Pay-flap agency in disarray
2 execs desert aid org
A taxpayerfunded Brooklyn nonprofit is in turmoil after its last two directors abruptly left, one with a fat pay package.
Hannah Achtenberg Kinn was booted as head of the League Education & Treatment Center last year with a parting payment of $785,000, a former insider at the agency told The Post.
Her retirement benefits also include health insurance for life, the former employee said.
Kinn was under fire after a 2012 Post exposé on her salary and perks including six weeks of vacation a year, time she would spend painting at her studio in the Hamptons. Meanwhile, staffers said they had to buy their own supplies and went without raises.
Kinn’s 2012 compensation package totaled $836,377 including $214,000 of accumulated retirement pay. Her base salary in 2013 came to $501,235, the League’s latest tax filings show.
Kinn’s sister also worked at the League, getting a sixfigure salary as director of quality assurance. She resigned last year.
After Kinn’s departure, the agency’s board installed two longtime managers as interim coCEOs.
Ed Spauster, a psychologist who ran a Westchester County nonprofit serving the developmentally disabled, took the helm of the agency in December 2014. He soon riled workers with his management style.
“He tore the agency apart,” the former insider said. “People were just scrambling to get out of the door. ‘Abusive’ doesn’t even do justice for how nasty this guy was.”
In April, Spauster fired the two previous interim CEOs. Then he suddenly left the agency on May 31.
“I was concerned about being affiliated with the League and my professional reputation,” Spauster told The Post.
He refused to elaborate or comment further.
The League Center offers services to more than 500 children and adults, including those with psychiatric problems and autism. It runs a school for specialeducation students.
Kinn did not return requests for comment. She attended Oxford University with former President Bill Clinton, who is among the buyers of her artwork. One of the paintings Clinton purchased in 2002 was reportedly to go to Hillary Clinton as a Valentine’s Day present.
A spokesman for the agency refused to answer questions, only releasing a statement stating, “We are proud of the critically important role we play in New York.”