A Long Island high school principal has been suspended after being caught spending student finances meant for a youth mentor program on lavish dinners, boozy staff parties, and jet-ski rentals.
Longtime Wyandanch Memorial High School Principal Paul Sibblies was put on leave and replaced by Assistant Principal Noel Rios, according to a letter from district Superintendent Dr. Erik Wright, after a February audit revealed Sibblies repeatedly reimbursed himself from student club funds for “questionable” expenses — even signing off on the checks made out to him.
The school did not specify why Sibblies was placed on leave, but the principal’s removal comes just a few weeks after the scathing audit by island-based accounting firm R.S. Abrams & Co., who found that the principal drained dough from the school’s Kappa Club account, which was meant for after-school student activities.
“Because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to share additional details,” Dr. Wright said in the letter to parents, obtained by The Post.
“Please know that this decision was made following careful consideration, and the district remains focused on maintaining a safe, supportive, and stable learning environment for all students,” the letter continued.
The audit found that Sibblies had taken money meant for the mentoring program and used it to reimburse himself for steak-and-lobster dinners, staff parties with open-bars, and even one purchase labeled “Ski Rental — Bermuda Trip,” among other brazen purchases that the firm flagged in its report.
Sibblies, who has led the school since 2009, received more than 40 suspicious reimbursements between July 2021 and November 2024 for over $35,500 through the school club — which he was in charge of but was never formally recognized or approved by the school board, according to auditors.
The expenditures explicitly did not align with New York State Education Department guidelines governing the use of extracurricular activity funds, the audit found.
“We were unable to determine the appropriateness of employee reimbursements issued to the Kappa Club’s faculty advisor, who also serves as the High School Principal,” the auditors wrote in their report.
“We identified questionable expenditures within the extracurricular activity fund that do not appear to be directly related to club activities,” the audit continued.
The audit found that Sibblies not only handled the club’s cash and approved all of its disbursements — but would even sign off on his own checks tied to the reimbursements through the club’s activity fund.
For years, Sibblies consistently issued checks to himself without independent review or approval from any other district employee other than the club’s treasurer, who also served as his clerical secretary, auditors said.
Beyond the reimbursements, the audit also cited hundreds of thousands of dollars in poorly documented donations tied to the Kappa Club and another middle-school club, noting missing records, vague descriptions and a lack of documentation detailing how the money was collected, tracked or spent.
The district has since hired outside counsel and is still investigating the matter while Sibblies is on leave.
It is currently unclear whether Sibblies’ leave status is paid or unpaid.
