09/19/2026
🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏾‍♂️🙋🏾‍♂️ I FINALLY GOT THE APPROVAL
NEWBURGH, NY — Curtis Burnett, a longtime Newburgh Enlarged City School District custodian and U.S. Army veteran, was placed on leave one day after publicly raising concerns about what he described as a severe staffing shortage inside Newburgh Free Academy Main.
Burnett addressed the Board of Education during its September 15 meeting, speaking on behalf of custodians and security staff at NFA. He told board members that daytime custodial staffing had dropped from what he described as nine to 11 employees down to only three, with another custodian splitting responsibilities between NFA Main and Horizons on the Hudson.
“Three people cannot run NFA. It’s falling apart,” Burnett told the board. He said the shortage had become so severe that security guards were helping custodians clean tables, handle spills and take supplies from custodial closets to help keep the building functioning.
Burnett repeatedly connected his decision to speak publicly with his military background and his sense of responsibility toward the people working beside him.
“I’m an Army vet. So, I have to speak up for those who help me,” Burnett said. “It’s a band of brothers.”
He also told board members that conditions inside NFA Main had deteriorated because employees simply did not have enough manpower to keep up.
“The building is disgusting,” he said. “We do not have the personnel.”
Burnett said he had photographs documenting conditions throughout the building and told the board he had regularly been arriving approximately three hours before his scheduled 3 p.m. shift without being paid because overtime had been cut.
“I go in every day at 12:00 and I don’t get paid. I work 3 to 11,” Burnett said. “You know why? ’Cause I’m a team player.”
He told trustees that the remaining employees could not continue meeting the demands of the building at the current staffing level.
“We cannot do the job effectively, efficiently, and on time,” Burnett said. “I feel like I’m being used and mistreated. All I’m asking is someone to hear what I have to say.”
The following day, Burnett was placed on leave from his position with the district.
The timing has since drawn concern throughout the Newburgh community, with residents publicly questioning why Burnett was removed from his duties immediately after raising staffing and sanitation concerns before the school board.
What is documented is Burnett’s public plea: an Army veteran and longtime district employee stood before the Board of Education, described a building he believed was understaffed and deteriorating, acknowledged working unpaid hours to help keep it running and asked district leaders to listen.
One day later, he was placed on leave.
