Nyack Racks Up More Costs To Get Rid Of Another Superintendent: Report

NYACK, NY — The Nyack Board of Education has racked up more costs to get rid of another unwanted superintendent.

They voted in June to give then-Superintendent Susan Yom about $279,000 in pay, unused vacation time and retirement contributions in a settlement obtained by The Journal News through a Freedom of Information Law request.

In 2022, they voted to give then-Superintendent Eudes Budhai about $250,000 to leave after one year on the job.

Meanwhile, the district is paying Acting Superintendent Lizzette Ruiz-Giovinazzi, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, a base salary of $216,300 through June 30, 2025 as it searches for yet another schools chief.

According to TJN, all parties agreed to refrain from making or instigating derogatory comments about eachother.

The Journal News also said the trustees would also stop an unspecified "investigation" into Yom's actions by a law firm that specializes in investigating alleged violations of a civil rights law or workplace policy.

Read the entire article on lohud.com.

Yom was in the first year of her three-year contract at a base salary of $255,000.

Her departure was a triumph for unions in contract negotiations during her tenure.

In the spring, the Nyack Administrators Association, Nyack Teachers Association, School Related Professionals, Nyack Association of Educational Secretaries and Nyack Professional Security Personnel sent the Board of Education a statement of "no confidence" in Yom, who had been in the job less than a year, and various parent and community groups demanded the resignations of the school trustees as well.

Critics on social media ran the gamut, much of it contradictory. One said it was wrong that teachers were being asked to increase their caseloads from 125 students to 140 students. Another demanded spending be cut further. Some complained that the district's equity program was on hiatus; others that it had an equity program at all.

News12 reported that union members complained that she had bullied staffers. TJN reported that Kathy Kearney, president of the Nyack Teachers Association, said, "We've just decided that Nyack needs better."