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Showing posts with label Amanda Lurie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Lurie. Show all posts

Saturday, September 16, 2023

The NYC Department of Education Salary Scam

DOE Deputy Chancellor Caroline Quintana
From Betsy Combier:

I am very sure that we, members of the public who read about the lack of transparency in the salary payments made to NYC Department of Education "VIPs", wish that the City of New York would rein in this outrageous scam that uses our taxpayer money.

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander - where are you?

Let's fire the Chancellor, and all Deputy Chancellors, and pay a reasonable salary with accountability steps imbedded in the payment, to the school Districts and the students and families.

This will allow kids to move to private schools if they need to, which I have always supported and will continue to do so. Yay for school choice!!!

See also:

Professor David Bloomfield on the Toxic State of New York City's Public Schools


The New York City Department of Education and the High-salary-No-work Jobs Given To "Friends"

and an article I posted on this blog in February 2011:

Steve Ostrin And The NYC Rubber Room Scam

I have written many times about the robber barons at the NYC DOE, and over the past 20 years.

I'm still hoping this pattern and practice can be stopped.

Just sayin'...

Betsy

NYC DOE blasted for pay hikes to deputies accused of misconduct


by Susan Edelman, NY POST, September 16, 2023

Some city education leaders are fuming about fat raises given to two educrats after an internal probe found they had committed misconduct — and blasting the secretive way Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg dole out salary increases.

“There’s anger towards Banks and Weisberg, and questions about how they shell out raises,” said a source familiar with city Department of Education personnel decisions.

Among those offended is Carolyn Quintana, the deputy chancellor of teaching and learning, the insider said.

Quintana leads Banks’ top initiative, to improve how kids are taught reading — and had complained that his former deputy chancellor for leadership, Desmond Blackburn, was getting $265,000 a year, while her salary is $241,000.

Two other female deputy chancellors also get $241,000.

Blackburn, a Florida recruit with no NYC experience, quit his gig after one year.

Banks replaced him with Danika Rux — and hired her husband, Shawn Rux, for another top spot after he agreed to drop his work as an education consultant.

Quintana’s request for equal pay was “ignored,” the source said.

Her ire heightened when The Post revealed Weisberg gave big raises to Chief Enrollment Officer Sarah Kleinhandler and her senior executive soon after a DOE investigation substantiated misconduct allegations against them.

“They denied Carolyn Quintana, but decided to give raises to two people accused of wrongdoing,” the insider said.

Amanda Lurie, senior executive director in the Office of Student Enrollment, was a chronic no-show, barely visited the “family welcome centers” she supervised, and peddled apparel on Poshmark during DOE hours, the agency’s Office of Special Investigations concluded in late February, according to former OSI investigator Jonathan May, who conducted the probe.

Kleinhandler failed to supervise Lurie or address longstanding complaints about her, the probe found.

Weeks later, inexplicably, Weisberg named Lurie a “senior advisor” in his office, and granted her a pay hike from $199,118 to $208,000 a year.

Kleinhandler got a raise from $204,106 to $220,000.

The Post report led DOE lawyers to question Weisberg about his handling of the OSI report. Lurie was then terminated.

Currently, some 95 DOE employees in central and district offices make more than $200,000 a year, records obtained by The Post show.

Banks gets $363,346,

Experts call for more transparency in the awarding of pay hikes.

“This is public money and taxpayers have a right to know what the criteria are for leadership spending at the DOE, especially at a time of budget tightening,” said David Bloomfield, a Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor.

 “This kind of jockeying at central only adds to distractions and confusion, with leadership arguing over salaries rather than student matters,” he added.

“Before I’d pay either of them $241,000 or $265,000, I’d want to know what exactly they feel accountable for,” said Eric Nadelstern, the deputy chancellor of school support and instruction under ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“The argument for a raise,” he said, “should be here’s what I’ve done to improve the performance of kids.”

Quintana did not reply to a request for comment.

DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer said, “Salaries of senior leadership were set based on portfolios of work and represent the hard work our senior leadership team puts into supporting schools every day.” 

Styer claimed the raises for Kleinhandler and Lurie “occurred prior to the OSI report.” But internal records show Lurie’s raise was approved on March 28 — months after the OSI report was sent to Weisberg. Kleinhandler’s raise was finalized last December 22, near the end of the probe.

Both raises were backdated to September 1, 2022.

betsy@advocatz.com



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Monday, September 4, 2023

The New York City Department of Education and the High-salary-No-work Jobs Given To "Friends"

 

Amanda Lurie allegedly sold goods on Poshmark during DOE time.


The story about Amanda Lurie and her high-salary-no-work job at the NYC Department of Education is outrageous on so many levels, but unique it's not. Nepotism and political appointments are made all the time by those in power with the authority to do so, like Chancellor Banks, Mayor Eric Adams, and many previous Chancellors and Mayors before him.

See:







and soooo many more......

This story is interesting because of the resignation of Investigator Jonathan May. 

And what infuriates me is that the NYC DOE appointees (not elected) folk get away with this fraud and corruption. Also, don't forget that since 2003 NYC parents and taxpayers have been under Mayoral control, which means that the NYC DOE is not accountable to the general public for any expenditures.

We all can see how power corrupts.

Who suffers the most? The children, their parents and teachers.

 Betsy Combier


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.

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.

Amanda Lurie's Poshmark page

NYC DOE exec in ‘cover up’ for repeat hooky given generous raise

By Susan Edelman, NY POST, August 12, 2023

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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