By Joshua Chaffin

The principal didn't do it.

That was the verdict an arbitrator delivered on Thursday in the case of a missing $25 Amazon gift card that rumbled on for more than a year -- all the while upending a picturesque small town in the Hamptons and laying bare its petty politics and seething rivalries.

On Thursday, arbitrator Timothy Taylor, found that the woman at the center of the case, Maria Dorr, was not guilty of the three charges against her, and ordered that she be reinstated as principal of the Amagansett School.

Dorr, who has spent more than a year on administrative leave after she was accused of stealing the card, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Her attorney, Arthur Scheuermann, said: "She fully intends to go back."

The arbitrator's opinion not only cleared Dorr of wrongdoing but it also gave further ammunition to her lawyers' contention that their client was framed, setting the stage for further theatrics in a hamlet at the far edge of Long Island that some residents refer to as "Drama-gansett."

Specifically, Taylor called the school district's investigation of Dorr "flawed" and cited holes in the testimony of its star witness, longtime receptionist Cassie Butts.

"Butts is not credible," Taylor wrote.

A school official declined to comment on the ruling.

The saga began on the morning of Dec. 15, 2023, when a parent at the Amagansett School brought a passel of holiday cards to distribute to teachers before the holiday break. Butts claimed she placed one of the cards in the mailbox of an occupational therapist for whom it was intended.

But the card vanished.

Suspicion soon fell on Dorr, the principal of the award-winning school. Under her leadership the elementary school won a Blue Ribbon designation from the Education Department for its academic excellence. In her performance reviews, Dorr was praised for her honesty and good ethics.

The case against her was buttressed by video from one of the school's 38 cameras showing her emerging from the mailroom with a red envelope at 8:37 a.m., 13 minutes after Butts had supposedly delivered it. (There was no camera inside the mailroom).

Dorr professed her innocence under questioning by Richard Loeschner, then the district's acting superintendent, producing a separate gift card and red envelope from her recycling bin as proof. But in February 2024 the district initiated disciplinary proceedings. The trial generated some 1,400 pages of witness testimony.

Scheuermann and his colleague, Brian Dienhart, unearthed various inconsistencies in the district's case.

A central focus was Butts. She reported to Dorr that the gift card was missing at 10:08 a.m. -- more than 90 minutes before its intended recipient had even checked the mailroom for it. Butts, who has since retired, was found in a previous case to have made "exaggerated and unsubstantiated" claims against the school's administrators.

As for the investigation, Loeschner never interviewed the parent who gave the missing card or checked to see whether it had been used. (It still hasn't). He turned his focus on Dorr on Dec. 19 after the school's gym teacher, Mike Rodgers, mentioned her name and handed him a note with the relevant times from the surveillance footage scrawled on it. During the trial, Loeschner admitted it had not been appropriate for Rodgers to view the footage.

The case took a turn in May, when Rodgers, known to many in town as "Coach," was promoted to school district superintendent despite his scant administrative experience. Dorr had expressed her intention to apply for the job before the gift card saga erupted.

The superintendent job comes with an unusual perk: rent-free use of a house adjacent to the school.

Loeschner announced Rodgers' selection at a school board meeting that month as the gym teacher's wife and three sons looked on, saying it had been made "after a professional recruitment and interview process followed by a careful review of professional experience and qualifications."

Write to Joshua Chaffin at joshua.chaffin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2025 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.