Some Plainview-Old Bethpage staffers felt pressured by the teachers union to wear pins that appeared to support employees who had accused an elementary school principal of misconduct, and the display intimidated administrators, according to testimony at the school chief's disciplinary hearings this week.

Karen Heitner, principal of Pasadena Elementary School in Plainview, faces administrative charges alleging she touched two staffers inappropriately during a PTA luncheon in June 2024, as well as engaged in age discrimination and created a hostile and unsafe work environment involving other employees. The district suspended her in August 2024 and is seeking to fire her.

Heitner's attorneys, who continued building their case at two hearings this week, have argued that the allegations

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