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United States News Title: City pulls two jailed teachers off payroll as educator charged with assaulting student still collects salary Two down, one to go. Education officials yanked two city teachers off the payroll Thursday, the same day the Daily News put them on the front page with the headline “Crime does pay.” Another teacher, arrested Wednesday night, continues to draw his paycheck. Queens middle school teacher Ramiro Cruz, 52, grabbed a student’s hand and twisted it hard enough to cause a sprained finger, officials said. Police were called Wednesday to Intermediate School 145 — known as the Joseph Pulitzer School — on 80th St. in Jackson Heights, where they arrested Cruz and charged him with assault. City stills pays 2 teachers in jail for crimes against students The Jackson Heights man was reassigned away from his classroom following his arrest, but he’s still collecting his $58,062 salary. Meanwhile, city officials dropped two jailed educators from the payroll Thursday afternoon, hours after the Daily News reported they continued to draw their paychecks from their cells — even after being found guilty of committing crimes against students. Mayor de Blasio acknowledged the pair — Harlem Public School 194 teacher Osman Couey, 54, and Columbia Secondary School instructor, Dean Bethea, 56 — should have been booted sooner from the payroll. “It’s unacceptable from my point of view, it should have been done much quicker,” de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference in Washington Heights. “It’s been done now, but that was not handled properly and we’re going to put new rules in place to make sure that does not happen again.” The city’s contract with the United Federation of Teachers allows for suspensions without pay while disciplinary hearings are pending in circumstances that include physically abusing a student and sexual misconduct. An Education Department spokeswoman said the two teachers were still getting paid because the city hadn’t pulled them off the payroll yet. Educators convicted of crimes and jailed continue to draw their paychecks as though they are still working in schools. They are not docked vacation or sick days or holidays. Daily News front page. (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) Although Couey and Bethea remain city employees, termination efforts are underway. The city said Thursday that Bethea’s firing will take effect Friday. Couey was convicted April 13 in Manhattan Supreme Court of shoving a student with a disability in December 2015. He is serving 30 days for his crime. Bethea was sentenced April 20 to four months in jail for trying to kiss a 16-year-old student after giving her alcohol, also in December 2015. Couey’s annual salary is $105,142 and Bethea’s is $81,346. “There is no place for this alleged behavior in our schools and Mr. Cruz was removed and reassigned away from students pending the resolution of his criminal case,” said Education Department spokesman Michael Aciman. A state Education Department tally shows the city tried to fire fewer bad educators in 2016 than it did the previous year. The city began termination hearings against 381 teachers and school administrators in the fiscal year that ended March 31, compared with 392 educators in 2015. The mayor had vowed on the campaign trail in 2013 to streamline the process for canning bad educators. Later, in his speech unveiling the teachers union contract in May 2014, de Blasio promised “reforms” in “moving out those who belong in a different profession.” Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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