Former Hampton Bays principal serves six claims, seeks reinstatement

A former Hampton Bays High School principal who resigned in 2006 after he was arrested and accused of making harassing calls to several women is seeking reinstatement to his former position and reparations for years of lost wages.

Attorneys representing Frank Vetro last month filed six notices of claim, which could be the first step leading to multiple lawsuits, including one against the Hampton Bays School District. The list of respondents include Hampton Bays School Superintendent Joanne Loewenthal, former and current Hampton Bays School Board members, both the Suffolk County Police Department and Suffolk County district attorney’s office, the New York State Education Department’s Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability, and another former employer, the Middle Country School District.

Though each notice makes different allegations, the crux of Mr. Vetro’s complaint is that he believes he was discriminated against when Hampton Bays School District officials failed to reinstate him when the original criminal charges filed against him were reduced from misdemeanors to violations in March 2009.

In the claim filed against Hampton Bays, Mr. Vetro, who has been unable to land another job since he said he was forced to resign three years ago, states that school administrators refused to rehire him because his arrest generated too much bad press for the school. He also maintains that the charges filed against him, which included seven misdemeanor counts of second-degree aggravated harassment that were later reduced to two violations, never interfered with his work as high school principal.

“All I want to do is get back to work,” said Mr. Vetro who contends that he was misled by his former boss, Ms. Loewenthal, following his arrest in 2006 and was forced to step down from his $112,000-a-year position.

Mr. Vetro—who interviewed last week for an open assistant principal position at Hampton Bays Middle School—states in the claim filed in June that Ms. Loewenthal promised him that his old job would be waiting for him after he had cleared his name. Mr. Vetro said this week that he has not yet heard back about the new job opening in his former district.

“Although I have reasserted my interest, I have not been reinstated as promised and have exhausted all avenues to remedy the situation,” Mr. Vetro states in the claim.

The six-page notice filed with the Hampton Bays School District names Ms. Loewenthal, current School Board President Doug Oakland, Vice President George Leeman, and board members Marie Mulcahy, Warren Booth and Chris Garvey, as well as former board members Chris Catz, Lisa Fotopoulos, Jen Boyer and Craig Tufano, as respondents. A separate claim also lists Joe Kolarik, the district’s administrative association representative, as a respondent because he failed, according to the claim, to fight for Mr. Vetro’s reinstatement.

Ms. Loewenthal, Mr. Oakland and Mr. Leeman did not return calls seeking comment this week.

Michael Conte, a spokesman for the Hampton Bays School District, in a prepared statement released on Wednesday, said the district does not comment on pending legal matters. He also declined to comment on the status of Mr. Vetro’s employment application.

“The district does not provide public comment on applicants for any employment positions within the district,” he wrote in the statement. “We attempt to vigilantly maintain the privacy of all existing and prospective employees of the schools,” he said.

In the claim filed against Hampton Bays, Mr. Vetro said Ms. Loewenthal forced him to sign a letter of resignation for public relations reasons after he was arrested a second time in June 2006. Mr. Vetro was arrested a second time after Suffolk County Police said he violated an order of protection secured by an ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be one of the women who filed harassment charges against him that led to his original arrest. The ex-girlfriend, identified as Michelle Konik-Brosdal in one of the six claims, is a teacher with the Middle County School District, where Mr. Vetro worked before accepting a post in Hampton Bays.

Mr. Vetro is seeking the following reparations: reinstatement to his former position with tenure; repayment of all back pay, front pay and fringe benefits; repayment of all attorney’s fees; payment of damages for humiliation, pain and suffering; payment for lost time and benefits in the New York State Teacher’s Retirement System; a written public apology; and a full investigation into how his employment was handled. The claims do not include amounts for the possible monetary damage.

According to Mr. Vetro, a hearing has been scheduled with Hampton Bays School District officials for Friday, August 14, so he and his attorneys can discuss the claim with them. It is not clear where that meeting will be held.

Howard Gilbert, Mr. Vetro’s attorney, did not return repeated calls seeking comment this week.

If he is offered the assistant principal position at Hampton Bays Middle School, Mr. Vetro said he would consider dropping the two claims he had filed against the school district. Still, he said he plans on moving forward with the four other notices of claim.

“I would love to drop it,” he said, referring to the Hampton Bays claim. “Given the right situation, I’m sure it can be done.”

On February 8, 2006, Mr. Vetro was arrested as he was leaving work and charged with seven counts of second-degree aggravated harassment for allegedly making harassing calls to several different women, including former colleagues and a former student at Newfield High School.

Before being hired as an assistant principal by Hampton Bays in 2003, and appointed principal in 2005, Mr. Vetro was employed as a science teacher at Newfield High School, which is part of the Middle Country School District. He resigned following his second arrest in June 2006.

In March 2008, Mr. Vetro pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment and was placed on probation for one year. In past interviews, Mr. Vetro’s former Hicksville attorney Nicholas Marino stated that the counts he pleaded guilty to involved one woman with whom Mr. Vetro had a long-standing relationship.

At his sentencing in March, those two charges were reduced to violations, according to Mr. Vetro.

Mr. Vetro has repeatedly stated that the arrests stem from a dispute involving an ex-girlfriend who is a teacher in the Middle Country School District. In the claim submitted to that district, Mr. Vetro said that the woman, Ms. Konik-Brosdal, gained access to his cell phone and convinced other women, including a former student and her parents, to file similar harassment claims against him.

Middle Country School District Superintendent Roberta Gerold did not return calls seeking comment this week.

In addition to the Hampton Bays and Middle Country school districts, Mr. Vetro has filed separate claims against the Suffolk County Police Department and Suffolk County district attorney’s office for the handling of his arrest, accusing both of official misconduct, negligence and defamation of character. According to the documents, Mr. Vetro is charging that police investigators tampered with physical evidence, and officials representing District Attorney Thomas Spota defamed him by stating that one of his victims was a former student of his.

The final notice of claim charges that the New York State Education Department’s Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability wrongfully placed a hold on his teaching license following his arrest in 2006.

When reached on Tuesday, Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Education, declined to comment on the charges. “We never comment on pending litigation,” he said.

Tim Motz, the director of public information for the Suffolk County Police Department, also declined to comment on the notice of claim filed against his department. “We’re not going to comment at the current time due to pending litigation,” Mr. Motz said.

Representatives from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office did not return calls this week.