Last day Monday for Manhasset superintendent found to have violated school district's sexual harassment policy
Manhasset Superintendent Vincent Butera will serve his last day on Monday. Credit: Danielle Finkelstein
Monday is the last day as Manhasset superintendent for Vincent Butera, who was found in a 2020 investigation to have violated the school district’s sexual harassment policy but went on paid leave beginning the following year only after protests triggered by a leak of the finding.
Gaurav Passi, who has been acting superintendent since last year, will take over the post permanently on Monday.
Under the terms of a separation agreement, made in February with the school board, Butera will keep receiving his full annual pay — $286,844 — until his contract ends next June. But after this month, the district will stop paying for his benefits, and his salary is subject to mitigation if he accepts other employment.
In a statement from Butera emailed by Jamie Moss of newsPRos, a public relations firm working on Butera's behalf, Butera said: “It has been a privilege and an honor to serve the students and community of Manhasset and I am most grateful for the support that I have received throughout. I look forward to my next chapter and the opportunity to positively impact and improve the lives of students.” Moss didn’t respond to a follow-up question asking what the next chapter will be.
The district declined to comment about Butera's departure, according to Deirdre Gilligan of its outside public relations agency Syntax. The school board has declined to discipline Butera.
Butera was accused in 2020 by a now-former district teacher who said he gave her unsolicited hugs, visited her classroom too frequently and paid her other unwanted attention.
In May, the district disclosed in court filings that a State Education Department office opened a “law enforcement investigation” last year into Butera. The office — once called the Teacher Moral Character and Teacher Tenure Hearing units — have led to educators being banned from teaching anywhere in the state and their names referred to a national database of those who shouldn’t be allowed in the profession.
Newsday has a pending lawsuit against the Manhasset district for a copy of the investigative report, done by an outside law firm, that found Butera had violated the policy.
At a school board meeting in May 2021, 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.” In the aftermath, teachers objected and students walked out in protest, prompting the paid leave.
Several months later, in August, Moss 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 case 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."
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
