Wyandanch school Principal Shannon Burton arrested on aggravated harassment charge, Manhattan DA says
Milton L. Olive Middle School Principal Shannon Burton last year. Credit: James Carbone
Shannon Burton, the recently reinstated principal at Milton L. Olive Middle School in Wyandanch, was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment in connection with a phone call he made to a woman last month, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Burton, 44, of Yonkers, faces one count of second-degree aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor.
He allegedly called the woman on July 25, made a threat and used language that made her “feel annoyed, harassed, alarmed, threatened, and in fear for her physical safety,” according to a complaint she filed with an officer from the NYPD's 19th Precinct.
The woman, whom the district attorney’s office did not name, said she received approximately 15 other telephone calls from Burton from July 25 to 26, according to the complaint.
John D. Pappalardo, a White Plains-based attorney representing Burton, said his client denies the allegations.
“The allegations involve an entirely personal matter, and Dr. Burton expects to be absolved of the charges,” Pappalardo said in a statement to Newsday.
Burton declined to comment.
Larry Aronstein, interim superintendent of Wyandanch schools who reinstated Burton and two other administrators in early July, said: “We are investigating the situation.” He declined to comment further.
Burton was arrested July 26 and arraigned in New York City Criminal Court in Manhattan the next day, according to online court records. He was released on recognizance.
Burton, Assistant Principal Kimberly Clinton, and Christine Jordan, the Wyandanch district’s assistant superintendent for administrative and instructional accountability, were accused last fall of inflating grades. The three were reassigned to work from home last September.
Aronstein, who began working in Wyandanch July 1, brought the three back, citing an outside investigation that did not find evidence they tampered with Regents scores.
Other allegations against the administrators pertained to a credit recovery program at the middle school. The superintendent said the program’s plan was not in full conformity with state regulations but the educators did not manipulate the grades as a former school board president had recounted.
Burton is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 11.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
