A Bethlehem High School science teacher has been placed on administrative leave for a second time while the district investigates lab experiments performed in his class.
A letter was sent out from Superintendent Tom Douglas on Thursday, Oct. 2, notifying parents that Steven Konas was being placed on leave, and a substitute would be found. Konas was placed on leave last May after a student sustained injuries during a science lab.
“It is expected that this news may cause some disappointment and uncertainty for students,” Douglas’ letter read. “Please help them to understand it is our job as administrators to ensure the integrity, quality and safety of our school programs, and sometimes that involves making difficult decisions.”
The same quote was used in the first letter sent home about Konas’s leave last spring. The district would not comment on why he was being placed on leave for a second time.
District Communications Specialist Jo Ellen Gardner said Thomas Hall, a retired teacher who taught in the Mechanicville School District, will step in as a substitute.
“He is certified in earth science, biology and general science, and has been working with our students since Monday,” said Gardner. “We expect he will be with the district as long as necessary.”
Konas is a popular teacher in the district, and students have taken to social media and various websites to protest his leave.
“I’m destroyed over the fact that they’ve put him on administrative leave,” posted a student to the website Ratemyteacher.com on Thursday, Oct. 9. “He was the only reason I came to school every day. He taught the best class I’ve ever had before. If they choose to fire him, you can guarantee I won’t show up to school anymore.”
Other students wrote that the science teacher was funny, irreplaceable and one of the best teachers they’d ever had. However, one student wrote Konas was his biology teacher for three weeks “until he stopped teaching stuff related to bio.”
President of the Bethlehem Central Teachers Association David Rounds could not be reached for comment.
During Konas’s previous leave, the district would not comment on whether there had been complaints about his teaching in the past, and if so, how many, saying it was a personnel matter.
Administrators did not say how long they expected the investigation to take, or when or if Konas would be returning to his classroom.