pratt said in an interview that after Armstrong was placed on leave she was “conducting duties from home,” including “some curriculum and instruction work” and a five-year plan for the district.

In her lawsuit, Armstrong alleged Pratt “publicly defamed” her by telling news outlets she was under investigation for alleged “use of school property for unauthorized SAT testing.” In fact, she said in court papers, the property in question, Hempstead High School, had been used for SAT testing for more than a decade, starting before she became superintendent.

In the lawsuit, Armstrong said she “was never given an opportunity to respond to the allegations Pratt and other members of the Board raised.” The lawsuit stated, “The decision to use classroom facilities for SAT testing had been made through the usual and proper channels, and had never been an issue before. The decision to terminate Armstrong was made without the benefit of any substantial investigation into the alleged misconduct.”

Armstrong's attorney, Keith White, said in an interview, “There's never been an investigation or even a question about Regina Armstrong and her work as the superintendent of schools.”

Armstrong started her 34-year career with the district in 1990 as a second-grade teacher. As superintendent, she led one of Nassau County’s largest districts, with about 5,500 students and a budget of $328.6 million last year.

Since she became acting superintendent in 2018 and superintendent in 2021, the district’s high school graduation rate has increased dramatically, she said in the lawsuit. State figures show Hempstead High School’s graduation rate was 44% in 2017 and 87% last year.

The high school was also restored to good academic standing in 2023 after spending decades on the state's needs-improvement list, Newsday has reported.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.