The East Williston School District has charged teacher Matthew Haig with “insubordination,” “conduct unbecoming of a teacher” and “neglect of duty,” Haig said in a recorded statement posted online Monday.
In his first public statement since he was suspended in April, the 30-year Wheatley School social studies teacher said the charges are “without merit and are an attempt to displace me from my longstanding rightful and privileged position as a teacher,” and pledged to fight them “vigorously and endlessly.”
“It is my solemn oath to you that your faith and confidence in me remains well placed and well founded,” said Haig, 58, in a video his nephew Michael Haig posted to Facebook on Monday. “You must know that my affection for you has not diminished over these past years, and that I will always treasure the time that we spent together.”
Haig is charged with insubordination for failing to update Wheatley administrators on his weekly lesson plans, he said. The charge of conduct unbecoming of a teacher lists an instance when Haig hugged a student, he said, and another in which he patted a student on the back.
The charges say Haig neglected his duty by failing to attend a special education meeting to which he was invited and, “by my own error,” failing to collect every textbook in one of his classes, he says in the video.
School district officials are prohibited from releasing or discussing the charges under the state’s education law, which defines the disciplinary process Haig’s case will follow. Administrators have said the law aims to protect teachers’ privacy and due process rights.
School board President Mark Kamberg, district Superintendent Elaine Kanas and Wheatley Principal Sean Feeney declined to comment on the charges and the video.
Haig’s lawyer, Andrew Costello, did not return two phone calls or an email seeking more information about the charges. Meryl Fordin, president of the East Williston Teachers’ Association, did not respond to an email seeking comment, but has said the union will support Haig.
Haig also heavily criticized the way administrators handled his suspension.
No Wheatley parent or student ever contacted him about a problem, he said, and he never got a request from guidance counselors for a parent or student conference. The only correspondence he received was letters of reprimand placed in his personnel file before he was first suspended, he said.
“This rush to indict me has not only stripped me of my due process rights, but just as importantly for our school, represents nothing less than another in a series of attacks on what has been treasured by the East Williston community for generations — the fully collaborative and cooperative method of conflict resolution, the very essence of the Wheatley Way,” Haig said in the video.
The education law does not require administrators to contact or interview teachers they investigate for disciplinary infractions, nor does it require teachers to speak with anyone investigating them.
Haig and the district will present their cases at a hearing conducted by a mutually chosen hearing officer. Hearings are generally closed, but Haig can opt for a public hearing under the law.
Haig’s close friend and former colleague Wes Berkowitz said Haig is strongly leaning toward making the hearing public. Costello has formally requested a hearing on Haig’s behalf and expects hearings will occur over the summer, Berkowitz said.
Both sides will meet for a pre-hearing conference within 10 to 15 days of selecting a hearing officer, education law says. All hearing proceedings must end within 60 days of that conference.
Before a hearing begins, the school district must show evidence of previous efforts to “rehabilitate” a teacher or risk dismissal of the charges, according to a guide to New York education law published by the American Enterprise Institute.
The school district is seeking Haig’s termination, according to Haig’s statement and the resolution the school board passed May 23 upholding his suspension.
There is generally a high standard for termination, and it is used only as “a last-resort penalty in cases of extreme misconduct” after previous efforts to right a teacher’s problems, the American Enterprise Institute guide says.
As the public outcry among Wheatley School students, parents and alumni has grown, children of school board members and administrators have faced harassment from other students, parent Robin Kaye wrote in a letter to Blank Slate Media.
“Friendships are being ended, exclusion is being practiced, and nastiness is going down in halls of Wheatley,” wrote Kaye, of Roslyn Heights. “This is wrong.”
But Kamberg and school board Trustee David Keefe, both of whom have children at Wheatley, said they have not heard of any such behavior.
Wheatley junior Jonathan Taub, a founder of a Facebook group supporting Haig, also said he has not seen harassment, but condemned any that might be occurring.
“It reflects poorly on the movement and is not what Mr. Haig would want to have happening,” Taub said in a text message.
