NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Emails made public today by Westchester County health officials confirm accounts of a dispute between Dr. Harold Coles, Superintendent of Southern Westchester BOCES, and then-New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo. Coles, who was instrumental in Feijóo’s controversial hiring a year earlier, accused Feijóo of lying about when she first became symptomatic with COVID-19 as the world’s attention was riveted on New Rochelle after Governor Andrew Cuomo declared sections of the City a “containment zone”.
One of the more disturbing and bizarre aspects of a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court on May 28, by Dr. Brooke Balchan, the former Medical Director of the City School District of New Rochelle against her employer is the claim that Coles contacted Joseph Glazer at the Westchester County Department of Health to report he observed Superintendent Feijóo to be symptomatic at a press conference on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 — two days earlier than Feijóo claims she was symptomatic. Glazer then contacted Balchan.
The implications of this claim are profound as it would mean Feijóo knowingly exposed people to COVID-19 then covered it up putting the health of innumerable students and staff at risk. She visited multiple schools during those two extra days, met with senior school officials and presided over a press conference with the world’s media in a jam-packed room at City Hall. This writer was in the front row of that press conference, sitting within spitting distance of Feijóo.
Dr. Feijóo was personally involved in handing out chromebooks to students and families on March 12, 2020 as depicted in this New York Times article from the same day. Standing next to her is then-Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Alex Marrero.
Feijóo held a Zoom-based Press Conference on March 21, 2020, to announce she was tested on March 16, 2020, and confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 earlier that day, on March 21, 2020.
According to the Complaint, Dr. Balchan immediately informed Superintendent Feijóo via email, so she could address the discrepancy and notify potential contacts from those two days, including the students from the home delivery chromebook distribution on March 11, 2020 — the publicity stunt orchestrated with The New York Times described above.
On Sunday, March 22, 2020, Mr. Glazer called Dr. Balchan from the offices of the Westchester County Department of Health with information about Superintendent Feijóo’s illness. The Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act Privacy Rule permits covered entities to disclose protected health information without authorization for specified public health purposes. As such, Mr. Glazer reported that Dr. Harold Coles, Superintendent of Southern Westchester BOCES, observed Superintendent Feijóo to be symptomatic at a press conference on Tuesday, March 10, 2020.
Dr. Balchan immediately informed Superintendent Feijóo via email, so she could address the discrepancy and notify potential contacts from those two days, including the students from the home delivery chromebook distribution on March 11, 2020.
Records of those emails were released today by Westchester County officials pursuant to a Freedom of Information request by Talk of the Sound but are so heavily redacted it is impossible to confirm with certainty what was said, but the portions not redacted do confirm elements of Balchan’s Complaint.
According to the Complaint, Superintendent Feijóo’s response to Mr. Glazer was:
Your desire to determine when I became symptomatic is recognized and rejected. It is absurd for you to feel like you can determine when I felt symptoms. How can a medical professional believe the interpretation of a third party over that of the patient themselves? This email and its contents are unacceptable and inappropriate. I became symptomatic on March 12. This is not a convenient date for me, it is the accurate date… I have NO intention of changing my date of symptoms, as it speaks to my character and integrity in a City of 80,000. Dr. Balchan has no authority to speak to you about my medical conditions on my behalf, and you have no authority to assume you know when my symptoms started. Please let me know if the information I was provided by Dr. Balchan is inaccurate in any way to mischaracterize your involvement in this mess. Furthermore, please confirm that you recognize my symptoms started on March 12, 2020, and that this entire system is based on integrity and self-reporting. Please note that I have copied District counsel and the BOE President.
What is particularly bizarre is that Feijóo is attacking Glazer (addressing him as a medical professional, he is a lawyer not a doctor) and Balchan — a case of shooting the messengers — as both Glazer and Balchan were responding to the claim made by Dr. Harold Coles who is, technically, Feijóo’s boss within the New York State Education Department chain of command.
Dr. Balchan says she took various steps to notify school officials of her concerns, and directed her nursing staff to warn families of those potentially exposed during the Chromebook PR stunt.
The next day, on March 23, 2020, Dr. Balchan says she reported Superintendent Feijóo’s failure to notify families of their potential exposure to COVID-19 as suspected negligence to the local New Rochelle Police Department. School officials are obligated to notify their local police department of any cases of possible child abuse in an educational setting, in this specific case “intentionally or recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a substantial risk of such physical injury, serious physical injury or death.”
Her complaint says Lieutenant Wentzler took the verbal report from Dr. Balchan regarding Superintendent Feijóo’s refusal to send notices to the families of those students which she hand-delivered chromebooks to the day after she was noted to be symptomatic with COVID-19. Dr. Balchan received a return call from the NRPD informing her that they would not investigate the circumstances any further.
The New Rochelle Police, responding to a Freedom of Information request by Talk of the Sound, denied the request, stating there are no such police reports on file with the New Rochelle Police Department. Captain George Rosenbergen said records of any phone calls are not considered public records.
RELATED:
Medical Director Sues City School District of New Rochelle Over Failed COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Balchan v City School District of New Rochelle (7:21-cv-04798)