The Plainview-Old Bethpage school district held a second hearing on Tuesday, April 22, on allegations against former Pasadena Elementary School Principal Karen Heitner.
Heitner is accused of inappropriately touching two female employees, pressuring four older female workers to retire and creating a hostile work environment for other employees.
She joined the district in 2014 and served as the principal of Pasadena Elementary School. After the investigation began, the district suspended Heitner with pay.
If she is proven guilty, Heitner could lose her tenure and be fired by the district. These kinds of proceedings are typically held in-house, but Heitner opted to have the hearing be public.
Tuesday’s hearing focused on the testimony and cross-examination of Christopher Donarummo, Plainview-Old Bethpage’s assistant superintendent for human resources and safety. Donarummo led an internal investigation on the allegations against Heitner, which he said was conducted from June 26 to Aug. 7, 2024.
Donarummo gave details on several instances in which Heitner allegedly violated district policy.
One instance included alleged harassment against a technology aide at Pasadena Elementary School.
Donarummo said Heitner asked the employee to do things outside of her job description, including climbing onto the school roof and taking pictures of students from an unsecured ladder. Donarummo said when he asked Heitner about this, she told him the employee had “volunteered.”
Donarummo also discussed incidents relating to four employees who reported Heitner had discriminated against them based on age.
One employee said Heitner came to the classroom and said, “This work looks like you’re about to retire.”
Another employee told Donarummo that Heitner asked if they were happy and if she had wanted to stay in the building. Donarummo said the employee had been dealing with medical and personnel issues during that school year.
A fourth employee said Heitner asked them if they were planning on retiring because she wanted to move that employee to a lower grade level.
Donarummo said he found that the principal had spoken with another employee about that teacher’s possible retirement.
Donarummo said Heitner denied most of these claims when he spoke to her during the investigation. Donarummo said he spoke to the Pasadena principal on five occasions over the course of the investigation.
Two other employees alleged that Heitner created a hostile work environment in Donarummo’s investigation.
The audio recording between one of the employees and Heitner was played at the hearing. The principal said she received a “slap on the wrist” from the administration for calling the employee on multiple occasions over the summer.
Donarummo said she violated protocol by discussing that information with the employee.
Donarummo said two employees filed notice of claims, each seeking $10 million.
Donarummo concluded his testimony by listing multiple statements by Heitner that he said were inconsistent with his findings during the investigation.
Heitner’s attorneys questioned whether these statements showed real prejudice and asked state-appointed hearing officer James Brown to strike them down due to their inconsistencies.
The district’s attorney, Christopher Mestecky, said that Donarummo would amend the statements prior to the next hearing.
Attorney Edward Heilig led the cross-examination of Donarummo, leaning on the investigation’s legitimacy.
“I’d call you a bad investigator,” Heilig said at one point to Donarummo.
Heilig looked into whether the investigation had violated district policy and whether Donarummo was qualified to run it. Donarummo said he had received training on how to conduct investigations from Cornell and within the district and had conducted roughly a dozen investigations throughout his career.
Heilig pointed out that Donarummo had never received formal sexual harassment investigation training, saying that the investigator violated his own district’s policy during the investigation.
“In conducting the formal district-level appeal, the district will endeavor to use individuals who have received training regarding such investigations or who have previous experience investigating such complaints,” the district’s policy says.
Heilig said that Donarummo had reviewed the district’s policy and ignored it by conducting the investigation.
The first hearing occurred on Thursday, April 10. Attorneys for the district and Heitner gave their opening remarks to Brown, and Donarummo had begun his testimony at the hearing, according to a published report. The report said Donarummo shared his findings on allegations of sexual innuendos and harassment.
Ron Edelson, the district’s spokesperson, said that the district does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings but stands firmly behind why the 3020-a proceedings were initiated.
“Since the defendant chose to make these proceedings public, the public will now have full insight into the reasons for the district’s actions and the opportunity to observe them being examined in detail,” he said after the first hearing.
According to See Through NY, a public database, the district paid Heitner $202,258 during the 2023-24 school year. The district’s website states that Heitner is a tenured administrator as of 2018.
The district appointed Kristin Seidel as the interim principal at Pasadena Elementary School in August 2024.
The next scheduled hearing is on Thursday, April 24, and Donarummo’s cross-examination is expected to continue.
