Video: Parent Activist on Abusive Principal Oneatha Swinton, Arrested Yesterday

"She will remain as interim acting principal at the school while we review the charges," said a spokesman for the Department of Education.  "We treat these matters with the utmost seriousness and will ensure it's appropriately addressed." ... Staten Island Advance, June 22, 2018

Today is Port Richmond HS interim acting principal Oneatha Swinton day at Ed Notes as we put up a series of reports on the breaking story. Swinton, who was arrested yesterday in Pennsylvania for insurance fraud, came to Port Richmond as a principal who abused teachers and parents at her old school in Brooklyn's John Jay campus at the School of Journalism, didn't change her stripes at Port Richmond.

One of the founders of MORE and GEM, a strong fighter against racism in his political work, was the chapter leader at the Brooklyn school and posted this response:

I had the “pleasure“ of teaching at her school for five years. Can’t cheat karma :)

I mention racism because Staten Island politician Debbie Rose has defended Swinton by charging the critics were racist.

A leading parent from Swinton's old school -- the PTA President was Annette Renaud. As a black woman abused and physically assaulted by Swinton and put in the hospital in 2016, Renaud rejects these charges of racism. (We will have more details of this assault which was ignored by OSI - until this past month when the DOE probably learned that something was going on that would take Swinton down and is trying to cover its ass.)

Here is the first video I posted on FB of Annette outside the Delegate Assembly where she handed out a leaflet to raise the issue in the hope the UFT leadership would take strong action.



Later, I will put up another video of Annette in front of the DA and in Brooklyn at the location of the PEP meeting which seemed to have been moved - with more news stories.

Here is a short video I made of a large group of parents and teachers who attended the April PEP meeting:

Video: PEP April 25, 2018 - Port Richmond HS Protest Principal

https://vimeo.com/267774737



And here is the Staten Island Advance story from yesterday:

https://www.silive.com/news/2018/06/interim_port_richmond_hs_princ.html

Interim Port Richmond High School Principal Oneatha Swinton was arrested for insurance fraud, authorities said. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

By Mira Wassef

mwassef@siadvance.com

UFT and DOE Indifference to Gotcha Culture at OSI Lead to Investigator Lies and Distortions in Debra Fisher Case

A crime was committed so let's call it what it is. Today's NY Times had a story by Jim Dywer on the OSI fatally flawed investigation and 30 day suspension of Debra Fischer we reported (Corrupt DOE's OSI Exposed) based on the work of Leonie Haimson who pointed the arrow of blame directly at Farina:  

"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."

From the principal on the front line, to Chancellor Fariña, to the United Federation of Teachers, every person in authority who had a chance to stop a reckless process either rubber-stamped false charges, or waved them on without vigorous objection...NY Times

I'm so glad Dwyer included the UFT in his list of faulty groups. If any organization should have stepped in to "stop this reckless process" and not "rubber-stamped false charges, or waved them on without vigorous objection" it should be the UFT. But we all know they don't and they won't.

The investigator’s report was jammed with mistakes, omitted context — for instance, you would never have known from the report that the school principal had directly approved the fund-raising and other worthy activities of Ms. Fisher — and twisted statements made by people at the museum to create an illusion of conflict in entirely innocent circumstances. In fact, parents had nothing to do with Ms. Fisher’s hiring there. Still, a report that was untrue in every significant detail led to her suspension. 

Any word on what happened to the investigator or any of the other investigators who have lied and distorted and taken things out of context? Do you think they are suspended or fired? In fact this is not an anomaly but embedded in the very culture of OSI which must feed the massive DOE legal team monster. It's about jobs - their jobs -- stupid -- and if teachers must be chopped to feed that monster, so be it.

On Monday, the city’s Department of Investigation said those findings were factually wrong and the result of unprofessional work, and recommended wholesale changes to the branch of the Education Department that allowed such shoddy work to be issued. The new report noted that the person who conducted the investigation had no meaningful supervision, and had even recommended that Ms. Fisher be fired. Most egregious, the student writing the book said the investigator pressed him not to be protective of Ms. Fisher and told him not to speak with his father about the interview.

“The findings of an investigation which recommends the termination of someone’s employment should be subjected to an oversight and review process that includes more than checking for grammar and punctuation,” said the new report, which was written by Regina A. Loughran, who works in the office of Richard J. Condon, a special commissioner with authority over the Education Department.

What a load of bullshit - as if Farina is  shocked, just shocked - when in fact we have video after video of people getting up at PEPs to tell her what OSI is doing -- though we did note attempts to muzzle people who wanted to tell their stories publicly as being "personnel" issues not subject to public comment. Farina is and has always been a cog in the gotcha culture.

What of Ms. Fisher, who was summarily ordered out of her school for 30 days — without a word of explanation to the students she worked with — and lost her pay and health insurance for that period?

“The suspension of Debra Fisher is under review,” Ms. Kaye said.

As well it should be.

WTF - under review? They need time to review? A real union would be out there screaming for immediate justice and a revamping of DOE legal which controls OSI - in name or behind the scenes. Debra Fisher is owed a lot more than restitution of lost pay - and I hope she sues everyone's ass off.

As for Farina's pals at the UFT, double bullshit.

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Major Flaws Found in Inquiry That Led to Suspension of Public-School Therapist

For sheer bureaucratic folly, it would be hard to top the suspension last year of a devoted occupational therapist in the public school system who showed children in wheelchairs how to get places.

The therapist, Debra Fisher, created an art therapy program for disabled children....  But last year, Ms. Fisher was suspended for 30 days without pay, charged with “theft of services” and conflict of interest.

What did the “theft” involve? Supposedly sending fund-raising emails on school time to help the boy raise money for his book. And the conflict of interest? Ms. Fisher had a weekend job at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, guiding its staff members on how children with limited use of their arms or legs could take part in museum art projects. As it happened, some families from her school were also involved with the museum, and an investigator with a disciplinary arm of New York City’s Department of Education concluded that they must have put in the fix for Ms. Fisher to be hired there.

Yet the suspension of Ms. Fisher was not simply the work of one obsessive Javert, or one broken arm of the bureaucracy. “I took the mandate of Chancellor Carmen Fariña to heart — to put the needs of the children first,” Ms. Fisher said on Monday. “Somewhere along the way, I was sure that people’s better angels would prevail. But no one said this person is trying her best, and has no infractions.”

What does the Education Department make of this new narrative?

It is overhauling the division and procedures that produced the flawed charges against Ms. Fisher, according to Devora Kaye, the department’s spokeswoman.

“This was a thoroughly botched investigation by a thoroughly dysfunctional system that resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” said Joel Kurtzberg, a former teacher who is now a partner in the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He represented Ms. Fisher in a court case to overturn the suspension. “We’re hoping the city will react appropriately.”

Continue reading the main story

Ravitch to Farina: Fire the Gotcha Squad; Supervisors Skate While Teachers Are Crucified

Chancellor Farina, it is time to fire the “gotcha” squad. It is time to replace Joel Klein’s legal team. It is time to clean house and install officials who share Mayor de Blasio’s vision and values... Unfortunately, the de Blasio administration has been slow to clean house. The Klein regime still controls large sectors of the education bureaucracy, including the infamous “gotcha” squad that is always on the alert for teacher misbehavior. True, the “gotcha” squad completely missed a high school teacher arrested for having sexual relations with several students at selective Brooklyn Technical High School, who is currently suspended with pay.Diane Ravitch, NYC Education Bureaucracy Gone Wild: The Suspension of a Hero Teacher

Diane picked up the same story from the NY Times' Jim Dwyer which we covered yesterday (Wipe out OSI and DOE Legal and Start Over - Let's Focus on Teachers Who Should not be Teaching).

This is the first instance I know of where the mainstream press focused on the abuses of OSI, SCI, or DOE Legal -- all a tandem, covered by so many bloggers, particularly Portelos -- I'll do a follow up with links to the work he's done.

An investigator with the Education Department’s Office of Special Investigations, Wei Liu, found that Ms. Fisher sent emails about the project during her workday at Public School 333, the Manhattan School for Children, and was thus guilty of “theft of services.”

Is there one employee of the DOE that has not sent emails during the workday since email was invented? They tried to pull the same crap at Portelos.

“By omitting essential context, the report wrongly suggested that Ms. Fisher was a rogue employee, acting alone and in her own self-interest.

This is crucial and something that becomes very clear when you attend 3020a hearings -- DOE Legal purposely removes context to try to get a guilty verdict - their measure of "success" in terms of justifying their jobs. They have zero interest in truth.
I heard a story from a teacher about an assistant principal who slapped a child in front of witnesses.  The AP was pulled from the school and disappeared from view for some time, only to resurface as an Assistant Principal in another school. That person is now a principal.

A teacher who did that would be taken out in cuffs.

How can we account for this double standard? We know Tweed protects principals unless they are caught with the knife in their hand with blood all over them - and even then.....

I have come to believe that the CSA (Principal's Union) does a lot of work behind the scenes to protect their people under all circumstances - like the PBA for cops. The UFT? Let then hang from the cross. (I'm reading a book on how Jesus the poor Jewish preacher became god so excuse the reference.)

Meanwhile Diane Ravitch has taken up the case of the teacher suspended for 30 days for assisting a student with a Kickstarter campaign.

NYC Education Bureaucracy Gone Wild: The Suspension of a Hero Teacher

By dianeravitch

October 5, 2014 //

“This is a story of an almost unfathomably mindless school bureaucracy at work: the crushing of an occupational therapist who had helped a young boy build a record of blazing success.
“The therapist, Deb Fisher, is now serving a suspension of 30 days without pay for official misconduct.
“Her crime?
“She raised money on Kickstarter for a program that she and the student, Aaron Philip, 13, created called This Ability Not Disability.

But the “gotcha” squad bagged a teacher who helped run a Kickstarter campaign for a student with cerebral palsy. This teacher was suspended without pay for 30 days for “theft of services,” having helped the campaign during school hours.
As Jim Dwyer, columnist for the New York Times reports:

“The school system has proved itself unable to dislodge failed or dangerous employees for years at a time.
“Ms. Fisher’s case seems to represent just the opposite: A person working to excel is being hammered by an investigative agency that began its hunt in search of cheating on tests and record-keeping irregularities. It found nothing of the sort. Instead, the investigation produced a misleading report, filled with holes, on the fund-raising effort.
“By omitting essential context, the report wrongly suggested that Ms. Fisher was a rogue employee, acting alone and in her own self-interest.
“In fact, the entire school, including the principal, was involved in the Kickstarter project, with regular email blasts counting down the fund-raising push. And the money was to be used not by Ms. Fisher, but by Aaron, who is writing a graphic book and making a short film about Tanda, a regular kid who is born with a pair of legs in a world where everybody else has a pair of wheels.
“Aaron has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to navigate the world. Ms. Fisher has worked with him since kindergarten.”

NY Post Points to Corruption in OSI, DOE Investigations Unit?

In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook. “I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.” The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years... NY Post

UPDATE FROM PORTELOS:

Lawrence Scott...the lead investigator investigating my principal. I have him recused threatening me. He dragged investigation of Linda Hill out over 700 days and resigned.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ihvv4713yjoo9f/Lawrence%20Scott%20OSI%20-If%20you%20record%20Not%20going%20to%20be%20a%20nice%20guy.mp3

Back in 2007 Jeff Kaufman and James Eterno, just as their terms on the UFT Exec Bd were coming to an end, tried to get the UFT to hire paralegals to do their own investigations instead of leaving to the "gotcha" squad at the DOE. Unity Caucus naturally voted it down -- let's let teachers charged hang in the wind.

I believe the investigator in this scandal reported by Sue Edelman at the NY Post was also on the Portelos case, though I do not think he asked for sex in exchange for "getting Portelos off." Betsy Combier who is quoted (see her report on scuzzball Queens Principal Anthony Lombardi is Accused of Sexual Harassment at PS 49), told us this story was coming a few weeks ago. Did you know that the DOE had another corrupt investigator, the now famous Louis Scarcella (See yesterday's NY Times': Louis Scarcella's Ex-Partner Is Coming Under Scrutiny in Brooklyn Cases), working for them?

The den of thieves at DOE Legal have a good partner.

Teacher: Prober said sex would get me off hook

By Susan Edelman

December 29, 2013 | 1:17am

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IT'S QUID PRO WHOA! Teacher Natalya Sokolson Gordon  alleges that a DOE investigator demanded sex in exchange for dropping complaints against her. Left: One of the racy come-ons sent by the investigator. 

A Department of Education detective tried to have sex with a Brooklyn teacher he was probing in exchange for letting her keep her job, she charges.

Investigator Lawrence Scott, 40, allegedly sent scores of X-rated texts, a photo of his penis and explicit demands for sex to Natalya Sokolson Gordon, a computer and fifth-grade teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island.

“I like it dirty,” Scott text­ed the tall brunette soon after inviting her to call him when she got “the courage.”

Over 2¹/₂ months, he sent Gordon a barrage of pornographic messages and requests.

Gordon, 44, admits she sexted back — even sending him topless and bottomless photos of herself, which he requested. She claims it was a desperate bid to save her career from what she called false accusations.

“I feel so stupid for believing he would help me,” she told The Post, tears streaming down her face. “I was scared I was going to lose my job. I felt I had no choice. He had my life in his hands.”

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TEXXXTS: The schools investigator sent lurid come-ons like this one.

In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook.

“I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.”

The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years. He resigned his $65,000-a-year post in October when confronted with the texts.

“It was the dumbest mistake I ever made,” Scott told The Post, but he denied he exploited his power to seduce Gordon. “She initiated it. I never forced anything on her. There was no quid pro quo.”

Gordon also has filed complaints that Scott groped her breasts and put his hand between her legs during a discussion of her case in a closed-door meeting at her school.

Scott denied assaulting Gordon. She secretly taped the meeting, which includes slapping sounds — she says she fought him off.

On Jan. 31, Gordon was charged with yelling at and grabbing several students the previous year, and of making an obscene gesture in reference to Principal Salema Marbury.

Gordon was yanked from her school and sent to a rubber room, then assigned clerical duties in the same Brooklyn building where Scott worked. Fearful, she said, she asked for a transfer.

Scott started sexting Gordon with banter about sex positions; “Some may force u to scream,” he wrote. The texts are rife with crude slang.

The married Scott, who lives near Gordon in Staten Island, texted: “We can just enjoy each other’s company . . . A lot if we’re naked lmao.”

Gordon turned over 275 pages of texts last October to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools Richard Condon. But after Scott quit, Condon’s office told Gordon that she, too, was under scrutiny “because I didn’t report him and I texted him back,” she said.

“They’re making the victim a culprit,” said Betsy Combier, a paralegal helping defend Gordon against her disciplinary charges.

Gordon’s lawyer, Peter Gleason, could find no written report by Scott.

“His interest was in gratifying his own deviant desires,” Gleason said.

DOE spokesman David Pena said Scott is still under investigation.

Filed underDepartment of Education, Exclusive, Lawrence Scott, Natalya Sokolson Gordon, Sexual harassment

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IT'S QUID PRO WHOA! Teacher Natalya Sokolson Gordon (right) alleges that a DOE investigator demanded sex in exchange for dropping complaints against her. Left: One of the racy come-ons sent by the investigator. Photo: Helayne Seidman (right)

 

My Brush With OSI

I had one brief brush with some goons from OSI (Office of Special Investigations or its precursor) around 1990. Two of them came in and threatened my principal over a leaflet I had handed out in front of a school headed by a principal who has given a friend an unfair U-rating.

She refused to pull me out of class, to her credit.

We didn't get along but she was one tough bird who wouldn't take shit from anyone - me or the goons from central. (Later she told me they warned her she would never get anywhere in the system if she didn't "cooperate" which probably meant they wanted her to go after me. No matter how much she hated me politically, she wouldn't stoop to that as so many principals would today.)

They came back. This time with a letter ordering her to send me and two colleagues down to the office to meet with them. I grabbed a giant video recorder and walked in with it on and stuck it in their faces. I thought they would duck under their chairs like it was one of those shelter drills from the 50's. They handed me a letter ordering me to appear at OSI.

The three of us involved in the leaflet were pulled out of school for a day and hauled down to tell our story. It was clearly about intimidation. I practically leaped across the table at the arrogant guy who questioned me (with the UFT lawyer trying to restrain me). "I'll walk into any school I feel like and put it into any teacher's mailbox I want," I said. "Check the chancellors' regs which give me the right to do it." I was sort of bluffing but figured I'd use the same tactics they did. They seemed so used to teachers walking away with their tail between their legs, they backed off.

I was able to be so brazen because I never worried that I as vulnerable within my school, something in today's climate I could not count on.

We were out of there by 10:30 AM and headed off to Riis Park Pitch and Putt to play golf for the rest of the day.

How sweet it was playing golf on the DOE nut.