NEWBURGH – Newburgh School Board President Darron Stridiron has called a special meeting for Tuesday to discuss with board members and the superintendent charges against teacher Richard Desiderio, but several of them say they are not available.
Desiderio was suspended with pay for among other things, being “observed pulling a female kindergarten student (A.R.) onto his lap with her head in the crook of his arm (and) tickled her belly” on May 5.
Stridiron may be sitting at his special meeting alone.
“It doesn’t seem as if we are going to get any participation since I checked my email and it looks like four board members are saying they are unable to make it and the superintendent said she is not available all next week,” he said. “We will see what happens on Tuesday. I will be there and hopefully we will have enough for a quorum so we can get some answers.”
The child referenced in the charges as A.R. is Alexa Richardson, who was four years old at the time, her mother, Aneisha Davidson said. The child is a special needs youngster with limited speaking abilities she said, but her mother said she loves “Mr. D.”
Davidson also revealed she has never been contacted by the school district about that alleged misconduct against the educator who she said her daughter loves.
“It’s sad because he actually truly cares about the kids and I don’t think it is right for him or the students going through it,” she said.
In a June interview, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jackielyn Manning Campbell told Mid-Hudson News that students know who consider their best interests.
“Kids are kids and kids know who is there for them because it’s all about their heart and they seek you out. If they don’t feel you are there with pure intentions, then they know,” she said.
Stridiron also believes that Desiderio should be protected under the district’s whistleblower law because it was he who alerted authorities to the 2019 high school athletes attendance scandal and other issues, including a situation where a teacher would not allow a young female student to go to the bathroom and the child wound up soiling her clothes.
