HS Honcho Gets Boot Pix on His Computer Sparked Ouster, by Dan Mangan, New York Post, February 27, 2008

HS Honcho Gets Boot
Pix on His Computer Sparked Ouster

By Dan Mangan
New York Post
February 27, 2008

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02272008/news/regionalnews/hs_honcho_gets_boot_99481.htm

The principal of one of the city's premier Catholic high schools was forced to resign over the weekend after inappropriate images were found on his computer at the Bronx school, The Post has learned.

Christopher Keogan's abrupt departure from the all-boys Cardinal Hayes HS, where he had worked for 18 years, caught teachers and students by surprise, and led to a firestorm of rumors as school officials refused to tell them yesterday why the Catholic brother quit.

OH, BROTHER: Images that are "not appropriate" were found on the computer of Christopher Keogan...

"[He] is no longer the principal, and that's all I'm going to say at this point," said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the New York Archdiocese.

But a source familiar with the situation said Keogan was forced out after school officials found "certain images that were on his work computer."

"It's my understanding that the images were not appropriate," the source said.

Keogan, a member of the Christian Brothers religious order who became principal in 2003, could not be reached for comment.

Bronx DA spokesman Steven Reed said, "We're going to decline one way or the other to talk about an investigation."

"My understanding is that [Keogan's] resignation had to do with administrative matters relative to the Archdiocese of New York," Reed said.

However, a source said the Bronx DA's office did probe allegations that Keogan stole from the prestigious school, but did not bring charges against him because his purported conduct occurred outside of the statute of limitations.

...a Christian Brother and now ex-principal of Cardinal Hayes HS.

Steve Mangione, a spokesman for the Christian Brothers, said they have "not been made aware of all the information at this point, and are withholding comment."

In a letter to parents, the Rev. Joseph Tierney, president of Cardinal Hayes, said, "We thank Mr. Keogan for his dedication and hard work of the past 17 years for the betterment of Cardinal Hayes." Please remember Mr. Keogan in your prayers."

Keogan's resignation is the second such departure of a Christian Brothers principal from a city Catholic high school in the past year. In spring 2007, Brother John Walderman was removed as principal at Rice HS in Harlem after someone complained that he had been charged two decades ago with soliciting a boy for sex in Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed last year against the archdiocese by one of the embattled principal's former Christian Brothers colleagues, the Rev. Robert Hoatson - which claimed they retaliated against Hoatson for his work with clerical sexual-abuse victims - makes other allegations against Keogan.

Hoatson's suit said Keogan "was transferred from Essex Catholic High School in East Orange, New Jersey, for absconding with school funds in the 1980s."

Contact: dan.mangan@nypost.com