Ex-principal Spitzer Pleads Not Guilty to Charges He Slapped Student

By Steve Lieberman
Journal News
April 18, 2013

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A religious school principal pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges of slapping a young male student hard enough to cause swelling and bruises to his eye, ear and face.

Rabbi Meilech Spitzer, a former principal of United Talmudical Academy in the village, stood for arraignment before Justice Alan Simon on counts of third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors. He entered the plea through his lawyer, Robert Conklin.

While Spitzer made his first appearance since being arrested by Spring Valley police in February, the future of the prosecution remains cloudy.

The Rockland District Attorney’s Office needs a signed complaint by the 10-year-old boy to prosecute the rabbi. Without it, the case amounts to hearsay based on the police investigation and prosecutor Eric Holzer cannot move forward, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.

Zugibe said the family is still not cooperating with police or prosecutors and have hired a lawyer.

The legal deadline for the child to sign the complaint is 90 days from now. Police filed the charges on Feb. 21 against Spitzer, a longtime educator who lives in Brooklyn but has family in Spring Valley.

Rockland Social Services Commissioner Susan Sherwood said she is concerned. She said teachers and school administrators are among those professionals mandated to report any abuse to police or Child Protective Services.

“In all these cases involving kids we expect their parents to protect them,” Sherwood told The Journal News. “Anyone who works in any school is a mandated reporter. If they see or suspect any abuse of any kind it’s their mandated job to report it. Without that pressure from the family and mandated reporters, I am very worried about not only this child but others.”

The judge set a court appearance for June 6 so the prosecution can update him on the status of case.

Spitzer, who turns 60 on Monday, declined comment as he rushed from the courtroom.

Four or five Hasidic Jewish men blocked reporters from talking to or photographing the rabbi. They put a jacket over his head as he got into a waiting car and used their hats to block cameras.

Conklin declined comment. So did the men who were with the rabbi.

Spring Valley police learned about the Feb. 12 incident after a doctor reported the boy’s swollen face, eye and ear, authorities said.