Principal Retaliation

Middletown, NY: (Sep-27-07) Former principal Bernard Cohen and the Middletown School District filed lawsuits against each other over a former superintendent's conviction on sodomy charges. Cohen was the high school principal under former Superintendent Robert Sigler, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to sodomizing a 14-year-old male student. Cohen told police he suspected his boss was molesting the high school student. The district later sought a disciplinary hearing against Cohen for not putting his suspicions in writing. In 2005, an arbitrator sided with the school board against Cohen. The board voted unanimously two days later to fire him. Cohen sued in federal court, claiming the district retaliated against him for speaking up about Sigler. He was seeking $6 million in damages.

In a settlement reached, the school district agreed to settle with Cohen, paying him $425,000, half from the district, half from its insurance company, putting and end to the lawsuits he and the district had filed against each other. Sources claimed that Cohen agreed to the settlement rather than extend the process in part because the high profile of the case had already established a public record. [TIMES HERALD RECORD: FIRED PRINCIPAL]

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Published on Sep-27-07