Athletic director on leave through at least Jan. 26

BOICEVILLE, N.Y. » The Onteora school district athletic director, Kimberly Pilla, has been put on paid leave, but district officials and the Board of Education are declining to say why.

Pilla is on leave at least through Jan. 26, and the board is to discuss the matter in a closed-door session on Thursday.

Seven people, including two coaches and a physical education teacher, spoke in support of Pilla during an online meeting of the board Tuesday evening.

“Our athletic director kind of inherited a little bit of a mess,” said football coach Michael Liverani said. “There was a lot of issues with coaching certifications ... which hadn’t been updated since the ‘90s. ... Our equipment in the football locker room was horrific. I played in 2003 and some of the pads that I was putting my seventh and eighth graders in were the same pads that I wore.”

Phys ed teacher Andrew Occhi said Pilla has worked for the benefit of the district.

“She can be aggressive, pushy and irritating at times, and at some point we can all be that way,” Occhi said. “But she is goal-driven and works until she can get to her goal, whether that’s the signs around the school, the bleachers, the pictures for the students in the hallways, the new fitness center and anything else. She works hard to get whatever the task is completed for the students.”

Pilla, who could not be reached for comment, was put on leave from her $110,000-per-year job last month, initially through Jan. 15. She was hired by Onteora in July 2017, about a year after a review was conducted by the Beacon school district, her previous employer, stemming from complaints she lodged about being harassed.

The Highlands Current reported the Beacon district concluded the complaints by Pilla were unfounded. Pilla, who was president of the Beacon teachers’ union there, alleged six district employees and a school board member harassed her in a “perpetual and consistent manner over the preceding 16 months,” the Current reported.