Leonie Haimson Reports:
For years, people have complained about the unfair and biased work of OSI as regards the incompetent or corrupt Contracts and Legal staff. Yet Carmen Farina has kept all the same people in charge of these offices – severely undermining the reputation of the DOE as a whole. This is the same OSI office that Condon routinely kicks school cheating allegations to, and about which de Blasio recently said:Really?
I wonder how the UFT, the DOE partner in crime, will report this story.
As Leonie points out, Condon's office is not much better than OSI. Here is the press release from Condon's office - without the attachments.In a rare public rebuke, SCI Condon critiques the DOE investigative unit OSI. Excerpt:“Today, Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard J. Condon released a report detailing an investigation which found that Wei Liu, a Confidential Investigator assigned to the Department of Education (DOE) Office of Special Investigations (OSI), made inaccurate statements and drew inaccurate conclusions in an OSI report substantiating misconduct on the part of Occupational Therapist Debra Fisher, assigned to PS 333 in Manhattan. The statements and conclusions were at least partially responsible for Liu’s substantiated findings in the OSI case, which resulted in the DOE taking disciplinary action against Fisher. The SCI investigation also substantiated, more generally, that OSI investigators and their investigations do not receive adequate supervision. “This case involved Debra Fisher who was suspended from her school after a negative finding by OSI for raising money for a special needs student, now suing DOE for back pay and to have the disciplinary letter removed from her file. More here:
Attached, please find our press release and report regarding an investigation concerning a Confidential Investigator, assigned to the Department of Education, Office of Special Investigations (OSI), who made inaccurate statements and drew inaccurate conclusions in an OSI report substantiating misconduct on the part of Occupational Therapist Debra Fisher.The press release and report can also be found on our website (http://nycsci.org/).Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 212-510-1479.Regina RomainPublic Information Officer, Special Commissioner of Investigation(O): 212-510-1479(F): 212-510-1550
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ReplyDeleteIt takes a strong person to say they are sorry, and an even stronger person to forgive.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the coverage!! Without Pulitzer Prize winning reporters like Jim Dwyer, reporters and editors at The New York Daily News and bloggers like you, I would never have had a voice and a chance. Without my wonderful lawyers at Cahill Gordon Reindel I would have been lost (thanks Joel, Will and Mike!!) Without support from loving parents at my school I would have been lost in the NYC DOE. On this beautiful Christmas Day I send thanks to all of my supporters. Jealous co-workers should never be allowed by their direct supervisors to use the City's investigative arms ((OSI and SCI) to destroy and/or terminate dedicated DOE employees.
I am grateful to NYC's Schools Chancellor Fariña for rescinding my punishment. The only right thing to do once she weighed in on the final SCI report!
Also, I forgive OSI Lead investigator Wei Liu. I do!
I grant him a pardon on this gorgeous Christmas Day.
OH! But and I thank my school based therapist bullies for one thing... Without them trying to ruin my reputation as a school-based therapist by instigating the original investigation, the newspapers and radio stations would have never publicized my case and the student Aaron Philip would have never had gotten a BOOK DEAL at Harper Collins!! No kidding!!
Aaron Philip’s book This Kid Can Fly comes out in February 2016. How wonderful is that? !!
“Wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now!!”
“Still I rise!”
Thanks and xxx, Deb
NYC DOE School Based Occupational Therapist