Jessica Bader, former James H. Vernon School principal, had prior relationship with high school student, state says
Jessica Bader, who went by the name Jessica Zimbler in 2005, is seen in the 2005 East Meadow High School yearbook. Credit: East Meadow High School
When she applied to be the director of humanities in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district in 2022, Jessica Bader's application included her answer to a question about whether any of her professional certificates were ever suspended.
The school administrator answered no, even though her teaching certificate was suspended for four years beginning in 2007.
The discipline resulted from a relationship involving "physical, intimate and/or sexual contact" that she had from about 2004 through 2005 with an 18-year-old male student at East Meadow High School, where she worked as a teacher, according to newly revealed district and state records.
Bader, 51, of Nesconset, resigned from her post as the newly appointed principal of the third-to-sixth-grade James H. Vernon School in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district last October, two weeks after superintendent Francesco Ianni wrote the community that she would be "away from the building for some time."
District officials did not say whether they were aware of Bader’s prior certificate suspension before the district hired her as the director of humanities and a year later as Vernon's principal.
At the October meeting where the school board approved her resignation, Ianni said all hiring procedures undertaken by the district were followed when it hired Bader and that the district relies on “the applicant's truthfulness in providing the required information for the posted position.”
Ianni and Laurie Kowalsky, the school board president, declined to comment through a spokeswoman. Bader could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The state Education Department suspended Bader’s teaching certificate in 2007 following the recommendation of state-designated hearing officer Patricia Rodriguez. The state outlined its understanding of the relationship in a "notice of substantial question of moral character," issued by the Education Department in 2006.
The relationship continued through the student’s junior and senior years of high school, according to the notice.
The state launched a Part 83 proceeding to determine whether Bader had “the requisite good moral character to teach in the public schools” in New York State. Two hearings followed and Rodriguez heard testimony from Bader, school officials and others.
Under Part 83 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, the state investigates allegations concerning the moral character of individuals who hold New York State teaching certificates to determine whether the educator has the “good moral character” to retain the certificate.
The hearing officer also reviewed emails between Bader and the student and found the messages to be “sexually suggestive,” according to a report Rodriguez wrote in 2007. The matter came up after the student’s mother presented the school the emails between Bader and her son.
An officer from the Nassau County Police Department testified that Bader was not criminally charged for her conduct due to the student’s age of 18.
“Her defense appeared to primarily be that the relationship with the student was not inappropriate because it was consensual, that the student was not a minor and that the young man was not a student in her classroom,” Rodriguez wrote.
Rodriguez noted Bader seemed sincere in her statement that “it was a lapse in judgment that she would not repeat.” But the hearing officer also wrote what troubled her most was that Bader did not seem to appreciate how damaging her actions were to the student.
“It was a gross error in judgment to believe that it is appropriate for any teacher to kiss or fondle a student in a classroom setting, whether or not the student was in a classroom taught by that teacher or even if that student has technically reached the age of majority,” Rodriguez wrote.
Rodriguez did not suggest revocation of Bader's qualifications but recommended a suspension, citing “her skill as a teacher and a budding administrator, her relative young age and her willingness to engage in a therapeutic relationship with a counselor” as factors in her favor, according to the report.
In the resume she submitted to the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district, Bader left out her entire history at East Meadow schools. Her work experience went back to 2012, when she worked at a Brooklyn middle school as a staff developer. She was a literacy coach at George J. Ryan Middle School in Queens and in 2013 became an assistant principal there until 2022.
With Joie Tyrrell
When she applied to be the director of humanities in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district in 2022, Jessica Bader's application included her answer to a question about whether any of her professional certificates were ever suspended.
The school administrator answered no, even though her teaching certificate was suspended for four years beginning in 2007.
The discipline resulted from a relationship involving "physical, intimate and/or sexual contact" that she had from about 2004 through 2005 with an 18-year-old male student at East Meadow High School, where she worked as a teacher, according to newly revealed district and state records.
Bader, 51, of Nesconset, resigned from her post as the newly appointed principal of the third-to-sixth-grade James H. Vernon School in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district last October, two weeks after superintendent Francesco Ianni wrote the community that she would be "away from the building for some time."
WHAT TO KNOW
- Jessica Bader resigned as the principal of the James H. Vernon School in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district one month into the school year.
- Newly revealed state records showed Bader’s teaching certificate was suspended for four years beginning in 2007, a disciplinary action she did not disclose in her job application to the district.
- The suspension resulted from a relationship she had with an 18-year-old male student at East Meadow High School, where she was a teacher.
- A 2023 Newsday investigation found Long Island public school districts persuaded more than 100 tenured educators accused of misconduct in the past decade to resign by continuing to pay their salaries and concealing the reasons for their exits.
District officials did not say whether they were aware of Bader’s prior certificate suspension before the district hired her as the director of humanities and a year later as Vernon's principal.
At the October meeting where the school board approved her resignation, Ianni said all hiring procedures undertaken by the district were followed when it hired Bader and that the district relies on “the applicant's truthfulness in providing the required information for the posted position.”
Ianni and Laurie Kowalsky, the school board president, declined to comment through a spokeswoman. Bader could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The state Education Department suspended Bader’s teaching certificate in 2007 following the recommendation of state-designated hearing officer Patricia Rodriguez. The state outlined its understanding of the relationship in a "notice of substantial question of moral character," issued by the Education Department in 2006.
The relationship continued through the student’s junior and senior years of high school, according to the notice.
The state launched a Part 83 proceeding to determine whether Bader had “the requisite good moral character to teach in the public schools” in New York State. Two hearings followed and Rodriguez heard testimony from Bader, school officials and others.
Under Part 83 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, the state investigates allegations concerning the moral character of individuals who hold New York State teaching certificates to determine whether the educator has the “good moral character” to retain the certificate.
The hearing officer also reviewed emails between Bader and the student and found the messages to be “sexually suggestive,” according to a report Rodriguez wrote in 2007. The matter came up after the student’s mother presented the school the emails between Bader and her son.
An officer from the Nassau County Police Department testified that Bader was not criminally charged for her conduct due to the student’s age of 18.
“Her defense appeared to primarily be that the relationship with the student was not inappropriate because it was consensual, that the student was not a minor and that the young man was not a student in her classroom,” Rodriguez wrote.
Rodriguez noted Bader seemed sincere in her statement that “it was a lapse in judgment that she would not repeat.” But the hearing officer also wrote what troubled her most was that Bader did not seem to appreciate how damaging her actions were to the student.
“It was a gross error in judgment to believe that it is appropriate for any teacher to kiss or fondle a student in a classroom setting, whether or not the student was in a classroom taught by that teacher or even if that student has technically reached the age of majority,” Rodriguez wrote.
Rodriguez did not suggest revocation of Bader's qualifications but recommended a suspension, citing “her skill as a teacher and a budding administrator, her relative young age and her willingness to engage in a therapeutic relationship with a counselor” as factors in her favor, according to the report.
In the resume she submitted to the Oyster Bay-East Norwich district, Bader left out her entire history at East Meadow schools. Her work experience went back to 2012, when she worked at a Brooklyn middle school as a staff developer. She was a literacy coach at George J. Ryan Middle School in Queens and in 2013 became an assistant principal there until 2022.
With Joie Tyrrell
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
