Karen Heitner disciplinary hearing: Staffers testify of tension, intimidation after principal accused of misconduct
The principal of Pasadena Elementary School has been suspended since August 2024 and the district is seeking to fire her. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Some Plainview-Old Bethpage staffers felt pressured by the teachers union to wear pins that appeared to support employees who had accused an elementary school principal of misconduct, and the display intimidated administrators, according to testimony at the school chief's disciplinary hearings this week.
Karen Heitner, principal of Pasadena Elementary School in Plainview, faces administrative charges alleging she touched two staffers inappropriately during a PTA luncheon in June 2024, as well as engaged in age discrimination and created a hostile and unsafe work environment involving other employees. The district suspended her in August 2024 and is seeking to fire her.
Heitner's attorneys, who continued building their case at two hearings this week, have argued the allegations against her were made by disgruntled employees who did not want to be held accountable for their poor performance or resisted changes Heitner brought to the school. They have downplayed the inappropriate touching allegations, saying the physical contact was no more than an "innocent glance."
During this week's hearings, Heitner's attorneys — who are with the School Administrators Association of New York — called witnesses who testified of the growing tension among staff at Pasadena after Heitner was suspended.
Maria Carnesi, co-president of the district's administrators union and the social studies chairperson, said her members had expressed concern about "pins and shirts being worn" by some employees.
The so-called "unity" pins did not explicitly take a stance on the allegations against Heitner, but Joseph LeRea, a Pasadena teacher who had complained about Heitner's management, wore the pin when he testified at her hearing in June. He said he wore it to “support our colleagues” and staffers can choose to wear it or not.
Carnesi said her daughter, a teacher at Pasadena who didn’t feel comfortable wearing the items, told her some teachers would ignore her in the building and she felt a lot of negativity, which in part prompted her to seek a transfer from second grade to another level. She now teaches kindergarten at Pasadena.
“I think pins and shirts are a form of intimidation,” Carnesi testified Wednesday.
Diana Survilla, a veteran teacher at Pasadena and a former teachers' union representative, testified she was given the cold shoulder when she didn’t wear the pin one day at work and was excluded from certain messages. Survilla said the pins were handed out at a union meeting and a few other staffers had similar experiences.
"We didn’t want to wear pins or shirts because we didn’t know what was going on" related to the principal's suspension, she said.
Survilla testified she wrote a letter to her union president, Nina Melzer, and Superintendent Mary O'Meara expressing her concern.
“I was very upset by this situation,” she said. “I wanted my union and colleagues to respect my decision to not participate.”
Melzer declined to comment to Newsday.
Carnesi also testified about a letter she said she co-authored in May to district leadership, alleging some teachers’ union members for years had “impeded” the work of administrators who tried to advance district goals and implement district policies.
The alleged impediment was a districtwide pattern, but Carnesi said she felt it was relevant to Heitner’s case because the suspended principal had made changes in her school that were met with resistance from some.
For example, Heitner changed arrival and dismissal policies that led to more teacher contact with students, of which Carnesi said some teachers were critical.
Inappropriate touching allegations
As co-president of the union representing Heitner, Carnesi was present for two interviews the principal had with Christopher Donarummo, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources and safety. Donarummo investigated the allegations against Heitner.
Based on her notes and recollection of one interview in July 2024, Carnesi said Heitner told Donarummo her recollection of what happened at the PTA luncheon.
Two women, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist, have sued the district, alleging they were sexually assaulted by Heitner when they were in front of an ice cream truck that June day. The two women testified in earlier hearings that the alleged incidents left them feeling violated and angry.
Carnesi recalled Heitner saying she walked toward the ice cream truck and “brushed in the 'hip-ish' area” of the occupational therapist. She testified Heitner denied making the comment, “I goosed you,” as was alleged by the occupational therapist.
She also testified Heitner told Donarummo she didn’t recall making contact with the speech therapist.
Carnesi was shown video of the alleged incident between Heitner and the speech therapist twice at the hearing on Wednesday, and testified that she did not see physical contact between the two.
Carnesi also testified Heitner denied making sexual innuendoes on separate occasions, as alleged by the two women.
Heitner’s husband, Alan, also testified. He said his wife told Eric Nezowitz, a Roosevelt assistant superintendent and Heitner's longtime friend, that “she had poked somebody” and “it was blown out of proportion.”
Nezowitz previously testified that Heitner told him she had playfully “pinched” the buttocks of an employee. Alan Heitner said he didn’t hear his wife say “pinch,” though he wasn’t present for the entire conversation between his wife and Nezowitz.
Survilla, who was roughly 100 feet away from the occupational therapist when the alleged incident occurred, recalled seeing a commotion after hearing the woman scream and laugh with Heitner.
“They were laughing. It was like a big spectacle,” Survilla said. “It was so bizarre to see these adults [act] this way. ... The whole thing was unprofessional.”
Survilla, who worked under four principals at Pasadena over more than two decades, said she would work for Heitner again.
“She wanted to do everything for the children,” Survilla said.
The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Jodi Marchese, an assistant principal who worked for Heitner, and O'Meara, the district superintendent, are expected to testify.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
