KES Principal Taking Leave of Absence for 'Personal Family Health Issues'

Jonathan Kaplan is stepping down from his post as principal of Katonah Elementary School and is requesting privacy to take care of "personal family health issues," said school officials Tuesday night.

The announcement was made by Dr. Robert Roelle, superintendent of schools, at a special meeting held at the school. He read a joint statement (posted with this story) from Kaplan and the district, followed by prepared remarks from Mark Lipton, vice president of the school board, and Alice Cronin, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who outlined plans for identifying an interim principal and supporting students through a transition period.

"The district will be granting a request for a leave of absence from Jonathan Kaplan," said Roelle, reading from the statement. "Mr. Kaplan expressed sadness at his inability to complete the school year with his students. The board of education and this administration are committed to providing a high quality educational experience, and [assistant principal] Terry Costin will work with the entire staff at KES to support students on a daily basis."

Not satisfied with hearing prepared statements, 100-plus parents unleashed a two-hour barrage of complaints and demanding questions on school officials who said they couldn't answer most of them due to the legal and privacy issues surrounding personnel matters.

Communications

The controversy was as much about the manner in which the district notified parents of the administrative change as it was about losing a beloved member of the school community.

on Monday to the KES community informing them of "an impending personnel matter," that could lead to a "change in administrative responsibilities" at the school, but did not name which administrator it involved. By Tuesday morning, Kaplan's name had been removed from the school's website and his email and voicemail were inactive.

Parents expressed frustration about the "mixed messages" they received, describing the email as "omninous," "sinister," and "disrespectful" to the community. Some suggested he was ousted, and many questioned the validity of Kaplan's leave of absence and wanted to know if he would return.

"Why was the email sent yesterday open-ended?" asked Nelson Salazar. "If it is a leave of absence, why didn't it say so?"

Mark Dembo added that the district should not be withholding information from taxpayers. "This community is a family—this information seems like an out and out lie," he said.

Lipton assured the group that the board had no intent to withhold information. "We work as quickly as we can in a crisis," he said, noting that the board is prohibited by law from meeting without public notice. "We know it's frustrating and inconvenient to hear that we can't comment, but we can't because it protects the privacy of the employee and the taxpayers who could be exposed to litigation."

Roelle added that he couldn't yet answer the question of whether Kaplan would be returning after a leave of absence.

"It's difficult to respond without touching on personnel issues, and the information is subject to change. We can't yet say what the long-range plan is," he said.

Board member Janet Harckham said she empathized with the group assembled. "I know how you might feel—the letter was frustrating. I view KES as a very tight-knit family and there was no good way to tell this news to a group of people like you."

Response to children

Parents were angry that they didn't have the chance to tell their children first about Kaplan leaving, when many of their children found out about his absence at school Tuesday. Though Cronin said a crisis team had prepped teachers with a script to use with students, parents said their children came home from school with wide-ranging stories on why he was gone—from being sick, to being in trouble.

Cronin said the faculty had met twice in the past two days and if asked, were told to use the language in the statement to answer student questions. But parents said students—many of them close to Kaplan—should have been told outright that he was leaving, preferably by Kaplan himself.

"Kids didn't get the chance to say goodbye," said Tracey Pagan, mother of a kindergartener and fourth-grader. She challenged the district's position of keeping the next few days as routine as possible for students.

"You want us to act like it's a typical day—there is no typical day without Jonathan Kaplan at this school," she said. "He is a safety net and a soft place to land for our kids. To expect us to go on like it's typical is impossible."

Both Cronin and Lipton said they would work with the crisis team, which includes the school social worker and psychologist, to ensure that a consistent message was being conveyed by teachers and staff.

Next steps

Roelle said that the immediate goal was to identify an interim principal. He said he was confident they'd find a candidate quickly, given the qualified—and available—candidates from their recent search for an .

If Kaplan does not return, and the district were to conduct a search for a permanent replacement, it would seek input from parents and the community, said Roelle.

Amid accusations of violating the public's trust, Lipton strongly defended the district's and the board's actions, and said the community would soon return to normalcy.

"Through no part of this process did I feel uncomfortable with my actions or those of the governance team," he said. "We are in the middle of this and are dealing with uncertainty…this community is bigger than a single individual. This is your building and your community and it is what you make of it."