Felon escaped school background checks in Gowanda
Ex-substitute teacher got state clearance
The state Department of Education performs countless background checks on prospective school employees each year. But a Gowanda superintendent wants to know how trustworthy these checks are when a Springville man was cleared to teach after being convicted in a toddler’s death.
Last week, the Gowanda School Board fired a substitute teacher after Superintendent Charles Rinaldi discovered that substitute Harold Eisenman had been convicted of manslaughter for using karate moves on a 2-year-old girl.
“I don’t think they would purposely let this happen,” Rinaldi said of state Education Department employees, “but something didn’t work. Obviously, something needs to be addressed.”
Education Department officials responded late Thursday that they had been falsely led to believe Eisenman’s conviction stemmed from a reckless driving accident.
Eisenman began working in the Gowanda Central School District in 1999, prior to state background check requirements, Rinaldi said. A man by that name is also listed in Springville school district payroll records as a substitute teacher who was hired that same year.
Rinaldi said Eisenman only worked in Gowanda for about a year before reapplying as a substitute in 2006. At that time, his fingerprints were sent to the state for a required background check.
The state cleared him to teach in April 2006. For the past two years, he had mainly served as a substitute in the middle school and high school, Rinaldi said.
Rumors of a manslaughter conviction began circulating through the district this past May, Rinaldi said. He followed up by calling the state Education Department to see if Harold Eisenman was the same man convicted of manslaughter.
“They told me yes, it was the same person. He had been investigated, and the reasons for his conviction did not warrant rescinding his clearance,” Rinaldi recalled. “I was under the assumption that they knew the nature of the conviction, and for confidentiality reasons, they just couldn’t reveal it.”
Unhappy with that response, the superintendent said he reviewed Eisenman’s application and found that he had falsely claimed to have a clean record. On May 28, Rinaldi said, he removed Eisenman’s name from the district’s substitute teacher list.
It wasn’t until Aug. 12 that new rumors surfaced about the exact nature of the manslaughter conviction, Rinaldi said. He followed up by searching The New York Times online archives and pulled up an old story from the 1970s regarding Eisenman.
According to two separate stories, Eisenman had worked as a substitute gym teacher and was convicted of manslaughter on Long Island in 1973. He was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison for contributing to a 2- year-old’s death “by using her to demonstrate karate blows.” The toddler was the daughter of his girlfriend at the time and the incident happened at the girlfriend’s apartment.
According to the state Department of Correctional Services, a man named Eisenman served six years in a Nassau County prison from 1976 to 1982. The man is now 60.
The toddler’s mother was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the beating death. After reading the circumstances of Eisenman’s manslaughter conviction, Rinaldi said he placed another call to the state Education Department.
“This time, the person I was talking to was aghast at what she was hearing,” he said.
When the Gowanda School Board met Aug. 20, they voted to end Eisenman’s employment retroactive to May 29.
In a statement, Department of Education spokesman Tom Dunn said the department initially had planned to deny Eisenman’s clearance for employment in 2004 because of the manslaughter conviction.
But Eisenman wrote to the department and stated the charge stemmed from a reckless driving accident. He also told the department he had been a substitute teacher for 30 years and provided several references.
“Mr. Eisenman was cleared for employment based on false and misleading documentation he submitted to the state Education Department,” Dunn said.
The department has since invalidated all of Eisenman’s work clearances and is considering further legal action against him, Dunn said.
Rinaldi, meanwhile, has sent a letter home to parents explaining the situation. He also has contacted private firms specializing in employee background checks.
While he has received no reports of improper behavior by Eisenman during his time as a substitute, he has asked that parents contact him if they are aware of any such behavior.
