With the Newburgh schools superintendent, who sources say is the subject of a misconduct complaint, absent from Tuesday evening’s board meeting, members appointed Ed Forgit, a deputy superintendent, acting superintendent just weeks before the year begins.
Superintendent Roberto Padilla missed a second consecutive board meeting after the board was made aware, according to district employees, of a misconduct complaint filed against an administrator earlier this month.
Padilla was not at Friday night’s special board meeting to approve the suspension of an administrator and cut off the administrator’s access to a district-provided cell phone.
Calls to Padilla’s work cell phone number were answered with an automated disconnection message.
Two sources who have worked at the district office have independently identified Padilla as the subject of a complaint filed in mid-August immediately after Padilla and several administrators returned from an educators’ conference in San Diego.
The sources asked for anonymity because they feared retaliation.
When reached for comment, district leaders declined to provide a statement on Padilla’s employment status or whether he was still receiving his taxpayer-funded salary.
Ahead of the suspension, the school board approved funds to pay an investigator to look into the complaint.
Padilla has been at his post for nearly eight years and was named the 2021 Superintendent of the Year by the New York State Council of Superintendents.
The school board gave Padilla a pay raise of $30,000 in July, bringing his total yearly salary up to $280,000.
Approached at his home in Monroe on Tuesday, Padilla declined comment on his absence, only telling a reporter to leave.