A Lengthy Island highschool principal has been suspended after being caught spending scholar funds meant for a youth mentor program on lavish dinners, boozy employees events, and jet-ski leases.
Longtime Wyandanch Memorial Excessive College Principal Paul Sibblies was placed on depart and changed by Assistant Principal Noel Rios, in line with a letter from district Superintendent Dr. Erik Wright, after a February audit revealed Sibblies repeatedly reimbursed himself from scholar membership funds for “questionable” bills — even signing off on the checks made out to him.
The varsity didn’t specify why Sibblies was positioned on depart, however the principal’s elimination comes just some weeks after the scathing audit by island-based accounting agency R.S. Abrams & Co., who discovered that the principal drained dough from the varsity’s Kappa Membership account, which was meant for after-school scholar actions.
“As a result of it is a personnel matter, we’re unable to share extra particulars,” Dr. Wright mentioned within the letter to folks, obtained by The Submit.
“Please know that this resolution was made following cautious consideration, and the district stays centered on sustaining a protected, supportive, and secure studying setting for all college students,” the letter continued.
The audit discovered that Sibblies had taken cash meant for the mentoring program and used it to reimburse himself for steak-and-lobster dinners, employees events with open-bars, and even one buy labeled “Ski Rental — Bermuda Journey,” amongst different brazen purchases that the agency flagged in its report.
Sibblies, who has led the varsity since 2009, acquired greater than 40 suspicious reimbursements between July 2021 and November 2024 for over $35,500 by way of the varsity membership — which he was answerable for however was by no means formally acknowledged or accepted by the varsity board, in line with auditors.
The expenditures explicitly didn’t align with New York State Training Division tips governing the usage of extracurricular exercise funds, the audit discovered.
“We had been unable to find out the appropriateness of worker reimbursements issued to the Kappa Membership’s college advisor, who additionally serves because the Excessive College Principal,” the auditors wrote of their report.
“We recognized questionable expenditures throughout the extracurricular exercise fund that don’t seem like straight associated to membership actions,” the audit continued.
The audit discovered that Sibblies not solely dealt with the membership’s money and accepted all of its disbursements — however would even log out on his personal checks tied to the reimbursements by way of the membership’s exercise fund.
For years, Sibblies constantly issued checks to himself with out unbiased evaluation or approval from some other district worker aside from the membership’s treasurer, who additionally served as his clerical secretary, auditors mentioned.
Past the reimbursements, the audit additionally cited a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} in poorly documented donations tied to the Kappa Membership and one other middle-school membership, noting lacking data, obscure descriptions and an absence of documentation detailing how the cash was collected, tracked or spent.
The district has since employed outdoors counsel and continues to be investigating the matter whereas Sibblies is on depart.
It’s presently unclear whether or not Sibblies’ depart standing is paid or unpaid.
