Closing arguments held in Long Beach Middle School abuse case

Disciplinary hearing comes to an end after 14 months

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Closing arguments were heard on May 22 at the final hearing of Lisa Weitzman, a former Long Beach Middle School teacher accused of abusing five of her special education students between 2009 and 2014.

The Long Beach School District launched a disciplinary hearing last year against Weitzman that could lead to her dismissal. The hearing — which was open to the public at Weitzman’s request — included 29 days of testimony over a 14-month period, said Christopher Powers, an attorney for the district.

Weitzman — who had been a teacher in the district since 2007 — has strongly denied the allegations at previous sessions and claimed that district administrators retaliated against her after she pushed for more classroom resources.

The district lodged eight formal charges against Weitzman, alleging that she used a bathroom as a timeout room, pushed a child against a wall, threatened to retain a child with zip ties, dug her high heel into a child’s foot and taped latex gloves to a student’s hands.

School officials said that the hearing officer, Robert Grey, would review the information provided to him at the hearings and submit his decision to the State Education Department, which will notify the school district. The district anticipates Grey to make a decision within 30 to 90 days, although it has waited longer in previous unrelated cases, school officials said.

“The matter is now up to the fact finder to determine guilt or innocence,” Powers said, “and if guilt has been determined — the appropriate sanction.”

Weitzman was suspended in November 2014 when the school district began its investigation into the allegations. She continues to collect her $96,000 salary while on administrative leave because she is tenured.

The hearing has included testimony from former Long Beach Middle School Principal Michele Natali; Middle School Nurse Mary Elizabeth Thurston; former teaching assistant Lauren Schneider; and Middle School Special Education Coordinator — and Weitzman’s supervisor —Vincent Russo.

Board of Education trustees Maureen Vrona and Dr. Dennis Ryan said they couldn’t comment on ongoing litigation, but, like many residents, expressed frustration that the hearing was prolonged over the course of so many months.

Last year, the parents of five of Weitzman’s students filed a $25 million lawsuit against the district in Nassau County Supreme Court, claiming that district officials failed to act on complaints made by several teaching assistants. Additionally, the parents of one of the students filed a federal lawsuit last April against the district, Weitzman, Schneider and Jean-Marie Lilley, another one of Weitzman’s teaching assistants.

Most recently, another parent, Shirlyn Summers, filed a lawsuit in Nassau County Supreme Court in February, alleging that Weitzman physically, sexually and mentally abused her daughter.

Weitzman’s attorney, Debra Wabnik, who did not immediately return the Herald’s requests for comment, has said in the past that her client devoted herself to protecting her students and advocated for them to receive the same opportunities that general education students had.  

Weitzman filed her own lawsuit against the district last year, claiming that she was the subject of a malicious investigation.

At a previous hearing, she said the district did not provide appropriate services and resources — such as a training session and more staff members — when she requested them.