Karen Heitner disciplinary case: Plainview-Old Bethpage superintendent Mary O'Meara, called as hostile witness, testifies at principal's hearing

A Plainview-Old Bethpage elementary school principal accused of m isconduct toward staffers had excellent performance ratings in the four years she was supervised by Superintendent Mary O'Meara, who testified at the principal’s disciplinary hearing this week.

In multiple evaluations, O'Meara commended Karen Heitner, principal of Pasadena Elementary School in Plainview, for tackling serious employee matters and holding staff accountable, she testified Tuesday.

O'Meara, who became superintendent in 2020, also said Pasadena under Heitner had “a strong writing program.”

Heitner faces administrative charges alleging she touched two staffers inappropriately during a PTA luncheon in June 2024, as well as engaged in age discrimination and created a hostile and unsafe work environment involving other employees. She was suspended in August 2024 and the district is seeking to fire her.

Heitner's attorneys have argued the allegations against her were made by disgruntled employees who underperformed or resisted changes Heitner brought to the school.

Heitner's attorneys called O'Meara to testify Tuesday as they continued to build their case in defense of the principal. O'Meara, who recommended the charges against Heitner to the school board last year, was treated as a "hostile witness," meaning one who supports the opposing side.

O'Meara said in the four years Heitner reported to her, she had rated the principal “highly effective."

In some of those evaluations, O'Meara said Heitner had to address difficult employee situations, including teachers not meeting expectations or not consistently showing up for work.

O'Meara testified Heitner, in one year, dealt with a "dis-request" for one teacher — a term used to describe a request from a parent to not assign a certain educator to their child based on an older sibling’s past experience with that person.

Former Superintendent Lorna Lewis testified at a prior hearing that, “Some teachers had a high number of dis-requests. And Karen would address them.” 

O'Meara said Heitner also addressed attendance issues with several staffers, including a speech therapist who has accused Heitner of sexual assault in a lawsuit against the district.

Christopher Donarummo, the district's assistant superintendent for human resources and safety, investigated the allegations against Heitner and found she inappropriately touched the woman. But Maria Carnesi, co-president of the district's administrators union, testified she did not see physical contact between the two after watching the video twice during a hearing earlier this month.

The speech therapist testified in May that she took some days off as she was dealing with the illnesses of her late husband and had medical issues of her own.

O'Meara wrote in an evaluation of Heitner that the principal had worked with several teachers who required extensive supervision and she had difficult conversations with them about improvement, including Peter Ravo, a teacher who Heitner later did not recommend for tenure.

Ravo had alleged Heitner tried to hug him, which made him feel uncomfortable, and in another case repeatedly contacted him after school hours. In his reports, Donarummo found the principal to have acted improperly in these instances. Donarummo also testified Heitner informed Ravo's union representative before telling him about allegations regarding issues in his classroom.

Heitner’s attorneys said she did not request the hug and that the principal called Ravo to address a parent’s concerns due to an incident that had happened in his classroom earlier that day involving two children.

Suzanne Gray, principal of Old Bethpage Elementary School, testified in an earlier hearing that in the past she would contact the teachers union representative before reaching out to the teacher. The practice was changed at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. 

O'Meara testified that prior practice had been to give union representatives a head-ups, but said she has told administrators to notify the staffer first.

On providing feedback, O'Meara said she didn’t think “you need to be harsh when you deliver critical feedback." But she agreed when Heitner’s attorney, Arthur Scheuermann, suggested such feedback could be “perceived” by the teacher as harsh, even when it was not intended to be taken that way.

O'Meara is expected to continue testifying Nov. 6.