Hempstead school board challenges successful budget vote, trustee election and suspends 2 in clerk's office
Victor Pratt fended off three other candidates to retain his seat on the Hempstead School Board Tuesday, but says the other board members have questioned how absentee ballots were handled and believes they want to oust him. He is pictured at a press event calling for state intervention in March last year. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The Hempstead School District’s Board of Education has placed two district employees on leave amid a challenge to the results of last week’s school elections, according to district officials.
Voters on Tuesday approved the district’s $378.2 million spending plan 463-141 and authorized the creation of a new capital reserve fund. Victor Pratt, an incumbent trustee, defeated challengers Eugenia Girtman, Gwendolyn Jackson and Caprice Rines with 288 votes, district officials said during a board meeting held just before midnight Tuesday.
But, at that meeting, the board did not accept the results of either the budget vote or trustee election. Instead, the board's president, Jeffrey Spencer, introduced a resolution to dispute the outcome.
“The Board of Education hereby directs its general counsel, Guercio & Guercio, LLP, to commence an immediate appeal to the Commissioner of Education regarding the results of the May 19, 2026, election,” Spencer said at the late-night meeting.
The board voted 5-0 to appeal the results without any public discussion.
Then on Friday, the board met for an emergency session and placed the district clerk, April Keys, and the district clerk pro tem, Lottie Whitehead, on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to Pratt.
Ron Edelson, a spokesman for the school district, said the district does not comment on personnel matters.
“The Board at this time has no comment on why the results are being contested,” Edelson wrote in an email Saturday. He noted the board took no action other than that concerning the employees.
Neither Keys nor Whitehead returned phone calls Saturday.
Pratt, who was reelected Tuesday, said he was unable to attend Friday’s meeting on short notice. “There was no advance notice, they weren’t posted and they just had the meeting, and that’s wrong in itself,” he said in an interview Saturday.
He said other board members have questioned how absentee ballots were handled and believes they are seeking to oust him from the five-member body.
“They spent the last year trying to come up with reasons for me to be removed from the board,” Pratt said Saturday.
Last November, the school board launched an investigation into Pratt after he was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle and other traffic violations during a traffic stop in Uniondale, Newsday reported at the time.
Spencer, the board president, did not return an email or phone call seeking more information Saturday.
The district has unsuccessfully appealed election results in the past.
In 2015, the board of education sought to annul the results but the state later dismissed allegations of fraud and disruptions at a polling site and two board members retained their seats, according to a 2016 Newsday report.
The prospect of having to re-do the election is troubling to Pratt.
“Elections are expensive, and it says that they really don't respect the public's time or their taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Lawyers at the Farmingdale firm Guercio & Guercio could not be reached for more information Saturday.
The appeal is expected to come up for discussion at the next board of education meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School.
