P’ville High School Principal Resignation Upheld at Board Meeting

With outrage from community members, the Pleasantville Board of Education accepted the seemingly unwilling resignation of high school principal Dawn Bartz at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting.

More than 200 parents, teachers, students and other community members came out in full force to support Bartz in a last ditch attempt to convince trustees to reject her resignation, but failed to sway the board. The resignation is effective Aug.1.

During the meeting, which lasted until about 1 a.m., school officials gave no explanation about the circumstances behind the sudden resignation.

In a letter to board members, Bartz said she hadn’t been provided with “substantive information but instead with snippets of rumor” in which she stated she was unable to discuss or refute allegations against her.

She added she wasn’t able to meet with board members or the teachers who raised the allegations.

Originally, the board passed a superintendent’s recommendation that was included in an agreement between the district, the Pleasantville Administrators Association (PAA) and Bartz, which included her resignation.

Following public comment, which featured a few dozen speakers for more than two hours, the board entered executive session. After trustees returned to a packed room, the board voted unanimously against reconsidering their previous decision and adjourned the meeting.

A visibly shaken Board of Education President Lois Winkler said before the second vote that the board was well informed when making the decision, taking into account the input of everyone who had contacted them in the past few weeks and who had spoken at the meeting.

“Many have commented on the need for an independent evaluation of this process,” Winkler said. “And I would remind you that we were elected to be those independent voices. We have painstakingly deliberated about this decision and we are at a decision-making point.”

When Bartz spoke to the board during the meeting, she admitted she had made mistakes and her desire to change aspects of the high school may have been too rapid for some faculty.

“And that’s really what I’m guilty of, is not making sure that I took all my staff (into account) and took smaller steps,” Bartz said. “I know that I’m less than perfect.”

“If I did have a second chance,” Bartz pleaded, “…you better believe I’d be doing things a lot better, a lot slower.”

She also wanted to make clear she does not plan on suing the district and has no financial gain from resigning. By the time she was done, almost everyone in the room gave her a loud standing ovation.

Winkler and Superintendent of Schools Mary Fox-Alter declined comment following the meeting. Bartz could not be reached for comment immediately following the final decision.

Still, community members voiced displeasure about the decision.

“I do think they took all of our comments into consideration,” resident and parent Joseph Stargiotti said. “It does tell me, though, that they were firmly set in their decision. I don’t know why. I don’t know what the issues are.”

One faculty member who spoke up for Bartz, English teacher Scott Johnson, who was named the district’s teacher of the year this spring, said after the meeting that the high school is losing a valuable administrator.

“Dawn Bartz is a great treasure for our school,” Johnson said.

Frustrating to many community members was the apparent veil of secrecy over the move. Board members responded by saying they are bound by a confidentiality agreement that all parties signed off on, which limits what they can discuss publicly.

This is the second time in three years the district has lost a high school principal. In August 2010, the district fired principal Anthony Rotunno a day after he officially started in the district. Rotunno had been dogged by controversy following a state audit that accused him of alleged misuse of student-raised funds at his former school in the Bronx.

Bartz was appointed in 2011 after Robert Hendrickson served as the interim principal.

Bartz is a Pleasantville resident and has three children in the school district. One of her children, a daughter, is a freshman at the high school.

Check back for updates throughout the week and in next week’s Examiner.