Islip schools name acting superintendent amid controversy over Dennis O'Hara
Islip Superintendent Dennis O’Hara in November 2020, when he worked in Hauppauge. Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa Loarca
The Islip school board has tapped Kathleen O'Callaghan, the district’s assistant superintendent for student support, as acting superintendent to usher in a new school year as the current superintendent remains embroiled in controversy over photos he took at his summer lifeguarding job.
At a special meeting Saturday, the board voted 5-0 to appoint O’Callaghan to the role effective immediately and until further notice. She replaces Superintendent Dennis O’Hara, who recently apologized for taking photos of female colleagues in bathing attire while working as a lifeguard at Robert Moses State Park.
In a letter to the community Saturday, board of education officials said O'Hara would be "stepping away for a period of time" and using accrued paid leave. District officials didn't estimate a timeline for their probe into the incident. O'Hara did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Kathleen O'Callaghan, the Islip School District's assistant superintendent for student support, shown in 2015, will serve as acting superintendent until further notice, the district said. Credit: Islip School District
Attempts to reach O'Callaghan Saturday were unsuccessful.
"We have every confidence in Dr. O'Callaghan's experience and abilities," the board wrote in the letter. She has been an administrator in the district since 2015, officials said.
Earlier this summer, O’Hara admitted taking “four or five” photos of two female lifeguards at the ocean beach and showing them to a supervisor. He said he took the photos out of “concern about the bathing attire” they were wearing, according to a letter he sent to the community on Aug. 23.
In the letter, O’Hara wrote that it is a “deeply regrettable mistake” and vowed to stop working as a summer lifeguard while employed as superintendent.
He spoke publicly about the incident at an Islip Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, saying that he is not lifeguarding while an investigation is underway.
“The bottom line for me is I was confronting something in the workplace that was inappropriate … making me uncomfortable,” he said at the meeting in response to parent concerns. “I took a step to address it. I regret the manner in which I did that.”
O’Hara said that the lifeguards he photographed were adults and that he didn’t send the photos to anyone, but showed them to a lifeguard supervisor. “There were no teenagers involved,” he said.
State parks officials confirmed that O'Hara is no longer scheduled to work as a lifeguard but declined to comment on what they said was a personnel matter.
According to O’Hara, he’s worked as a lifeguard through the state parks system since 1995.
Responding to O’Hara’s remarks at the meeting, Board of Education President Philip Dineen said the board is “deeply disappointed” in O’Hara’s actions but ultimately accepted his apology.
“However, should any additional crucial facts emerge that the board is not currently aware of, the board certainly reserves the right to revisit its acceptance of his apology,” Dineen said at the meeting.
Dineen didn’t return a phone call seeking comment Saturday.
District records show O’Hara, 56, was hired as superintendent in Islip in 2021. He earned $252,776 last year, according to data from SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center for Public Policy’s government transparency website.
