Southampton High School Assistant Principal Keith Saunders resigns, files complaint against district
Keith Saunders in 2014, when he was with the Uniondale school district. Saunders said he was forced out of his position in the Southampton school district because he interviewed with another district. Credit: Barry Sloan
A Southampton High School assistant principal resigned last week, alleging he was forced out because of his “lack of loyalty” to the district.
Keith Saunders, 52, said he was forced out because he interviewed with another district, an action he said was not prohibited and that other administrators had done without reprisal, according to a complaint he filed with the state Division of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He said he was given a termination notice in August.
Saunders, of Centereach, alleges in the complaint filed Oct. 6 that district officials treated him with "unresponsiveness, insensitivity and retaliation," and that a "lack of loyalty" was not an adequate reason for his removal.
"I am looking for my name and my credibility to be restored," Saunders said during a phone interview.
The complaint was filed against Southampton Superintendent Nicholas Dyno and the Southampton Union Free School District. Dyno said through a spokeswoman that the district does not comment on "active litigation."
Saunders said he used a vacation day in June to interview for an assistant principal position in Central Islip. Southampton district officials found out about the interview when Central Islip officials called them to discuss his candidacy, he said.
Saunders said he previously told district officials he would be in contact with Central Islip.
"Mr. Saunders merely interviewed, as his white counterparts had previously done. However, unlike what Mr. Saunders is now facing, those interviews occurred without any fear of repercussion," according to the complaint. Saunders is Black.
According to a letter dated Aug. 11 from Dyno to Saunders, he was assigned to home as of Aug. 18 and that Dyno "will recommend to the Board of Education that your probationary appointment of teacher in the Southampton High School be terminated effective October 21, 2022."
The letter did not give a reason for the action. Saunders resigned last Friday.
Saunders said he had been an educator for 28 years when he was hired by Southampton in July 2021 as the summer school principal. His Hempstead-based attorney, Frederick Brewington, said the district forced Saunders to submit his resignation rather than face the public humiliation of a school board vote to terminate him.
Saunders previously worked 12 years as an administrator at Uniondale High School. He became assistant principal of Southampton High School in September 2021. He was the only full-time Black administrator in the district, according to the 15-page EEOC complaint.
Saunders said the district paid him $150,000 annually, which he said was below his worth and less than white assistant principals with less experience, according to the complaint.
The complaint points to a district evaluation of Saunders nine months after he started as assistant principal, which stated, "In his short time here he has already become a valued member of the Southampton administrative team and the [Southampton Union Free School District] school community."
But the work environment became "increasingly more discriminatory, hostile and abusive," according to the complaint. He received an unfavorable survey from the staff, according to the complaint.
An assistant principal, Melissa Mitchell, is covering Saunders' duties through Oct. 21, according to the district.
