Karen Heitner disciplinary hearing: Plainview staffers testify they were inappropriately touched at PTA luncheon

A Plainview elementary school principal allegedly touched the buttocks of two staffers at a PTA luncheon in June, leaving them feeling "angry" and "violated," the women testified at the principal's disciplinary hearing last week.

Karen Heitner, principal of Pasadena Elementary School, faces administrative charges alleging sexual harassment, age discrimination and creating a hostile and unsafe work environment. The accusations against her include that she inappropriately touched the two staffers, made sexual innuendoes, pressured several women to retire and repeatedly contacted a teacher during off hours.

Heitner was suspended with pay in August and her employer, the Plainview-Old Bethpage district, is seeking to fire her.

A disciplinary hearing into the charges began in April and continued last week, with the two staffers testifying over the course of two days. Those hearings at times became heated, as Heitner's attorney sought to discredit the pair's claims.

While a district investigation concluded Heitner's alleged behavior violated the district's sexual harassment policy, the two women testified that they were victims of a sexual assault.

“She had no right to touch me,” one woman testified Thursday. “If she had been a man ... there would never have been a discussion whether that was appropriate and that makes me very angry.”

Notices of claim filed

Neither employee reported the alleged incident, which they say occurred during a June PTA luncheon, to police.

One, an occupational therapist, reported to district administration that Heitner inappropriately touched her buttocks while she was in line in front of an ice cream truck in the school courtyard. 

Christopher Donarummo, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources and safety, investigated the allegations. He testified in earlier hearings that he found the principal violated the district’s policy on sexual harassment.

Heitner’s attorneys from the School Administrators Association of New York State have said the physical contact was an “innocent glance” and called the accusations “politically motivated.” They have said Donarummo’s investigation was neither complete nor fair.

Donarummo’s probe originally centered on the June event where the occupational therapist and a speech therapist said they were inappropriately touched on their buttocks.

Newsday is not naming the two women as they are alleged victims of sexual abuse.

Donarummo testified he learned of more allegations made by a total of eight staffers, including the two women, who also alleged Heitner made sexual innuendoes and inappropriate comments related to their age. The women testified they didn’t report those alleged incidents before the PTA luncheon because they feared retaliation.

The two women testified they each filed a notice of claim against the Plainview-Old Bethpage district last fall, seeking monetary damages. They said they filed the claims because they believed the district failed to protect them.

“The district did absolutely nothing to protect [me] from Karen’s poor behavior,” the speech therapist said. “Many people have complained but it didn’t make any difference on Karen’s behavior. I felt like she could do what she wanted because there’s no consequences and I’m very angry the district allowed that to happen.”

A notice of claim is a precursor to a lawsuit against entities like a public school district. Newsday has filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the district for the documents.

The two women are represented by Tim Alamgir, a Huntington-based attorney who attended the two hearings as his clients testified. Alamgir declined to comment on the claims.

The district also declined to comment on the notices of claim. Its spokesman, Ron Edelson, said in an emailed statement, "What the District can say is that it stands firmly behind its decisions as to the 3020-a proceeding involving Ms. Heitner."

Occupational therapist testifies

The occupational therapist, who began working in the Plainview-Old Bethpage district in 2008, testified Monday she had intended to retire from there — a plan she said her principal “ruined.”

The staffer, 52, resigned in October. She now works in the Floral Park-Bellerose district, which she said meant a longer commute, lost seniority and having to give up the families and students she loved in Plainview.

But since the alleged incident in June, the woman said she had increased anxiety and nightmares of bumping into Heitner.

“I wanted to escape from this,” she said.

The district’s attorney, Christopher Mestecky, asked her about her reaction to Heitner’s lawyers’ contention that it was an “innocent glance.”

“Innocent? She said: ‘I goosed you,’” she responded. “She had the idea, and she did it. She clearly didn’t like my reaction. Now she’s backpedaling to cover herself.”

The occupational therapist also testified that Heitner had made a sexually inappropriate comment to her at one point, and at another time asked if she was ready to retire.

Heitner denied making the goosing comment and the alleged sexual remarks, Donarummo testified in earlier hearings.

Heitner's lawyers have contended that the allegations against their client were made by "disgruntled" employees who resisted being held accountable for their poor performance.

But the occupational therapist testified she was never disciplined and did not receive a negative performance review during her employment with the district. In one observation made by Heitner in 2021, the principal noted she was professional and compassionate.

Heitner’s attorney, Edward Heilig, also questioned inconsistencies between the woman's notice of claim and her testimony. These included the notice of claim inaccurately reversing the sequence of two events that happened at the June luncheon.

Her testimony became testy at times during cross-examination, with Heilig questioning if she resigned because she had filed what he called “a false, malicious complaint.”

“You are grasping at straws. This is laughable,” the woman responded. “I resigned because I was abused by my principal.”

Speech therapist testifies

The speech therapist’s testimony, given on Thursday, began with her recounting of her employment at the district since 1998. She testified she was never disciplined and generally had “excellent” reviews.

At the June luncheon, the woman said she walked over to where the occupational therapist was after hearing her yelling that the principal had grabbed her buttocks, she testified.

The speech therapist said she “leaned over” toward the occupational therapist to ask if she was OK when Heitner allegedly grabbed her rear end. 

The woman said her bending over was not an invitation to be touched and she did not do so in a joking manner.

Since then, she testified, she has had trouble sleeping and started seeing a therapist.

“She grabbed me," the woman testified of Heitner. "She didn’t have any right to do that.”

The speech therapist also alleged Heitner made a sexual remark involving her when attendees were playing a game called “Two Truths and a Lie” during a school-sponsored event in fall 2023. The alleged remark, which Heitner denied making, came as the staffer was grieving her husband, who died months prior, she noted.

“I felt very shaken. I was very upset. I felt humiliated,” she recalled. “It was degrading, and I was angry I had to defend myself.”

Because of her husband’s illnesses and her own medical issues, the speech therapist said she took some days off. She said the principal came to her room in fall 2022 and asked her if she was unhappy. She recalled Heitner telling her that she could help her transfer to another building. The principal cited her absences, acknowledging they were for valid reasons.

She rejected Heilig’s suggestion that Heitner was showing concern for her.

“I didn’t take it that way at all,” she said. “By virtue of saying she could help me if I want to leave the building, how I took it was she did not want me in Pasadena.”

The speech therapist, 62, said on another occasion, the principal allegedly said she wasn’t the oldest person in the room when it was just the two of them present. Heitner is 54.

During cross-examination, Heilig pointed out inaccuracies in the woman's notice of claim, portions of which were presented during the hearing, and inconsistencies when compared with her testimony.

The speech therapist testified that the principal did not demand she retire, as the notice of claim said. She also acknowledged that she was not discharged from the district and Heitner was not “heavily intoxicated” at the school-sponsored event, as the notice of claim noted. She also agreed that the principal was lenient with her when she had to leave work early due to her husband’s illnesses.

The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.