Southampton Superintendent Resigns, Receives $300,000 Payout; District Refuses To Disclose Investigation Findings

Southampton School Superintendent Dr. Scott Farina resigned on Friday and will receive a payout of roughly $300,000, although the district has refused to disclose the specific reasons for the resignation, which came on the heels of an outside investigation.The resignation came about two months after the district’s Board of Education hired outside counsel to investigate unspecified allegations made against the superintendent, the findings of which prompted his decision to resign.The board accepted Dr. Farina’s resignation at a 4-minute-long special meeting on Friday afternoon, which he did not attend. Reading from a prepared statement, School Board President Heather McCallion said the move was a direct result of the investigation, but she would not go into detail about what investigators found, citing that information to be “confidential and not subject to public disclosure.”“We recognize that some in our community and members of the media will have questions about Dr. Farina’s departure, but we can’t offer comment on personnel matters, and we wish to respect the right to privacy for all involved,” Ms. McCallion stated.The board at that same meeting also appointed Dr. Nicholas Dyno, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, as interim superintendent. The two actions received unanimous approval from all present board members, although Trustees Christina Strassfield and Jake Wilson were absent. No public input was permitted at Friday’s meeting.Dr. Farina will receive a nearly $300,000 settlement after resigning from his position, as per his agreement with the district, which The Press obtained Tuesday via a Freedom of Information Law filing.According to the agreement, Dr. Farina will receive one year’s salary, which was $234,000, and will also be paid for each unused vacation and sick day at the rate of $1,170 each. He had eight unused vacation days and 47 unused sick days, totaling $64,350.Dr. Farina will receive $298,350 within 30 days of resigning from his post. Beginning May 1, he will be eligible to continue receiving medical and dental coverage pursuant to COBRA, and will pay the entire cost himself, according to District Clerk Mary Pontieri.Both Dr. Farina and Ms. McCallion signed the five-page agreement the day the School Board accepted his resignation.The Press also filed a FOIL request on Monday seeking a copy of the findings of the investigation, which was conducted by the Garden City-based firm Jaspan Schlesinger LLP. The school district denied the request on Tuesday, citing “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and “other” as the reasons, although the line next to “other” to explain it was left blank. The Press plans to appeal the decision.Robert Freeman, executive director for the State Committee on Open Government, said the school district is wrong in refusing to disclose the findings of the investigation. Unlike with students, who are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, where public employees are concerned, “the courts have pretty much said [they] have less privacy than anyone else,” he said.“The law determines what is confidential and what is not,” he said, adding that any private confidentiality agreement between the district and an employee would be irrelevant, although federal statutes like those protecting personal medical records would indeed pertain. “There is no statute that would forbid disclosure of the kinds of records that you’re talking about. Embarrassment is not one of the grounds for withholding,” he explained.The school district announced last month that it had hired an outside attorney to investigate allegations made against Dr. Farina, although the School Board has never said what the allegations were.After the district’s announcement, the New York Post published a story on its website citing anonymous sources that said the allegations included financial misconduct and favoritism, along with an explicit photo “leaked by a betrayed girlfriend” that was “making the rounds on campus.”Dr. Farina, via his attorney, Steve Politi of the Central Islip-based Steven Politi Law Office, had denied all of the allegations that were made in the New York Post story regarding the basis of the investigation.“Dr. Farina and I find this situation, started by a series of false allegations, very concerning,” Mr. Politi had said in a statement. “We are also displeased that certain press agencies and social media outlets would print a story based on rumors and unsubstantiated claims by an ex-girlfriend. We have denied all rumors and allegations in the past and will once again deny that any of the allegations have any truth to them whatsoever.”Mr. Politi did not return multiple calls seeking comment over the last week. On Tuesday, a receptionist at his office said she did not believe he would be commenting on Dr. Farina’s case any further.Brian Butry, a spokesperson for the state comptroller’s office, confirmed then that auditors were paying visits to the district since February 29, although he declined to specify whether the audit was routine or requested by individuals inside or outside of the district. Earlier this week he wrote in an email that the district’s audit was still ongoing, again declining to specify the scope of it.Mr. Butry added, however, that the comptroller’s office had received a complaint about the district—but he declined to elaborate on who filed the complaint and when.Although School Board members say they will not comment further about the situation, the process leading to Dr. Farina’s resignation appears to have started on Saturday morning, April 9, when the board held a special closed-door session to discuss personnel. Following that meeting, Dr. Farina was out sick from work Monday, April 11, through Thursday, April 14, and School Board members would not comment on his status as superintendent.Dr. Farina did not return a call or text message seeking comment.On Friday morning, April 15, after The Press published an online story about the lack of answers regarding the superintendent’s status, the district announced that it would be accepting Dr. Farina’s resignation at a special Board of Education meeting later that day, while also appointing Dr. Dyno as interim superintendent, effective immediately.Dr. Farina had been employed as superintendent of the Southampton School District since 2013. His contract originally was set to expire on June 30 of this year, but the Board of Education extended it until 2020, according to a resolution from March 2015.Before coming to Southampton, Dr. Farina served as an administrative consultant in Chester County, Pennsylvania, at what Southampton officials described as the “Pennsylvania equivalent of BOCES [Board of Cooperative Educational Services].” He was principal of East Hampton High School from 2003 to 2007, and before that was an assistant superintendent and high school principal in the Garnet Valley School District in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.