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| Amanda Lurie allegedly sold goods on Poshmark during DOE time. |
Monitors and Special Masters Have Been Paid $111 Million In Public Funds To Fix NYC Failing Agencies
Who suffers the most? The children, their parents and teachers.
Betsy Combier
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
NYC DOE lawyers grill deputy chancellor on ‘cover-up,’ pay hikes
City Department of Education lawyers grilled First Deputy Chancellor Daniel Weisberg behind closed doors this week amid accusations he covered up misconduct by two top execs, and then rewarded them with hefty pay hikes, The Post has learned.
On Wednesday, DOE lawyers met with Weisberg and his chief executive, Christopher Groll, asking them to explain why they doled out salary increases to Amanda Lurie and her boss, Chief Enrollment Officer Sarah Kleinhandler, said a source close to the situation.
They also asked Weisberg whether he shared an explosive Office of Special Investigations report on the misconduct with Chancellor David Banks, the source added.
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| Amanda Lurie's Linkedin page |
The meeting came days after The Post revealed the findings against Lurie, senior executive director in the Office of Enrollment, and Kleinhandler, who is accused of failing to supervise Lurie.
That evening, Brooklyn teacher Martina Meijer angrily raised the “elephant in the room” during a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, at which Weisberg filled in for the vacationing Banks.
“I ask you to demand answers, because we are still waiting for them,” she told the panel.
Meijer said the scandal inspired her to coin a new DOE acronym, RISI, for “Rewarding Incompetence and Stonewalling Inquiries.”
Weisberg said nothing.
“Is this the type of leadership that Dan Weisberg expects schools to emulate?” the teacher asked after the meeting. “ I hope that the DOE would seek to alleviate public distrust by taking this corruption seriously. Instead, what we see is a cover-up and further lack of responsiveness. How does this build trust?”
Lurie was a chronic no-show, rarely visited the Family Welcome Centers under her watch, and sold clothes on Poshmark during DOE time, while Kleinhandler long ignored complaints about her underling, according to Jonathan May, the OSI investigator who conducted the probe.
Weeks after receiving the report, Weisberg named Lurie a “special adviser” in his office. Groll, who handles finances, raised her salary from $199,118 to $208,000 a year. Kleinhandler also got a raise from $204,106 to $220,000.
“Weisberg sat on the report for months and took no disciplinary action, but gave them promotions and raises,” the source said, calling it unacceptable.
It’s unclear what role, if any, Chancellor Banks had in the matter. “Where is David Banks on this?” the source said DOE staffers are asking.
Last April, both Weisberg and Banks received emails, obtained by The Post, from an enrollment staffer, who pleaded with them to halt the “retaliation” for cooperating with the investigation. The staffer was assigned to an office much farther from her home. The Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools is looking into that complaint.
Weisberg, Banks, Groll and a DOE spokesman gave no response to questions.
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| Amanda Lurie's Poshmark page |
NYC DOE exec in ‘cover up’ for repeat hooky given generous raise
A top enrollment official for the city Department of Education was found to have repeatedly played hooky and sold clothing online during work hours, yet she was rewarded with a promotion and a pay raise just weeks after a misconduct probe, The Post has learned.
As senior executive director in the Office of Student Enrollment, Amanda Lurie was a chronic no-show, barely visited the “family welcome centers” she was supposed to supervise, took off on work days, and peddled apparel during DOE hours on Poshmark, the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI) concluded in late February, according to the investigator who conducted the probe.
Lurie was removed from the enrollment office at the end of March, but it was painted as a promotion.
First Deputy Chancellor Daniel Weisberg named her a “senior advisor” in his office, and that month she received a pay hike from $199,118 to $208,000 a year.
Lurie, 54, boasted to colleagues and friends on Facebook that she had a higher position with “with a very nice raise.”
“If she was not punished for this, there was a cover up,” said Jonathan May, the OSI investigator. “God knows if that were me, I would have been fired and rightfully so.”
May, a retired federal agent and eight-year DOE investigator who resigned after completing the probe, summarized his findings for The Post because he fears officials are hiding the report.
The nine-month investigation documented that Lurie, who goes by Lilly Ledbetter — the name of a famed women’s equality activist — on Poshmark, ran “Lilly’s Closet” on the website during DOE hours, May said.
Lurie has gushed on Facebook about her sales prowess — which earned her Poshmark’s “Ambassador” status — and the thousands of dollars she has pocketed from what she calls her “side hustle.”
Employees at the DOE’s welcome centers, where families enroll their children in city schools, confirmed that Lurie rarely showed up, May said.
She attended Zoom meetings in what appeared to be her car or home.
Lurie told May she had no need to visit the centers during the pandemic because they weren’t busy, he said.
But May cited a “deluge of evidence” that the sites were swamped with phone calls and emails from families and schools.
“We were working around the clock to keep up,” a staffer recalled.
In one case, Lurie’s 2019 timesheet records reflected a full week on duty when she was nowhere to be found, colleagues reported.
Lurie denied taking time off, May said, but other employees shared emails from Lurie telling them what to do “while I’m out this week.”
Her boss, Chief Enrollment Officer Sarah Kleinhandler, did not question Lurie’s timesheets, because she “totally trusted” her top staffer, she told May.
But behind Kleinhandler’s back in a virtual executive meeting caught on audio, and obtained by The Post, Lurie once dissed the chief, snapping, “Sarah doesn’t do s–t” because she delegates all the work to others.
The investigation found Kleinhandler failed to supervise Lurie and ignored complaints from other employees. But she, too, got a raise from $204,106 to $220,000, internal records show.
Instead of facing consequences, Kleinhandler took action against a key witness in the probe — reassigning the worker to an office farther from her home, which added more than an hour to her commute.
That employee emailed Weisberg three times, pleading for him to intervene, but got no response.
She then complained to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools, which is probing the matter, a spokesperson confirmed.
The OSI’s damning report on Lurie and Kleinhandler was delivered six months ago to Weisberg, second in command to Chancellor David Banks, but it has been kept under wraps.
The DOE has repeatedly delayed requests for the report under the state Freedom of Information Law.
“It appeared to everybody like nothing happened, and I am livid,” May said. “Nothing happened to them [Lurie and Kleinhandler], and the people who came forward to tell the truth are being retaliated against.”
Lurie would not discuss the OSI report. “I have no comment,” she said.
Kleinhandler was on vacation overseas and did not answer an email.
Banks, Weisberg, and a DOE spokesman did not reply to questions.
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