Chester principal investigated for entering students' house

Ernest Jackson on administrative leave until Tuesday’s school board meeting Chester — Chester Middle School Principal Ernest Jackson is on administrative leave after he allegedly trespassed inside the home of two boys who were absent and trying to bring them to school. Jackson is a former assistant principal at Warwick middle school. “My kids were in their underwear when he decided to let himself in,” said Michael DiQuattro, the father of the boys, ages 12 and 16. “He admitted to entering the house. Why he’s still walking around is beyond me.” Honor roll student Vincenzo DiQuattro, 12, was feverish and vomiting on Oct. 22 (the police report lists the date as Oct. 23, but that is likely an error since the incident occurred on a school day), DiQuattro told The Chronicle. He said the boys’ mother, Joyce Kyles, called the school to say her kids would be absent, and left both boys home so that Robert, 16, could watch Vincenzo. At around 9 or 9:30 a.m., the principal and school psychologist Pam Kavenagh arrived at the house. Kavenagh left at some point, while Jackson walked upstairs, unannounced, and tried to get the boys out of bed to bring them to school. The boys called Kyles at work. Kyles told Jackson to leave the house. That’s one version of events. Jackson’s lawyer, Art Scheuermann, who works for the School Administrators Association of New York State, told The Chronicle that Jackson and Kavenagh were let into the house by an adult relative of the family. At the time of the visit, Kyles had not called the school to let the school know the boys would be out. She called the school only after the incident. “We want a full and fair investigation,” said Scheuermann. “We cooperated fully with the school’s investigation and we are surprised it has not been laid to rest … We will be conducting our own investigation.” Background Principal Jackson is named in two lawsuits — each seeking $10 million - for allegedly strip-searching two middle school students in 2008. The suits are in federal court, said John Kelly, the lawyer representing the Marinos and Deckers, the two families who sued. (A third suit by school board member Jason Latassa was withdrawn.) “Once we get the depositions, I think there’ll be discussions about settlement,” said Kelly. The trespassing incident may have a bearing on the strip search-lawsuits, said Kelly. “It depends,” he said. “If it’s a pattern of his, where he’s acting inappropriately — and this is just two examples of many — then it’s a real problem.” Parents Mary Marino and Theresa Decker in 2009 sued the town, the school, the board of education, Jackson, and other school employees on behalf of their then-eighth-grade children. The lawsuit says that on April 7, 2008, both students were instructed to report to the principal’s office, but were re-directed and escorted to the nurse’s office instead, where they were detained and searched for “unnamed illegal substances,” according to the suit. The Marino boy was “physically strip searched,” but does not go into detail or say whether anything was found, according to the suit. The Decker girl was made to remove her shoes, lift her pant leg, lift her shirt, and pull out and shake her bra, in a search for “unnamed illegal substances.” Nothing was found, according to the suit. After school, the girl went to the emergency room with heart palpitations, and her doctor prescribed her a heart monitor, the suit states. Michael DiQuattro told The Chronicle that his youngest son gets “called down to the office a lot, for, just, retarded stuff. Most recently, it was a bandana. Jackson is continuously behind it.” He said Principal Jackson wrote the DiQuattros a letter stating that Vincenzo was wearing a gang-colored bandana in school, and threatened suspension. DiQuattro is an environmental inspector who lives in Brooklyn and visits his kids on weekends. He didn’t find out that Jackson had come to the house until weeks after the incident occurred. “To me that man’s sick,” he said. “He should not be allowed to be in the school district. He should not be around children.” If the police complaint doesn’t result in his removal as principal, “I’m suing him. I want him out of the district.” What’s next The police are investigating the DiQuattro complaint, filed on Nov. 15, said Chester Village Police Chief Peter Graziano. The alleged offense is trespassing. “We have to see if this is a charge that’s warranted, and whether this is the appropriate charge,” Graziano said. “We have to talk to all the witnesses first, and it’s not always easy tracking them down. We have at least two to three more witnesses to talk to. The sooner we can get them down there, the sooner we can wrap it up.” What constitutes criminal trespassing can be a gray area, said Sergeant Gerdvil of the New York State Police. A non-emergency worker walking off the street and into a house uninvited could be arrested for trespassing, but, usually, there has to be a sign that says no trespassing, or an owner on the premises telling the person to leave. Then again, even without a sign or objecting owner, if the trespasser checks all the doors before finding one unlocked, that strengthens a trespassing charge. In this case, said Gerdvil, Jackson’s actions “could be articulated as checking on the welfare of students.” Chester Superintendent Sean Michel sent a letter home with students on Nov. 17, the day after Eyewitness News aired an interview with an angry Michael DiQuattro, informing parents that Jackson will be on administrative leave until the board of education meeting Tuesday. While Jackson is out, Christopher Trieste — a certified school district administrator and former assistant principal who now works in Chester’s physical education department — will assist high school Principal Leslie Hyatt with day-to-day school operations. “We’re not going to comment out of respect for the privacy of everyone involved,” Michel told The Chronicle. Jackson’s administrative leave did not begin until almost a month after the alleged trespass. But school board President Wendy Murray said the TV broadcast had no part in the school’s decision to put Jackson on administrative leave. She said the school has been investigating the incident all along in accordance with Department of Education procedures. The school district had earlier contacted the village police department with an offer to help in its investigation, said Murray, who said the police just called the school on Thursday morning. “The board and the administration are certainly on top of this situation,” said the school district’s lawyer, David Shaw. “They’re acting in a manner that’s very mindful of privacy rights and the interest of all parties affected.” Their priority, he said, is to “maintain a safe and productive school environment.” School psychologist Pam Kavenagh did not return a call by press time.