Director, board president of Wyandanch library resign on same day

Efforts to stabilize operations at the troubled Wyandanch Public Library suffered another setback when both the director and board president resigned on the same day.

On July 14, director Jessica Oelcher, who started in May, and board president Jordan Thomas, whom voters elected as a trustee in 2020, resigned from their positions within hours of each other.

Oelcher, 40, who served as the library’s first permanent director in more than a year and a half, didn't say in her resignation letter why she was leaving her $110,000-a-year job and later declined to comment.

Thomas said in a resignation letter he was resigning "with a heavy heart" and the decision wasn't an easy one.

"Due to personal reasons, this is the step I must take,” he wrote. “I have great love for the library and want to see it flourish tremendously. We have achieved quite a bit and there is much more to be done but my season as a trustee has come to an end.”

Thomas said in an interview that the two resignations weren't connected but didn't elaborate on his reason for stepping down.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting that,” Thomas said of Oelcher's resignation on the same day. “I know this is horrible timing.”

Oelcher said when she took the job that she was looking forward to helping the library continue cosmetic and operational changes that began with new leadership on the board earlier this year, despite officials uncovering more problems such as credit cards belonging to former trustees.

“The board has been refreshed and I think they’re excited, and that makes me excited, too,” she told Newsday.

The library has been mired in controversy for more than a decade, including when a 2014 state comptroller audit found the board of trustees didn't provide adequate oversight to prevent "fraud, waste and abuse."

In February, police arrested library head custodian Kwaisi McCorvey, 51, for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in 2016.

Library officials suspended McCorvey, the nephew of former trustee Nancy Holliday and one of the library’s highest paid employees, with pay after his arrest.

Kevin Verbesey, director of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, called the recent resignations “concerning” and noted the library’s history of high turnover for directors.

Wyandanch Public Library's last director, Shadd Jamison, left in 2021 after two years at the helm. The director before him, Edwin Maxwell, served from 2018 to 2019. Donna Murray resigned as director in 2018 after less than six months.

“It is also troubling that someone as talented and well respected as Ms. Oelcher chose to leave the library after just nine weeks as director,” Verbesey added in an email. “The issues the Wyandanch library has faced have been long term and the inconsistency of leadership has been a significant cause of those issues.”

Librarian Fred Lopez will serve as acting director, officials said.

Board vice president Katrina Crawford said the recent turn of events shocked trustees but officials “will continue to move forward” with the library’s goals.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.