Was Vincent Butera unfairly forced from his position as Manhasset superintendent by a few “bad actors” who incited a walkout of high school students as one school board member claimed?

Was Butera a victim of a legitimate #MeToo movement seeking justice in sexual harassment cases that went too far?

Did the punishment far exceed the alleged crime?

It is hard to conclude otherwise. And even the possibility that a dedicated educator overseeing a quality school district could be wrongly pushed out of his job should concern us all.

There is much in the case that remains unknown due to privacy concerns.

This includes the identity of the elementary school teacher whose complaint against Butera set the wheels in motion for his leaving the district.

In a civil suit or criminal case, the teacher’s identity would be known and she would be subject to questioning to clarify her side of the story.

But school policy protected her right to privacy and she chose to never discuss the complaint in public as was her right.

What we do know is that in September 2020 the teacher, who is no longer with the school district, filed a complaint against Butera that he made her feel uncomfortable after hugging her twice in school and frequently visiting her classroom to “just stand in the back and stare.” She described it as “creepy.”

Filing the complaint was certainly the teacher’s right. Sexual harassment is real and women’s concerns should be respected.

The Manhasset school board responded correctly by following district policy and hiring an outside counsel from upstate to investigate the complaint.

The outside counsel found that Butera had violated the school’s sexual harassment policy by making the teacher uncomfortable. The policy has since been changed, but the school district has not disclosed how.

The school board then correctly determined that Butera’s actions did not require punishment, citing the independent counsel’s recommendations.

This was done internally out of the public eye as would be normal in cases like this.

But then the complaint and subsequent investigation was leaked and later disclosed by NBC News and in a weekly newspaper. In May 2021 A firestorm followed.

Some parents immediately called for Butera to resign, and about 200 seniors walked out in
protest. The students chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, Vincent Butera has to go,” and many, including some teachers, wore black in protest

Butera responded to the controversy at a May 6 Board of Education meeting, saying it had been “extremely disheartening to learn that my actions were construed by even one person as anything other than completely professional.”

He acknowledged hugging the teacher on two occasions.

The first, he said, was at a retirement party with over 100 people in attendance, and a DJ playing music loudly, at a time when many teachers were upset that one of their colleagues had died and many there were “overwhelmed with emotion.”

“And I hugged the complainant, in an effort to console her, as I did with others that day,” Butera said.

The second hug, he said, was one of several “congratulatory” hugs that the teacher received from administrators and a Board of Education member after reaching a “significant professional milestone.”

Of the visits. Butera said he routinely went to “classrooms throughout the district to observe classes, to spend time with students and staff, and to monitor and oversee district initiatives,” Butera said.

Board members and school administrators rightly defended Butera.

“There is no dispute that these events occurred,” Barbara Johnson, the deputy superintendent for business and operations, said. “There is, however, a dispute regarding Dr. Butera’s intent vs. the perception of the complainant. The board dealt with the complaint, issued a letter to the complainant, later circulated by unknown parties, stated its conclusion. As the board stated previously, it took appropriate action in the
context of the nature of the complaint, which did not include termination.”

“I know Dr. Butera to be a humble, kind, caring and thoughtful human being and superintendent,” Johnson went on. “He is honest and he is self-aware. He is an extraordinary leader, the best I have ever worked with in my plus-40-year career.”

The board’s response seems reasonable based on what Butera had done.

But many parents and one school board candidate disagreed.

District parent Stacey Kelly said that she reacted in “horror and disgust” to news of the investigation. She would later gather more than 800 signatures to a petition calling for Butera’s ouster.

“Is Manhasset a zero-tolerance district when it comes to sexual harassment by students, staff, faculty and most especially the superintendent of the district?” Kelly said. “If the answer is no, then you as a board owe an explanation to the community as to why not. If the answer is yes, as it should be, then why does Dr. Butera still have a job? Why has he not been terminated?

Actually, this depends on what the definition of sexual harassment is.

Are two hugs in public and looking at a teacher or even staring at a teacher during visits to a classroom sexual harassment?

Should the perceptions of one unnamed teacher that she was sexually harassed be enough to end the career of a distinguished educator?

Should every complaint be made public?

This seems to be a very dangerous standard.

Amid these questions, Butera took a leave of absence that he would never return from. He cited his concern that the controversy surrounding the sexual harassment complaint would distract from the end of the school year and the upcoming graduations.

At a time when a former American president who was elected with more than 20 credible sexual harassment complaints against him and not only refused to leave office after was defeated by more than 7 million votes but launched a campaign to overturn the election that included an assault on the U.S. Capitol,  Butera’s leave of absence seemed like something from another century.

One wonders if many of the people calling for Butera’s head were equally demanding of President Trump.

The Manhasset Board of Education unanimously approved a separation agreement with Butera in February that called for him to stay on paid administrative until his resignation became effective on July 11.

The agreement allows him to receive the full remainder of his annual pay, $286,844, until his contract expires on June 30, 2023.

But Butera’s problems did not end there.

The state Education Department had launched an investigation of Butera in November 2021 based on a single complaint from the public that permits the department to determine if “certified educators lack good moral character.”

The Education Department closed its investigation two weeks ago. Butera said the state DOE’s conclusions were consistent with what the Manhasset board had concluded 18 months ago that discipline was not necessary.

“For anyone in a leadership position, it is disconcerting to have unsubstantiated claims become a source of hurtful speculation and misinformation,” Butera said in a letter to Blank Slate Media.

In the meantime, the school district has lost an effective leader even though neither the Manhasset school board nor state Education Department found he had not done anything that even required he be disciplined.

There’s something very wrong with that.