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Teacher misconduct on Long Island: Newsday Investigations

Updated January 23, 2024

In 2023, Newsday reporters led by Jim Baumbach and Joie Tyrrell told deeply reported multi-platform stories about the secretive nature of Long Island school districts. Through dozens of sensitive interviews and by scouring thousands of pages of documents obtained from hundreds of records requests over five years, they uncovered how districts kept teachers on the payroll long after receiving reports of misconduct then concealed the reasons for their exit. Their dogged reporting revealed how one district never told its community that armed intruders spent a day mixing with students in a high school before attempting to attack a student. And they detailed the cost of abuse on the community. Districts have paid nearly $30 million to settle dozens of lawsuits by former students who say teachers, administrators and fellow students sexually abused them.

More than 100 educators quietly resigned after misconduct allegations. Most still have teaching licenses.

School districts withheld their names from the public and approved confidential settlements that provided limited or few details.

From fraud to inappropriate behavior with students, these 10 teachers accused of misconduct took settlements

A closer look at some of the misconduct allegations that led school districts to negotiate confidential discipline settlements with the teachers.

Newsday Investigation: Confidential agreements made by LI school districts

Some Long Island educators negotiate their disciplinary penalties in private, brokering deals with their school districts with nearly no public disclosure, a Newsday investigation found.

Retired Bay Shore teacher criminally charged in decades-old child sex-abuse cases

Thomas Bernagozzi, 75, of Babylon, was arrested. Suffolk Police said the victims attended Gardiner Manor Elementary School and Mary G. Clarkson Elementary School at the time of the abuse.

Newsday Exclusive: Inside our investigative series on teacher misconduct

Reporters Jim Baumbach, Joie Tyrrell and investigations editor Keith Herbert discuss their investigation of Long Island teacher discipline, the project's origins and its findings.

Armed intruders and a suspended student: Great Neck wrestles with security breach fallout

The incident has raised issues about the effectiveness of the school's security, how open the district has been with parents, and whether administrators too harshly disciplined a student who said he randomly came into contact with the intruders.

Newsday Investigation: Great Neck father says son's discipline is 'totally devastating'

A Great Neck father says his school district is using his 16-year-old son as a scapegoat for a major security breach at one of its high schools. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

Great Neck forced to overturn student's suspension after armed intruders entered school

The student's father said he was happy with the commissioner's ruling but angry over the school experiences his son lost while suspended.

7 students reported a coach for sexual harassment. He stayed employed another decade, records show.

The documents show how Babylon disciplined — but did not fire — the teacher years before former students blamed the district for mishandling allegations at a contentious board meeting in November 2021.

Newsday Investigation: Babylon schools kept teacher accused of sexual harassment on payroll

Documents show the teacher had been "counseled" about sexual harassment before seven tennis players complained.

24 LI school districts pay nearly $30M to settle decades-old sex-abuse allegations

School districts paid $28.8M to settle claims of sex abuse that date back decades. Another 150 lawsuits are ongoing.

Database: What LI schools are paying to settle sex-abuse lawsuits

Look up what Long Island school districts are paying to settle Child Victims Act claims.

'I'll never have relief'

Michael Selter is among seven individuals who filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Anthony Prochilo, former principal of Port Jefferson's Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, under the Child Victims Act. NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland and Newsday investigative reporter Jim Baumbach report.

How districts will pay sex abuse lawsuit settlements

Long Island school districts in the last year have paid a combined $28.8 million to settle 37 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, a cost that could be crippling for schools. NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland and Newsday investigative reporter Jim Baumbach report.