▲

CITY OF NEWBURGH - A Newburgh school board member has filed a complaint with the state, three weeks before graduation, in hopes of having his son recognized as Newburgh Free Academy's sole valedictorian.

The 10-page complaint, filed with the state Education Department by board member Darren Stridiron on behalf of his son, Matthew, contains 12 exhibits that include social media posts, district web posts, emails, letters, photos and other documents.

Essentially, Darren Stridiron alleges the district unfairly changed how it calculated its final senior-class rank by using third-quarter grades instead of final course grades.

On May 13, the Stridirons were told their son was the school's valedictorian, according to a letter included in the complaint.

A week later, administrators told Darren Stridiron that based on a new calculation, his son's GPA was .04 percent less than another student's, and that he would be salutatorian, according to the complaint. Darren Stridiron objected to the change.

On May 21, administrators wrote to Stridiron again, apologized for the confusion, and said their son would be co-valedictorian, according to the complaint.

The next day, the district issued a news release naming Martin Peticco and Matthew Stridiron as co-valedictorians and Sydney Reede salutatorian. The release contained the students' photos and information about their history in the school district.

Prior to the complaint being filed, but after the news release on the topic was issued, Superintendent Roberto Padilla said class rank has always been determined using third-quarter grades.

He said this year Newburgh decided to have co-valedictorians, like other districts that frequently have a shared award.

Darren Stridiron, according to the complaint, believes the district is retaliating against him as a whistleblower on the attendance and academic scandals that recently led to an investigation by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The Times Herald-Record asked the state Education Department on Monday for the school district's response to the complaint and was told to submit a Freedom of Information Law request. The Record is awaiting NYSED's reply.

The state Education Commissioner will review the complaint, also called an appeal, and issue a ruling.

lbellamy@th-record.com