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| Principal Emmanuel Polanco |
One of the many outrageous policies of the NYCDOE that continues to baffle me is the immoral, illegal, or inappropriate actions of principals who are never stopped or held accountable for their words or actions.
One recent event:
Lower Manhattan Arts Academy Principal Derek Premo, and Gabriel Mitey
‘Creepy’ NYC teacher Gabriel Mitey, who worked at new school under a different name, ousted |
| Anissa Reilly, GANG GIRL video |
And then there is Dr. Anissa Reilly and her video "Gang Girl". This video is violent and disgusting, trust me. I bought it for $5.00 because I was hired by a teacher to do her 3020-a arbitration after she was accused of threatening Reilly at a meeting - which FORTUNATELY the teacher secretly taped. On the audio tape, which was given to the arbitrator when Reilly came in to testify, everyone could hear Reilly threaten the teacher, not the other way around. We gave the arbitrator a copy of "Gang Girl" and the certified transcript of the secretly taped meeting as evidence. We won that case, and the teacher was not terminated.
Reilly has had a checkered career, but nothing has stopped her nor has she been removed from her position. Here are a few of the Reilly stories you can read online:
Video #45 Principal Takeover- Dr. Anissa Reilly. Revolutionary School Culture OSG describes itself as " where education meets culture. Season One of Revolutionary School Culture highlights Five extraordinary school leaders in New York City that are doing phenomenal work saving and transforming the lives in their schools!"
Controversial Bronx principal accused of pushing fifth-grade girl to floor, hurling table at her in classThe NYC DOE Double Standard: PS132 Principal Anissa Chalmers-Reilly, GANG GIRL, Gets a Reprimand For Threatening Staff
Teachers are brought to Part 83 hearings for much less. For example, a beautiful, talented and tenured teacher was accused - falsely - by a jealous co-worker of holding the hand of a 19-year-old student in her class as they walked towards a movie theater on 42nd street. She was reassigned, found guilty of having a "relationship" with her student even though there were no telephone calls, texts, or social media found by SCI, and her NYSUT attorney did a terrible job defending her (my opinion, after reading every word of the transcripts) to the point that the attorney, Elizabeth Schuster, told the teacher she was going to be terminated and should resign, but NYSUT would not help her appeal:
In my opinion, Attorney Schuster knew that she put forth a terrible defense, and did not want the teacher to Appeal her termination so that a Court could review what happened. I can say unequivocally that the teacher is innocent of the charge. A bad defense caused her firing. The teacher resigned, scared and with a Problem Code on her fingerprints. No one told her about this code until she called me in 2022 to ask for my help after she received a Notice of a Part 83 against her for "Immoral character" (the charge= holding the hand of a student and leaving him emotionally scarred for life). Her State license would be revoked, all due to her having been falsely accused of holding a boy's hand on 42nd Street. Both parties, this teacher and the boy himself, testified that this was false. The arbitrator did not care. I was not part of the hearing, but I read the transcripts.
I wrote a Motion To Dismiss/Withdraw the Part 83. The Arbitrator, Anne Reynolds Copps said,
"I do not have the authority to withdraw or otherwise terminate these proceedings. I must hold the hearing as directed by the commissioner.....There will be no arguments entertained at the hearing concerning these motions."
Principals and higher-ups in the NYC DOE are under a different standard. This needs to stop.
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials
NEW YORK - A landmark program to bring teachers here from the Dominican Republic to teach bilingual education is being probed by city and federal investigators amid allegations some were subjected to a shakedown scheme and threatened with loss of their visas if they didn't pay up.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reports, MS 80 in the Bronx is a school in turmoil. CBS2 has learned that its principal, Emmanuel Polanco, has been reassigned by Schools Chancellor David Banks as city and federal investigators sift through a sea of disturbing allegations that several teachers brought here from the Dominican Republic were reportedly forced by the principal to pay shakedown rent payments or have their visas yanked.
"I was floored by what I heard," said St. Senator Luis Sepulveda. "I was floored. I was disturbed... allegations of this kind being made, it's almost a painful experience because the program was designed to change the lives of kids here, and the lives of the teachers."
Sepulveda is talking about a first-of-its-kind program embarked on by the Department of Education this fall that brought 25 teachers from the Dominican Republic to teach bilingual education in city schools. Ten were assigned to MS 80.
It's an important program. Last year more than 22% of city students spoke Spanish as their first language. Nearly 14% were learning English as a second language.
Sources tell CBS2 the probe started when Sepulveda's office was contacted last month by one of the teachers assigned to MS 80, charging that she was being forced by Polanco to pay about $1,800 to rent a single room, or lose her visa.
Sepulveda went to the Department of Education, which took immediate action.
Sources tell CBS2:
- The DOE has obtained emails in which the principal verbally abused one or more of the teachers
- On Oct. 29, Polanco reportedly held a meeting with many of the teachers, telling them not to cooperate with the probe
- One of the teachers went back to the Dominican Republic because of the threats
A spokesman for Banks, who heralded the program when it was first announced, insisted "we will do whatever we can to protect and defend our staff from mistreatment related to their employment."
"If the allegations are true, they create problems for people who came here. These people came here from the Dominican Republic, looking for a great opportunity for themselves and their families. They left families. They left their jobs," Sepulveda said. "They should not be subjected to this."
Polanco did not return a request for comment. Neither did the organization that brought the teachers here.
The Department of Education has hired pro-bono immigration lawyers for each of the teachers. The agency insists it will continue to recruit bilingual teachers from abroad.
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Bilingual teachers brought from the Dominican Republic to work in New York City public schools have been treated like indentured servants by educators acting as their slumlords, The Post has learned.
Bronx principal Emmanuel Polanco and a group of fellow Department of Education administrators have put nearly a dozen teachers recruited from the DR in an apparently illegal boarding house in The Bronx — and charge the instructors $1,450 each month for the privilege, multiple sources say.
Polanco and his associates threaten to say “adios” to anyone who doesn’t go along, several teachers told The Post.
“If you leave, you might get in trouble,” teacher Rafael De Paula, 39, said the recruits were warned. “You can leave, but if you go, you go back to the Dominican Republic.”
Several teachers who balked at the terms or insisted on finding their own housing — including one who wanted to live with his brother in NYC – were terminated and sent packing, their colleagues said. Others fear they may lose their J-1 visas, which allow foreigners to work or study in the US if they disobey.
“It’s a big embarrassment,” said a DOE insider informed of the lucrative scheme. “It also has the potential to damage the relationship between New York City and the DR if they don’t do right by these teachers.”
Since most of the newcomers lost their jobs in the DR when they joined the DOE program, they can’t afford to be expelled because they support families left behind.
“Right now, if I went back to the Dominican Republic, the only thing that I would find there, other than my family, is financial problems,” said Neylin Puello, 31, who teaches aviation at JHS 80 along with other recruits — where Polanco is their boss.
Under city rules, a financial relationship between a superior and subordinate, including the leasing of property, is prohibited.
Polanco, 39, was quietly ousted from the Norwood middle school and “reassigned pending resolution of a personal matter,” District 10 Superintendent Maribel Torres-Hulla said in a Nov. 2 email to families.
The Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools said it is “aware of, and looking into,” the matter.
The rentals are run by Polanco and a group of DOE administrators, the Association of Dominican-American Supervisors and Administrators, known as ADASA NY.
Polanco, described by the teachers as their main contact, is the past president and current first vice president. Treasurer Daniel Calcaño, a DOE administrator in the Bronx, collects the payments, they said.
“There is no organization in our public schools that means more to me than ADASA,” Chancellor David Banks gushed at a September 15 press conference announcing the recruitment of 25 teachers to help with the influx of Spanish-speaking migrants. Echoing Mayor Adams’ mantra, he added, “ADASA gets stuff done.”
But a Post investigation found ADASA could be stuffing its pockets.
Ying Qing Li of Fox River Grove, Ill., bought the duplex in July for $810,000 as an investment, she said. Her agent, Elsa Ni, said the house was leased to ADASA, which pays $6,900 a month for both units. Ni understood the building would house teachers from the DR but said she had no idea how many would move in.
ADASA charges 10 teachers $1,450 a month, and one $1,300, each for single rooms, the teachers said. The $15,800 in rent collected would net a monthly profit of $8,900. Another Bronx building run by ADASA houses eight teachers, and a third is rented by three teachers, sources said.
Puello said he is charged $1,300 a month, not $1,450 like the others because his room is the smallest, furnished only with a full-sized bed, a dresser, and a wall-mounted TV.
Four male teachers occupy the third floor of the building, sharing a kitchen and full bathroom. Seven female teachers rent rooms on the first floor and second floors. They also share a kitchen and bathroom, the tenants said.
Each rented room has door locks, they said. Housing lawyers and the city Department of Buildings said that would constitute a single-room occupancy, or SRO, which is illegal in NYC — and possibly dangerous in an emergency — unless previously approved. The building has no record of preexisting SRO units, said DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky, adding that officials would inspect the premises and possibly issue a vacate order.
The Dominican teachers said they get roughly $1,800 after taxes and other deductions in twice-monthly DOE paychecks. They are paid as substitutes — roughly $199.27 per day — pending NY state certification. Long-term subs may earn slightly more and get some sick or vacation days.
Several teachers who spoke to the Post fumed at the rental cost. “We know we can get it cheaper somewhere else,” Puello said. “I have to support myself and my family at home. I’m working for rent.”
The teachers were first assured they could bring their families, but “at the last minute,” were told to come alone for the first year or so. Puello said. Missing his five-year-old daughter’s birthday this month “was the hardest thing ever.”
DOE officials did not respond to a request for comment. Socorro Diaz, the director of English-language instruction in the Bronx and ADASA president, also did not reply.
A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s office said the “charitable organization” has failed to register or file the required financial records. The agency wrote to ADASA last week, asking it to comply.
Polanco refused to speak with a reporter.
Craig DiFolco, a spokesman for the principals’ union, CSA, had no comment on the rentals, but said of Polanco, “Our union will vigorously enforce his due process rights as well as defend him against any false or unsubstantiated allegations.”
See also this story from 2013:
CRASS COURSE: Bronx Junior High School 80 principal sparks outrage with his Internet rap video appearances
Students at Junior High School 80 in the Bronx call him Principal Polanco, but the bikini-clad babes in his Internet rap videos call him "El Siki."
Emmanuel Polanco, 30, is one of the youngest school leaders in the city, but angry parents say his on-screen antics show he's a terrible role model.
"Someone has to hold this guy accountable," said Cecilia Donovan, whose daughter Ciara, 12, is a seventh-grader at the school. "It's ridiculous what he's doing there."
Videos obtained by the Daily News show the principal cavorting with young hotties and partying at posh clubs with bottles of champagne as "El Siki."
In a Spanish-language music video for a song called "El Metele," Polanco visits a club where he orders up champagne, gyrates on the dance floor and takes a busty blond babe home to bed.
"Come here, press against me. I'm giving up control, you go crazy," he raps in Spanish. "Don't stop, more, let's make love."
Though it's not clear when Polanco made the videos, parents said many students at JHS 80 have seen "El Metele" and kids sometimes chant "El Siki" when Polanco walks down the halls.
Polanco, who earns $127,115 and has worked in the public schools since 2003, did not respond to requests for comment. He discussed his musical ambitions in an undated video on the website CalienteHitzMix.com.
"We doin' it up and we doin' it hard and we gonna take over," Polanco says in the interview. "I'm here to step it up a notch."
Education officials said they are looking into Polanco's on-screen alter ego.
"We take parents' concerns seriously and are following up on them," said agency spokeswoman Connie Pankratz.
bchapman@nydailynews.com
