Oswego, NY – Former Oswego City School District Superintendent David Fischer was grilled on the witness stand for nearly five hours Monday.
Fischer served as superintendent of Oswego schools from January 2005 to June 30. On July 1 he left to become the superintendent of the Bellingham School District in Massachusetts.
He was in Oswego Monday to testify in the hearing against former Riley Elementary School principal Dean Goewey.
Following accusations of sexual harassment, Goewey was placed on administrative leave (with pay) in November 2006.
His hearing got under way the following year; Monday was the 21st day of testimony.
Goewey is being represented by Art Scheuermann
According to Fischer, his relationship with Goewey started off “both positive and productive.â€ÂÂ
About a month or two as Oswego superintendent, Fischer said that he received an anonymous correspondence that conveyed concerns regarding Goewey’s “lack of leadership, follow through and a lack of visibility†in the school.
The correspondence contained other allegations, he noted.
So, he invited Goewey into his office to discuss the matter.
Fischer said he asked Goewey why someone would send such a letter. Goewey replied he didn’t know, Fischer testified.
He gave Goewey the letter and didn’t keep a copy for himself, Fischer said.
Fischer testified that, during the summer of 2006, he heard more complaints about Goewey from a number of other people, including then-school board member Sally Nettles.
Some staff members at Riley “were very fearful that there would be retribution, backlash, repercussions if they signed documents with Dean as their supervisor,†he said. “They were fearful of signing documents.”
At one point, Fischer told how he had met with Riley kindergarten teacher Kathy Carroll, from Aug. 17 to Nov. 7, 2006. Her information was used for nine of the charges against Goewey.
Fischer testified that Carroll informed him that Goewey (allegedly) had a vibrator/neck massager in his office and that he (allegedly) used a toy black monkey to mock an African-American parent who was in the school’s main office.
At this point, Hearing Officer Doug Bantle paused the questioning by Scheuermann and asked Fischer to clarify his testimony.
His recollection from the record is Carroll “testified vehemently” she didn’t want to talk to anyone about the alleged incident, Bantle said.
He added he has 399 pages of notes from the hearing and doesn’t recall Carroll, or anyone else, saying she told Fischer about the incidents.
However, Fischer replied that she did in fact speak with him from time to time between August and November 2006.
As part of Goewey’s 2005-06 school year evaluation, Fischer told him to create an improvement plan, Scheuermann said, adding his client submitted three separate plans (Oct. 4, 17 and 20, 2006); “all three were rejected by Mr. Fischer,” he said.
“I thought he took a very shallow approach to address the issues with the improvement plan,†Fischer responded.
After Goewey’ suspension, there was a “hostile environment” at Riley, “a clear division, an on-going division in the building,” between those who supported Goewey and those who didn’t, Fischer said.
Jim Tschudy was appointed interim principal in an attempt to heal the rift and get the focus in the school back on teaching students, he added.
If what the witnesses of the alleged sexual harassment say is true, Fischer testified, he would support terminating Goewey.
It would be “inappropriate” for the former principal to be in a leadership position or around children, Fischer said.
“The only problem I have with Dean Goewey is his blatant lies about things he said that I said (after the sexual harassment charges were filed),†Fischer continued. “They’re blatant lies; I didn’t say those things.”
Scheuermann asked Fischer about comments he allegedly made including, “You’re either with me or you’re shark bait” and telling Goewey, “The superintendent always wins.”
Fischer denied making such remarks and added he didn’t know why someone would say that he did.
Scheuermann asked Fischer about allegedly telling former Minetto Elementary School Principal Barb Parry, “You’re either with me or you’re gone.” He pointed out that within a year, she was indeed gone.
“She retired,” Fischer noted.
The hearing is expected to resume at 10 a.m. Aug. 4.
missing or outdated ad config
Fact: Fischer claims he never said “youre with me or youre sharkbait”
Fact: In an earlier testimony Bill Foley admitted that Fischer said this quote and other similar ones upon his 2005 arrival
Fact: Bill Foley said this when Maggie Tiballi was still in charge of the school board
So one can infer that Bill Foley was telling the truth because his position in the district is one that is directly appointed by the school board. If he lied and made Maggie upset, she and her fab four possibly would have fired him.
Either Fischer or Foley is lying and I’m willing to bet its Fischer
Richard, your logic escapes me. If Maggie Tiballi really was in charge of the school board and if she was as supportive of Fischer as you have written in the past, wouldn’t she have had Mr. Foley fired for accusing Fischer of making such a statement? The way I see it, it is one man’s word against another’s. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say which one is lying. It sounds to me like you just want to throw stones.
Folks you are missing something very important. This case isn’t about all the district staff members who allegedly received negative verbal comments from the superintendent. This case is supposed to be about the District and Dean Goewey.
At the hearing on Monday the superintendent apparently said that several people who commented about the allegations that “you are with me or your gone” weren’t telling the truth. However, that isn’t why this hearing commenced in the first place.
Judy here is my point:
Maggie Tiballi probably was not happy with Foley for admitting in his testimony that Fischer made such statements. But can she fire him for telling the truth? No. That is why I believe it was him, and not Fischer, who was being truthful. If Foley was lying, Tiballi maybe would have fired him for that reason. Since she didn’t act on anything, it is an educated guess that Mr. Foley was telling the truth and Maggie therefore didn’t even have grounds to try to dismiss him. Also it isn’t a matter of “if” Maggie was supportive of Fischer – she openly stated many times that she was very supportive of his entire agenda and she never once opposed him on a single issue.
And Mike, the superintendent’s attitude is something that is relevant to all of this. The defense is trying to show that this is probably a personal vendetta from Fischer’s end. Fischer wanted to stack the principal’s chairs with his own hires. So he tried to get rid of the other principals. Goewey was simply hardest to get rid of, so the taxpayers have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for Fischer’s personal witch hunt. I agree it is not about putting Fischer on trial for his own inappropriate comments but it is about revealing the true Fischer – an angry man who was hungry for power and showing that this type of attitude is why Goewey was dismissed in the first place.
sorry one other thing –
about Fischer/Foley. Fischer has motivation to lie – wants to cover his own tracks. But why would Foley lie about something incriminating about his boss? What would the motive be there? Actually technically, Fischer wasn’t his boss, Foley reports to the school board, but Fischer essentially controlled the board via Maggie’s 4-3 majority.
Also I wanted to give a source. This was reported in the Pall Times on the very first day of the hearings. Pall Times no longer has this on their website however I found on Inside Oswego something that was copied and pasted directly from the Pall Times report:
“Scheuermann asked Foley about a statement allegedly made by the superintendent of schools, David Fischer. The statement was “you’re either with me or you’re shark bait.†Foley admitted Fischer said it, but the statement was made more than three years ago when Fischer first arrived at the Oswego City School District.”