Mareesa Nicosia

mnicosia@lohud.com

SPRING VALLEY – A year after vowing to cut ties with the law firm whose associate unleashed a string of vulgar insults at parent activists, East Ramapo school officials voted Tuesday night to renew the firm's contract.

The Board of Education, which met for its annual reorganization meeting, voted 7-2 to renew Minerva and D'Agostino's contract for the 2014-15 school year. Pierre Germain and Bernard Charles were opposed.

The appointment of the handsomely paid Long Island law firm came a day shy of the one-year anniversary of associate attorney Christopher Kirby's profanity-laced rant and the school board's subsequent promise to replace the firm.

Kirby, who served in the Marines as well as in the office of the Suffolk County district attorney, hurled the worst of the four-letter words at parent Peggy Hatton, barking at her to shut up and using a derogatory term for female genitalia.

About four minutes of the incident was videotaped by parent activist Antonio Luciano and posted on YouTube.

Condemnation of the lawyer's behavior was swift as students, parents, politicians and educators, including those from outside the district, rallied and demanded the firm be fired.

At the time, board President Yehuda Weissmandl said trustees were "deeply troubled" by the incident and assured the public they'd seek new counsel. Officials, however, provided no timeline for the plan and said head lawyer Albert D'Agostino and his firm would continue working with the district during a "transition period," citing the multitude of sensitive legal matters before the board. Kirby was immediately removed from district duties, officials said.

Tuesday night, Weissmandl, whose term as board president was renewed Tuesday for another year, and Superintendent Joel Klein declined to comment on the law firm.

On Wednesday, Rockland County Executive Ed Day, reacting to the rehiring, called Weissmandl's leadership "untenable" and called on him to resign his position as president.

"Trust is central to any relationship, and by the actions of Mr. Weissmandl and the East Ramapo School Board, he has set back any opportunity of bridging a divide well beyond repair," Day said in an email to The Journal News. "... He cannot reasonably expect to manage a school district when each and every word he utters going forward will be measured by the word he did not keep."

East Ramapo budgets about $600,000 a year as a retainer for the firm but legal costs have soared in recent years — topping $3 million in school year 2012-13 — as the district has become increasingly embroiled in high-profile lawsuits.

Officials said they struggled to find qualified lawyers to replace Minerva and D'Agostino. A request for proposals last summer turned up four submissions, the district said, but none were hired and officials have not said how they'll proceed.

Hatton, who has since moved her family to Florida, said earlier Tuesday she was not surprised the firm was expected to be rehired.

"If Weissmandl was sincere, he would have made good on his promise to find new legal representation a long time ago," she wrote in an email. "I guess it proves his word isn't worth much."

D'Agostino, East Ramapo's lead attorney, has been a controversial figure in the troubled district since his firm was hired in 2009.

Also at Tuesday night's meeting, the board voted to renew Superintendent Joel Klein's contract for two years. Klein started as superintendent in 2011.

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