Ossining Investigating School Trustee Over Allegations

OSSINING, NY — Accusations have been leveled at an Ossining school trustee, and the Board of Education is investigating.

This past weekend the Board of Education received several complaints from community members and former students regarding a current Board of Education member, Aaron Spring. The Board is also aware that these complaints are being actively discussed on social media. These complaints included allegations from several years ago, prior to the time when Mr. Spring was elected to the Board of Education.

In accordance with Board of Education policies, the Board will promptly commence a third-party legal investigation concerning the allegations raised, to determine whether there has been any violation of Board Policies, Board Ethics, and/or law. (The Board's current legal counsel cannot investigate as a potential conflict exists. As such, the Board will utilize the services of another firm for this process.)

As those who have been entrusted by our community to safeguard our schools and students, we must remain clear: discriminatory, harassing or bullying behaviors of any sort have no place in our school community or our broader society. We decry the implicit and explicit bias that exists within our institutions and will work mightily to erase the intolerance that is a blight on our country. The Board of Education has set up a confidential email, confidential@ossiningufsd.org for anyone who may have questions or concerns regarding this matter.

Spring, an Ossining High School graduate class of 2015, graduated from Fordham University in 2019 and started his own tax service business in Ossining. Here's his bio on the school district's website.

Commenters on Facebook said the accusations were vague, and included someone saying Spring had made some students at Ossining High School uncomfortable and another saying that Spring made references to "the Blacks." They said a parent recommended people forward accusations to the Board of Education, then deleted her Twitter account. Patch has reached out to the parent for comment.

The furor is reminiscent of the one surrounding former Ossining school board president Tom Reddy, who stepped down from that post in 1996. After reports surfaced that Reddy had used the n-word to refer to a police department colleague, calls for his resignation were led by political opponent John Perillo despite at-first tepid support from the black community. (Reddy was censured in 2008 for using an email account to share a racist political cartoon with some members of the fire department about candidate Barack Obama.)

The year he graduated from OHS, Spring ran for election to the Ossining Town Board with Perillo on the Conservative Party line.

Members of the community have also written to the Board of Education about Spring.

Sharing his on Facebook, Christopher Cavanaugh said in part, "Aaron has been incredibly helpful to the company, filling in as Secretary whenever needed, leading our Memorial Day efforts to decorate the graves of deceased members, and most importantly serving those in need of emergency help in Ossining. I've also watched him help community youth as a coach, and the community at large leading a clean up effort. Aaron is a young man committed to service and we are lucky to have him in our community.

"While my political views are left of Aaron's, and we don't agree on everything, I can vouch for his character, integrity and work ethic.

"Please be sure to give Aaron Spring a full hearing on the vague accusations against him, and when cleared please provide an equally public declaration of the findings."