Supporters of Wyandanch Memorial High School Principal Paul Sibblies ask for his reinstatement
Students, parents and community members during a Wyandanch school board meeting on Wednesday night in support of the high school principal Paul Sibblies, who was placed on leave in February. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Kayleen Braswell was struggling in school last year. She was failing her classes and was getting ready to drop out when Principal Paul Sibblies called her into his office.
"He spoke life into me," Braswell said on Wednesday night at a crowded school board meeting at the district central administration building.
Now the Wyandanch Memorial High School senior will graduate in June, something she didn’t think she would accomplish, and she's planning to attend college. Much of her turnaround, she said, is rooted in Sibblies’ support. The 17-year-old lost her father when she was 11 and Sibblies was a role model that was missing in her life.
"I never had someone, except my mom, ... well, a male that cared about me," she said.
Braswell was among the dozens of students, parents and alums who attended Wednesday’s board meeting to ask the trustees to reinstate Sibblies, who was placed on leave in February.
Their principal, the students said, was a father figure who attended their athletic games, drove them home when they couldn’t get rides and connected their families to resources that helped them weather personal crisis. They have missed seeing him when they arrive in the morning or in the hallway when they walk from class to class.
"He’s my principal and I want him back," said John Fields, 18, a senior, to loud applause.
Sibblies was reassigned after an audit report, completed in February 2025 but not released until January, found he improperly used money for Kappa League, a youth service initiative of the fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi. Sibblies was the club’s faculty adviser.
The audit found Sibblies used money meant for the league to pay for a $126 steak and lobster dinner at a restaurant in Delaware, buy gifts for teachers and purchase equipment for the high school.
The auditors also found Sibblies signed off on checks for club activities, including reimbursements to himself, without independent review. From July 2021 through November 2024, Sibblies received 41 reimbursement checks totaling $35,519.
Sibblies did not attend Wednesday's meeting and declined to comment on Thursday when reached by phone.
Kappa League uniforms
At Wednesday’s meeting, some students came dressed in their Kappa League uniform, a black cardigan emblazoned with the letters K and L and the Kappa League crest.
Among them was Fields.
The teen told the crowd Sibblies was the first person he called when he became homeless in 10th grade. New to the school at the time, Fields said he had an instinct to call Sibblies even though he didn’t quite know him. Since then, Fields said, Sibblies has taught him everything he knows — from how to dress and speak to "how to be a man."
"Because of him, I'm a Kappa Leaguer," he said. "And now I’m up here speaking to you all."
Without Sibblies, the seniors said they worried for their school and their younger siblings attending it. When the principal was in the building, the students said there were fewer fights. Fields said he had frequently fought in school from elementary through middle school and was at risk of expulsion.
"He teaches me how to handle my anger, how to handle situations, how to handle what I'm going through," he said. "What I'm going through is not what a 17-year-old, 16-year-old or 15-year-old should be going through at my age. Running away. Being homeless. Trying to worry about money."
William Morgan, 17 and a senior, said Sibblies was unique in how he connected with students.
"The personality that he has will never be fulfilled by anybody else," he said. "It's not what you say. It's how you say it. ... There's students in our school that has anger issues that will not listen to nobody else."
Morgan said the principal had helped his family overcome homelessness by connecting them with someone to secure housing. Sibblies also drove his mother, who underwent cancer treatments, to some of her medical appointments.
The impact Sibblies has had on him and others was so great that words failed. "Words don't even explain it," he said.
Credit for Mr. Sibbs
Lashell Marrow, a mother of five, credited Sibblies not just for her children’s education but for their well-being. Her youngest is a 10th grader at the high school.
"If it wasn't for Mr. Sibbs, I don't know where my oldest son would be," she told the board. "He could be in jail. He could be dead. Literally, Mr. Sibbs has saved all my kids," using the nickname students and parents use for the principal.
Marrow said Sibblies brought in programs over the years that helped get children off the streets and exposed them to experiences outside Wyandanch.
"They're playing basketball," she said. "They are going to so many events. What school you know took kids to Africa?"
Sibblies took some Kappa leaguers on a trip to Ghana, which some students described as life-changing.
Board president Latesha Walker said board members heard speakers’ "heartfelt sentiments" but said they could not comment further. An investigation into the spending practices identified in the audit is ongoing, she said.
Wyandanch schools Superintendent Erik Wright declined to comment after the meeting. The next Wyandanch board meeting is scheduled for March 18.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
