'Law enforcement investigation' into outgoing Manhasset schools chief 

The State Education Department opened a “law enforcement investigation” into Vincent Butera, the outgoing Manhasset schools superintendent, who an independent counsel concluded had violated the district’s sexual harassment policy.

The investigation, begun last year, was disclosed in court filings May 13 in state Supreme Court in Nassau County by the district’s lawyers, who are fighting a lawsuit by Newsday that seeks a copy of the independent counsel’s confidential report into allegations by a now-former district teacher against Butera. She had alleged that Butera gave her unsolicited hugs, visited her classroom too frequently and paid her other unwanted attention.

The current status of the Education Department's investigation is not public, but the district's May 13 filings called it a "pending law enforcement investigation into the superintendent."

A subpoena dated Nov. 30 from the department’s Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability sought material including the "Entire district and investigative file,” which Manhasset provided to the office on Dec. 20, the filings say. The district has refused to release to the public the independent counsel's report, which Newsday requested last year under the state Freedom of Information Law.

Past investigations by the office — formerly called the Teacher Moral Character and Teacher Tenure Hearing units — have resulted in educators being banned from teaching anywhere in New York and their names referred to a national database of those who shouldn’t be allowed in the profession.

The Manhasset school board has not disciplined Butera, the district has said. In February, the board approved a separation agreement with him. He has been on paid administrative leave since last May, soon after details of the independent counsel’s report, from 2020, were leaked to a local newspaper. The board had faced criticism after the leak for keeping him in charge despite his violation of the district’s sexual harassment policy.

His resignation takes effect July 11, when Gaurav Passi, now acting superintendent, will take over permanently. Per the separation agreement, Butera, 50, will continue to receive his full annual pay — $286,844 — until his contract ends in June 2023. He began as superintendent in July 2017.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the district, Deirdre Gilligan of the agency Syntax, said nothing had changed with Butera’s status since the February agreement. Gilligan declined to comment further.

Jamie Moss of newsPRos, a public relations firm working on Butera's behalf, declined to say whether Butera was aware of the state’s investigation except to deny he knew it had been written about in court.

Moss provided a statement from Butera: “I am unaware of any such filing, yet have always welcomed a full understanding of all facets of the complaint which informed the Board’s decision 18 months ago that discipline was not warranted — as well as their public comment that their decision was ‘the right one,’ along with their recent public statement reaffirming those sentiments."

After publication of this article, Butera’s attorney clarified with Newsday that the outgoing superintendent had not been aware of the state investigation.

Samuel J. Finnessey Jr., who signed the subpoena and directs the office that opened the investigation into Butera, referred a reporter's inquiry to the State Education Department's press office. Spokesperson J.P. O’Hare said in an email that Part 83 of the Commissioner’s Regulations “authorizes the Education Department to investigate allegations of lack of good moral character lodged against certified educators,” and that investigations look into “whether the certified educator has the ‘good moral character’ to retain the certificate they hold.”

“In order to protect the fairness and integrity of our processes,” O’Hare wrote, “the Department does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”

In the past, misconduct investigated by that office has included accusations that teachers had sex with students, committed abuse and been involved with child pornography — and such investigations have resulted in the revocation of an educator’s license.

Allegations of sexual harassment have also resulted in revocation.

For example, in the 2008-2009 school year, a middle school principal in the Westbury Union Free School District was accused of sexually harassing teachers, according to his unsuccessful federal lawsuit challenging the process.

In that case, the district had appointed an independent investigator, brought disciplinary charges against the principal, and the state issued a “Notice of Substantial Question of Moral Character.” In 2012, a hearing officer concluded that the principal had indeed engaged in inappropriate conduct, and the commissioner revoked the principal’s license, a finding upheld once again in 2017. On March 28, 2022, a federal judge upheld the revocation.

In Manhasset, at the May 6, 2021, school board meeting, held coincidentally a day after the leak, Butera recounted examples of what later led the district to hire the independent counsel: 

• At a retirement party attended by 100 people  when a disc jockey was playing loud music, "I came in close proximity to the complainant and had a work-related conversation."
• On another occasion, Butera said, a teacher "tragically passed away and so many had become overwhelmed with emotion. And I hugged the complainant in an effort to console her, as I did with others that day."
• He said the complainant stated "that I came into her classroom frequently." Butera said he regularly observed teachers’ pedagogy.
• While documenting a basketball fundraiser for the district’s Twitter account, Butera said, he took photos and videos of the complainant's child, who was being spotlighted during halftime. "I offered to share the files with the complainant" and sought her private email address because the files "were indeed too large to go over the district’s email system," he said.
• Separately, "upon reaching a significant professional milestone, the building principal called every teacher to the library, where I along with other administrators and a board member offered a congratulatory hug."

At the school board meeting last May, Butera said: “Despite my intent, the independent counsel did find that my attention was perceived by the complainant as unwelcomed, and therefore a violation of district policy.”

Several months later, in August, Moss, his spokesperson, told Newsday that Butera was the victim of “a mob mentality and a media frenzy” and thus was put on leave “to calm the frenzy.”

She cited a statement by a deputy superintendent that the matter has been "twisted completely out of proportion and with malice, and I cannot discount the deliberate actions of several bad actors with thoughts of retribution for decisions made."

The Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability’s investigation into Butera was still pending as of April 19, Finnessey told Manhasset when it last checked, according to the district's court filings.

In disclosing the existence of the investigation, those filings argue that the independent counsel's report should remain confidential, among other reasons, so as not to interfere with the Education Department's investigation and to protect Butera's privacy.

CLARIFICATION: The attorney for Butera clarified after this story was published May 26 that Butera had not been aware that the State Education Department had opened what the Manhasset School District termed a “law enforcement investigation into the superintendent.”

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.