Maspeth HS Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir is Removed For Grade-Fixing and Other Charges of Academic Misconduct

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir

Grade fixing is a city-wide problem. When principals have all the power over staff and employees in their school, and there is no accountability, then there is trouble.

What employees and staff in a school do not realize, is that their prosecution for any or no reason is part of the job for a principal. If a principal wants to get rid of someone, all he/she has to do is give an "Ineffective" rating on the observation report, create a meaningless Teacher Improvement Plan (TIP), and then either discontinue him/her or inform the lawyers at the District or at 52 Chambers Street that TAC memos must be created and the employee(s) charged with 3020-a, if the individual has tenure.

However, this takes a long time. If principals want to get the employee out faster, then all they have to do is have a child or staff member complain that they saw the unwanted educator verbally abusing a student or doing something to a child that they claim is abusive.

The educator will be removed from the school to a rubber room. This reassignment allows that person, if tenured, to remain on salary until a decision is made by an arbitrator at a disciplinary hearing called "3020-a", but as neither CSA nor NYSUT fully defend their members, termination is the usual result.

In order for principals to get away with whatever they want to make the school - of themselves - look good, they must instill fear in the people who work in their building. Fear is power. 

Except when whistleblowers care more about the kids than their careers.

SCI Report on Maspeth HS

Whistleblowers brought down Maspeth HS Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir.

Even whistleblowing doesn't always work, as can be seen in the case of Pierre Orbe (pictured below), Tyree Chin, Richard Bost, David Fanning.

DeWitt Clinton Principal Charges Teachers With 3020-a If They Do Not Change 

Student Grades

Nothing happened to Orbe despite his continuous prosecution of teachers until he made a mistake that went outside of his authority and wrote something improper on his Facebook page:

After allegedly posting offensive content on Facebook, Bronx principal faces investigation

See also:

Holden: Grade fraud goes far beyond Maspeth

In sum, extorting grade changing and doing something abusive to a child (whether it is true or not)  is allowed inside the DOE until someone reports it to the police or an outside agency but NOT to the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the DOE, the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) or the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO). If a staff member reports to either of these agencies then the person who reported it is investigated.

Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, Advocatz.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

NYC DOE removes Maspeth HS principal for role in grade-fixing scandal

The Department of Education has removed a Queens principal for his role in a grade-fixing scandal first exposed by The Post in 2019, officials said Thursday.

The DOE said it will seek to terminate deposed Maspeth High School principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir after investigators substantiated a raft of academic misconduct charges against him.

A group of teachers told The Post in August 2019 that administrators pressured them to pass failing students and that staffers gave out Regents exam answers during the test.

Queens City Councilman Robert Holden led the charge against the misconduct at Maspeth and pressed officials to probe the school for several years.

“It’s good to finally see the principal removed, two years after I helped the Maspeth High School whistleblowers stand up to the corruption and intimidation and break the story,” Holden said. “They came to my office because they had nowhere else to turn. It has taken far too long, because neither the administration nor the DOE was in any hurry to investigate.”

The whistleblowers also reported that kids who did little to no work were graduated via phantom classes and credits.

The Queens Chronicle first reported Abdul-Mutakabbir’s removal Thursday.

“Following DOE’s investigation into Principal Abdul-Mutakabbir’s unacceptable behavior, DOE served him with disciplinary charges and removed him from payroll while we seek to terminate his employment pursuant to state law,” said DOE spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon.

Abdul-Mutakabbir has been removed from his post without pay and the DOE will now begin proceedings to terminate him outright.

“Our schools must have the highest standards of academic integrity, and we are working quickly to bring in new, qualified leadership to Maspeth High School.” O’Hanlon said.

Cynical students called their guaranteed graduations the “Maspeth Minimum,” and the school’s 99 percent graduation rate helped to land it a “Blue Ribbon Award.”

“Teachers are not allowed to fail students,” a staffer told the Post.

Staffers who refused to partake in the academic misconduct were targeted with trumped up disciplinary charges and other forms of retaliation, sources said.

Problematic students were allowed to skip class but still graduate because administrators wanted to maintain a strong passing rate, teachers said.

Holden cautioned that academic fraud is not limited to Maspeth.

“Grade fraud is a systemic problem throughout the city school system and we need state and federal agencies to investigate, including the U.S. Attorney, New York State and U.S. Departments of Education and the FBI. Our educators and our students deserve better,” he said.