Current And Former Clarkstown School Board Members File Petitions to Remove Two Board Members

Three were filed with the State Department of Education on October 24 for the removal of Clarkstown Board of Education President Douglas Katz and Board Member and Former Board President Phillip DeGaetano.  One petition filed by current board members Joseph Malgieri, Diane Hoeneveld and Robert Carlucci seeks the removal of both Katz and DeGaetano. A second petition signed by Malgieri, Hoeneveld and former board member Lisa Lieberman seeks the removal of DeGaetano.  Lieberman filed a separate petition seeking the removal of DeGaetano.

The petitions, which are online at the district's web site under Board Docs, require an answer within 20 days and are the reason a special board was scheduled for Thursday at 10:15 a.m.  According to the resolution for the meeting, Katz and DeGaetano, “forwarded written notice of the petitions to the Board of Education on October 27, 2011 requesting that the board provided for their defense and indemnification under Section 3811 of the Education law which requires that they do so within five (5) days...”

Section 3811, which follows this article, explains the conditions under which board of education trustees can request that the school district cover the costs of their defense when legal actions are brought against them.

If the board approves their request, the law firm of Donoghue, Thomas, Auslander and Drohan, LLP of Hopewell Junction, NY will be retained at the hourly rate of $210. 

The Petition from the three current board members dealt with a contract buyout letter sent to the Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan’s attorney in January.

It states DeGaetano as president of the board “acted to conduct business and make statements on behalf of the Board of Education without authorization by a majority of Board of Education trustees at a legally convened public or executive session of the board.”  It says the actions took place in January and March 2011 and that Malgieri and Hoeneveld learned about them on September 26 when reviewing materials at the office of the district’s legal counsel.  They “read a letter which had been sent to the Superintendent’s Attorney, Ms. Michelle Handzel in January 2011 offering the terms of a contract buyout.”

The petition filed by Malgieri, Hoeneveld and Lieberman seeks DeGaetano’s removal for “a pattern of behavior unbecoming of a Board Trustee and particularly a Board President.”  The petition lists dates from 2010.

The petition filed by Lieberman reads “On information and belief, Mr. DeGaetano as then President of the Clarkstown Central School District Board of Education acted to violate the contract of Superintendent of Schools, Margaret Keller-Cogan by failing to direct the board to complete her annual evaluation in June 2010 in accordance with her contract…”

It noted the “superintendent received a seven page evaluation on February 8, 2011 covering the period from September 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010…” and the document included Lieberman’s name, who had not been a board member since June 2010, and did not include name of Robert Carlucci, who had been elected to the board and began serving in July 2010.

The State Department of Education provided Section 3811 of the state Education Law

3811. Costs, expenses and damages a district charges in certain cases.  1. Whenever the trustees or board of education of any school district, orany school district officers, have been or shall be instructed by a resolution adopted at a district meeting to defend any action brought against them, or to bring or defend an action or proceeding touching any district property or claim of the district, or involving its rights or interests, or to continue any such action or defense, all their costs and reasonable expenses, as well as all costs and damages adjudged against them, shall be a district charge and shall be levied by tax upon the district. Whenever any  superintendent, principal, member of the teaching or supervisory staff, member of a committee on special education or subcommittee thereof, surrogate Parent as defined in the regulations of the commissioner of Education, or any trustee or member of the board of education of a School district or non-instructional employee of any school district other Than the city school district of the city of New York or any board of Cooperative educational services shall defend any action or proceeding, Other than a criminal prosecution or an action or proceeding brought Against him by a school district or board of cooperative educational Services hereafter brought against him, including proceedings before the commissioner of education, arising out of the exercise of his powers or the performance of his duties under this chapter, all his reasonable costs and expenses, as well as all costs and damages adjudged against    him, shall be a district charge and shall be levied by tax upon the district or shall constitute an administrative charge upon the Board of cooperative educational services provided that (a) such superintendent, principal, member of the teaching or supervisory staff, member of a committee on special education or subcommittee thereof, surrogate parent as defined in the regulations of the commissioner of education, non-instructional employee of any school district or board of cooperative educational services or such Trustee or member of a board of education of such school district or board of cooperative educational services shall notify the trustees or board Of education or board of cooperative educational services in writing of the commencement of such action or proceedings against him within five days after service of process upon him; and (b) the trustees or board of education or board of cooperative educational services shall, at any Time during the ten days next following the notice to them of the commencement of such action or proceedings, have the right to designate and appoint the legal counsel to represent such superintendent, principal, member of the teaching or supervisory staff, member of a Committee on special education or subcommittee thereof, surrogate parent as defined in the regulations of the commissioner of education, non-instructional employee of any school district or board of cooperative educational services   or such trustee or member of the board of education or board of cooperative educational services in such action or proceedings against him, in the absence of which designation and appointment within the time specified such superintendent, principal, member of the teaching or supervisory  staff, member of  a committee On special education or subcommittee thereof, surrogate parent as defined in the regulations of the commissioner of education, non-instructional employee of any school district or board of cooperative Educational services or such trustee or member of the board of education or board of cooperative educational services may select his own legal counsel; (c) it shall be certified by the court or by the commissioner of education, as the case may be, that he appeared to have acted in good faith with respect to the exercise of his powers or the performance of his duties under this chapter. 2. If the amount claimed hereunder were disputed by a district meeting, the board of education or the board of trustees, it shall be adjusted by the county judge of any county in which the district or any part of it is situated.