Spring Valley Mayor Simon's Attempts to Fire Spring Valley Chief Foiled by His Own Board

By Mindy Cohn

Spring Valley Mayor Allen Simon, no stranger to public controversy as disbarred attorney who was removed from jobs as a village and Ramapo town justice, seems to be digging a deeper and deeper pit in the world of public opinion after arranging for the firing of Quacy Evelyn, the School Resource Officer (SRO) at Spring Valley High School, just in time for the start of the new school year.

The Spring Valley High School Resource Officer spoke with reporters and the Spring Valley Chief of Police, divulging that his firing was due to his refusal to follow Mayor Simon's directions to dig up dirt by spying on one of the high school principals the mayor disagreed with.  

The mayor's response to being denied his request was to insist that the Spring Valley Chief of Police Richard Oleszczuk fire the officer. The Chief of Police pointed out that it didn't make sense to fire the SRO Officer and appoint someone else in his place. So, the mayor, who was insistent that he have his revenge against Evelyn, closed the entire SRO program, negligently endangering the students and staff at Spring Valley High School.

After the story got out on Thursday that the mayor had abolished a critical school resource officer position, NBC News 4's Sarah Wallace came down to the Spring Valley Village Hall with a cameraman. As the mayor's door in the village hall was unlocked and open, she approached the mayor to ask him about the story with the SRO officer.

"This is my private office. Get out!" Simon yelled on camera when he saw Wallace.

Wallace complied with the mayor's request and left only to have the mayor call the Spring Valley Police Chief and Deputy Chief and insist that the NCB News team be arrested for trespassing.

Chief Richard Oleszczuk explained to the mayor that according to the law, to arrest someone for trespassing, there needs to be a posted "No Trespassing," or "Restricted Area," or "Employees Only" sign posted. As his door was open, the NBC News team did nothing wrong.

True to form, Simon then suspended Chief Richard Oleszczuk on Thursday afternoon, leaving the Spring Valley Police Department and the entire Village in flux.

"It is our hope that the Spring Valley mayor and the Spring Valley Police Department resolve their differences quickly," the school district shared in a statement, "so that we can restore consistency to our SRO program."

The chief's suspension resulted in the Village's four trustees holding a conference call with an attorney, who clarified that according to the Rockland County Police Act, the mayor has no right to suspend a police officer without board approval. The board then called Oleszczuk and requested he return to work tomorrow after advising the mayor that he had no right to suspend Oleszczuk.

This is not the first time the mayor has attempted to fire Oleszczuk. The last time it happened on a Friday several months ago, and the mayor seemed to realize he had made a mistake as the chief was back at work on Monday before the story hit the media. But this time, the story hit the media faster, and so the mayor stubbornly refused to back off despite knowing he never had the power to fire the chief. 

"It obviously lowers the morale in the entire police department to have to deal with these issues," one Village of Spring Valley employee shared with Rockland Daily anonymously for fear of the mayor's retaliatory tactics. "It is ruining the Village. It's a hostile environment, and everyone is afraid to do their job."