Wagner High School Scandal

The investigation of Regents exam tampering at Susan Wagner High School has expanded to include unrelated allegations that an assistant principal siphoned thousands of dollars in school funds for her own use, the Advance has learned.

Former assistant principal of organization Rita Spitzer, who retired from the Sea View school over the December break, is being investigated for "financial improprieties" by the Department of Education's investigative arm, according to a department spokeswoman.

Those alleged improprieties include filing an exorbitant amount of overtime hours, known as per session pay, for time that she did not work, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Reached by phone last week, Ms. Spitzer acknowledged that she put in a lot of overtime at the school, but she insisted that those hours were legitimate and approved by principal Gary Giordano.

"I was there days, I was there nights, I was there working all the time," said Ms. Spitzer, who added that she often oversaw the school's afternoon and Saturday programs. "If I was there, then I'm the person who got paid for it. If I wasn't there, then another [assistant principal] would be paid for it. There's a whole document trail."

Giordano has himself been at the center of a Department of Education investigation since November, when more than a dozen teachers came forward with accusations that he had directed them to bump up Regents exam scores that were as much as 15 points below the passing mark of 65.

Since that investigation began, related allegations have emerged that an assistant principal at the school re-graded Regents exams in her office, and that another assistant principal -- Giordano's girl friend, assistant principal Mary Incantalupo -- helped re-grade tests at home, sources said.

Ms. Incantalupo, who transferred in September to a middle school in Brooklyn, could not be reached for comment.

The Regents tampering is the latest of several investigations of Susan Wagner High School administrators conducted by the Office of Special Investigations in recent years. Past allegations of impropriety have not been substantiated.

But the number and nature of complaints suggest an administration often at odds with its teaching staff, as well as opposing opinions about the ethical boundaries that govern Staten Island's traditionally close-knit education community.

Investigations have been spurred by questions about:

Whether Ms. Incantalupo's promotion to assistant principal after five years of teaching was influenced by her relationship with Giordano.

Whether Giordano's purchase of a home in Westerleigh in 2005 -- which his parents had bought from Nancy Ramos and her sisters in 2002 -- was a conflict of interest, since Ms. Ramos had become Giordano's supervisor as district superintendent in the interim.

Investigators also dismissed questions about Giordano's per-session pay, according to Giordano's lawyer, Mark Fonte, and about Ms. Spitzer's daughter's part-time work at the school last year, according to the Department of Education.

"Mr. Giordano's character is pristine and these anonymous allegations are totally unfair," Fonte said.

The latest inquiry of Giordano -- by far the most extensive of the lot -- has further soured the mood inside the school, according to teachers, and has at least partially trickled down to students.

"I do think it effects the students indirectly because it does directly affect the teachers who have been working under this cloud for a while," said a teacher at the school, who did not want to be identified. "The principal, his presence isn't nearly as strong as it was in the building. There has been some division among the staff as well, which doesn't lend to a good working environment."

He was one of several teachers who said that after six months of waiting, any resolution would be welcome.

"Whatever the case may be -- if the administration is found innocent, so be it," he said. "Move on."

But another teacher suggested that if Giordano's name is cleared, moving elsewhere could be an easier option than moving on.

"It sounds good to say it: 'Should he stay, then we move ahead with respect for one another; it will never go back to the way it was,'" she said. "[But] my sense is that a lot of people will transfer because they really don't believe that."