By MARC BEJA
But before the Board of Education voted on whether to strip Mooney of her job at its July 23 meeting, OHS phys. ed. teacher Mike Janosko walked down the School 6 auditorium aisle holding a piece of paper. He was submitting a letter of resignation for Mooney, who was not in attendance.
Throughout the meeting, veteran teachers had hurled accusations at the administration, there had been heated exchanges between Brown and representatives of the Oceanside Federation of Teachers, and teary-eyed students had loudly voiced their opposition to Mooney¹s dismissal. After Janosko came forward with the letter and the board examined it, trustees voted unanimously to break for an executive session behind closed doors to decide if it would accept the resignation.
The session dragged on until nearly midnight. When the board reconvened in the auditorium, President Al Lyson announced that Mooney¹s resignation had been accepted.
Mooney, a second-year health teacher, was informed of her dismissal two days before the school year ended in June. The district gave no formal reason for its action, and the board said it could not publicly discuss personnel matters. Mooney had the right to request an explanation for her dismissal, but, Brown said, ³She chose not to exercise that right.²
Mooney was also an assistant coach of the girls¹ varsity gymnastics team and directed the middle-school gymnastics program. She had taken part in a new mentoring program praised by the administration and fellow teachers alike, and also worked with the Interact service club, organized a girls¹ charitable football game, and attended a wide range of school functions.
The only acknowledged flaw in Mooney¹s record, according to teachers¹ union representatives, was her work as advisor to the AIDS Awareness Club, for which she was paid about $1,000, and was to serve 30 hours. Brown said that she gave the club only four hours of her time. The high school union representative, Frank Nappi, said only that Mooney honestly answered every question school administrators asked her about her work with the club.
According to Nappi, if the administration is not satisfied with the job a club advisor is doing, the district can simply relieve the teacher of those extracurricular duties. Since Mooney is untenured, however, the district reserves the right to dismiss her for any reason it sees fit.
At the meeting, Mooney¹s fellow teachers expressed anger not only about her likely firing, but also about the way she was treated. Mooney learned of her dismissal not from her supervisor, Athletic Director Dave Zawatson, Principal Dorie Ciulla or Brown, but rather by the absence of a payroll verification form in her school mailbox.
³I apologize,² Brown said. ³That never should have happened. It¹s inappropriate.²
On June 21, Zawatson handed Mooney an official letter stating that her contract would not be renewed, and that Brown would recommend to the board that she be dismissed. According to the union, the district gave no indication that Mooney was doing an unsatisfactory job until June.
³Why was nothing brought up for the first year and 38 weeks that she worked?² asked Andy Morris, a teacher for 25 years and a gymnastics coach alongside Mooney,.
³[S]omeone else might see it as her being informed 11 weeks before the next school year begins,² Brown shot back ‹ which, he said, is sufficient time for Mooney to get another teaching job.
Brown questioned why the union was fighting for an untenured teacher, since, in the past, under former President Leslie Krasnoff, the union had not taken a position on probationary teachers. Union representatives answered that it was not just a matter of tenure, but how the district dealt with Mooney¹s situation. ³Over the 25 years I¹ve taught in this district, I¹ve seen too many teachers let go after being given stellar evaluations,² teacher Rich Woods said. ³How can the board make a decision about a person¹s life without ever meeting or talking to her in person?²
³She chose not to exercise that right, and that was her decision,² Brown repeated, as he did several times during the meeting.
Nappi said there was ³thin justification at best² for Mooney¹s removal, while Brown disagreed, saying he believed it was ³just and proper.²
Morris said that Mooney was inadequately supervised by Zawatson, who resigned in June to take a job in the Great Neck school district. ³I cannot once remember our A.D. evaluating her performance in my gymnasium,² Morris said. ³Yet somehow he was able to write her an evaluation at the end of the season.²
³[Zawatson] never asked me how [Mooney] was doing,² Morris said. Parents and gymnasts in the audience chimed in that Zawatson had attended just one gymnastics meet.
In Zawatson¹s defense, Brown said that the district has 65 teams, many of which had games scheduled simultaneously. ³Dave Zawatson was at many, many events,² he said. ³He was out every single day.²
Members of Mooney¹s gymnastics teams voiced their support for her. ³We had an amazing coach that went above and beyond,² student Kaitlin Farley said, fighting back tears. ³She was like a second mother to me.²
³You say you care about the best interest of the students,² recent OHS graduate Megan Silverstein said to the board. ³I think it would be in our best interest that Ms. Mooney continues teaching here.²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
Photos by Marc Beja/Herald
