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NYC DOE hit with record number of complaints about misbehaving teachers in 2022
The Special Commissioner of Investigation’s troubling tally eclipsed the record set in 2019 of 9,638 complaints, which Investigators found at least 263 school employees broke criminal law or rules.…
nypost.com
NYC DOE hit with record number of complaints about misbehaving teachers in 2022
By
Jacob Geanous
April 15, 2023 1:31pm
Updated
Complaints about misbehaving New York City Department of Education teachers and workers skyrocketed to a record 9,813 last year — up 60% from 2021, a disturbing new report found.The Special Commissioner of Investigation’s troubling tally eclipsed the record set in 2019 of 9,638 complaints.
Investigators concluded last year at least 263 school employees broke criminal law or administrative rules, including 40 cases involving inappropriate or sexual misconduct, according to the agency’s 2022 annual report.
Yet only 17 SCI cases were referred to prosecutors, and only four of those cases made it to court.
“We are deeply concerned by the lack of follow through and accountability regarding cases of sexual misconduct in New York City Schools,” Emily Miles, executive director of New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, told The Post.
“All survivors, no matter their age, deserve systems that take them and their experiences seriously and work to keep them and their peers safe from future harm.”
Criminal cases often fall apart because an alleged victim stops cooperating with an investigation or parents forbid police to interview their children.
Paul Narducci allegedly groomed a Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment student beginning when she was a freshman, investigators said. medium.com/Paul NarducciOne of the most egregious allegations came against a 22-year-old afterschool worker, Iber Poma II, who was arrested for raping a 12-year-old girl on June 20, 2022.
The criminal complaint alleges Poma raped a 12-year-old student on three consecutive days near PS 108 in Morris Park beginning on June 11, 2022.
The SCI did not release any additional details about Poma, including what company he worked for, the access he had to children, and any of the circumstances surrounding the alleged sexual assault.
Other cases include a Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment teacher accused of a “brazen pattern of grooming” a female student when she was a freshman before repeatedly sexually assaulting her, according to an SCI investigative report.
The Crown Heights science teacher, 32-year-old Paul Narducci, even moved across the street from the alleged victim, who came forward after graduating from the school and is now 21 years old, according to the report.
Narducci resigned a month before SCI closed its investigation in December 2022 and recommended his firing.
The alleged victim eventually stopped cooperating with authorities despite investigators substantiating her claims.
Charges were never filed and Narducci still holds a state teaching license.
Natalie Black allegedly sent at least 15 pictures of herself to a 17-year-old student at Hillside Arts and Letters Academy, according to an SCI report. youtube.comSCI-substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct include:
- Natalie Black, a 28-year-old former teacher at Hillside Arts and Letters Academy in Queens, allegedly sent at least 15 pictures of herself to a 17-year-old student in late 2021. Investigators claimed in the report that Black also sent pictures of her vagina to students and even pulled her pants down in a student’s home, telling him to “eat my ass,” but no charges were ever filed against Black. She was “removed from DOE service.”
- Yehia Younis, a 78-year-old former teacher at PS 771 in Brighton Beach, is accused of masturbating on camera during a Skype tutoring session with a 12-year-old girl in July 2020, according to the SCI report. Younis retired before SCI closed the case and recommended his firing, in February 2022. Charges were never brought after the girl’s mother said she didn’t want her daughter to be interviewed by police.
- Mercedes Liriano, a 56-year-old former English teacher at MS 224 in Mott Haven, allegedly used her school email address to solicit threesomes and exchange racy photos between December 2016 and September 2017, although the emails didn’t come to light until January 2021, according to the SCI reports. Liriano is now a reading teacher in Marietta, GA, according to her online resume and the school’s website.
- Samuel Choi, a 33-year-old former teacher at JHS 189 in Flushing, who investigators found inappropriately touched a 12-year-old girl and two 13-year-old girls on the thighs, back, and arms, according to the SCI report. The NYPD arrested Choi, who resigned three days after he was arrested, but the case eventually violated speedy trial statutes and was tossed, the report says.
“It’s not acceptable,” Dr. Elizabeth Jeglic, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor who focuses on institutional sexual abuse and grooming, told The Post.
“It’s not acceptable if there any boundary violations.
“These are the people that we entrust our children to that are foundational in our children’s development and future learning.”
Jeglic authored a study last May that surveyed over 6,600 people and found that 11.7% experienced some form of educator sexual misconduct between grades K-12, mostly inappropriate comments although a small percentage reported being physically abused.
Narducci resigned a month before SCI closed its investigation.Brooklyn Academy of Science and the EnvironmentShe said her study found that children who report the incidents face more negative psychological effects — such as drug abuse and suicide — than those who don’t.
“It could be either that the educator misconduct is causing those things or they’re choosing kids that are already troubled and taking advantage of them,” Jeglic said.
Poma II, Liriano, and Choi could not be reached for comment. Narducci and the DOE did not respond to messages. Younis told The Post that he does not remember the incident probed by SCI.