UFT Caucus MORE Gives Their Evaluation of UFT President Michael Mulgrew

The caucus within the UFT known as MORE has posted a delightfully sarcastic evaluation of UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and their evaluation is highly accurate given the pattern and practice of Mike since he became President in 2009.


Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew

 

We all remember when Mike was running for President to replace Randi Weingarten, his predecessor in that position, and most UFT rank-and-file members had never heard of him. He came out of nowhere. I did my due diligence by listening to wild claims made by UFT delegates, members and Representatives, and sending a request through Freedom of Information (FOIL) to New York State for his personnel file, and found out some very shady stuff about Mike, which was posted on this blog.

Also, from my experience doing, observing, and participating in teacher disciplinary arbitrations known as "3020-a" for 17 years, I have documented the lack of true concern and inaction of NYSUT, the legal arm of the UFT, in properly defending UFT members in these proceedings. This is my opinion, of course, and I am not an attorney (New York State law allows non-attorney representation in arbitration), so I can speak my mind.

Kudos to MORE for the posting of Mike's evaluation, which without the sarcasm is "Ineffective".

See:
From Hal Lanse: I Received No Help From Mike Mulgrew, UFT President
Sex, Lies, and Newspapers
Is the UFT Really Negotiating Teacher Evaluations?
Jeff Kaufman on The New Evaluation Plan, the Scam
‘Sex coverup’ with counselor should force UFT President Mulgrew out: foes


Betsy Combier
Editor, ADVOCATZ.com
Editor, ADVOCATZ blog
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

January Observation Report for the UFT Leadership by morecaucusnyc

Summary: United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew effectively addressed the census crisis in our city, victim-blaming residents in disenfranchised and disadvantaged neighborhoods for not properly filing their census surveys and causing a lack of funding for our city's schools. As will be discussed below, Mr. Mulgrew was also able to differentiate this victim-blaming with anecdotes about the behavior of residents in areas such as Flatbush and Harlem, as well as provide later demonstration for the same mindset he was trying to teach, through his procedural avoidance of any discussion of the movement for black lives. 

Time: 4:34-6:07 PM, January 15, 2020

Location: UFT Delegate Hall, 52 Broadway, New York, NY

Planning and Preparation: Effective

Mr. Mulgrew shows a readiness to cover a wide range of topics, with a knack for improvisation and other extemporaneous speech, such as an interactive discussion with the audience about the population of Aspen, which has 3,765 residents, as of an estimate in 2018. 

Mr. Mulgrew also showed a readiness to challenge members to wake up and take the census seriously this time. His well-prepared remarks admonishing the membership of the union to take the census seriously were effective because they made it evident that if he had been the UFT president in 2010 during the last census no such shortage of activism on this issue would have occurred. Unfortunately, he did not become president until 2009.

The use of time management is an area of growth for Mr. Mulgrew, as he went several minutes over his allotted time for his President’s Report, after having started late and having made a few too many off-topic jokes throughout this report. However, Staff Director Leroy Barr was able to make effective and minimal amount of his time, merely reciting well-phrased promotions for different upcoming UFT event. More on this will be discussed in Next Steps. 

Classroom Environment: Highly Effective

The UFT delegate hall is filled with padded chairs. There are enough padded chairs to seat almost 20% of the teacher delegates from around the city. Every seat was filled, plus there were some members in the standing room-only section in the back as well as a few other members sitting on the carpeted hallways outside the hall watching on large plasma screens, not to mention a few other members watching through video conference on the 19th floor of the building. Because of the fact that Mr. Mulgrew has a delegate hall almost big enough to fit almost 20% of the elected voting members from the union, one can instantly tell that the UFT leadership values the democratic voice of the rank-and-file membership. 

Instruction: Effective

Mr. Mulgrew was able to talk about the UFT’s new online Chapter Leader Community, where leaders can discuss issues in their schools and in the city. Like many UFT online applications, it may or may not work and will allow Chapter Leaders to spend more time with bureaucratic fun. 

Mr. Mulgrew applied appropriate repetition of moderate-Demcratic talking points about the dire state of our nation. 

Mr. Mulgrew was especially eloquent in his delivery of the lesson when he decried New York’s low census survey return rates in 2010. He was able to show how this was both the failure of working class neighborhoods and the inability of members of the UFT to listen to guidance on this topic that was not provided by the UFT leadership. 

Additionally, he provided relevant examples for these admonitions. Residents of Flatbush were loud and knew everything, but they couldn’t fill out the census. Residents of Harlem can walk all over the sidewalk however they want, but they can’t fill out the census. South Queens? Don’t even get him started. This flow of examples after a stirring PowerPoint presentation really helped illustrate the lesson Mr. Mulgrew was teaching about the need to be passionate about helping with the census in order to get more funding for those most in need. 

Professional Responsibilities: Highly Effective 

Mr. Mulgrew attends to all of his business with the utmost professionalism. He has allowed for a culturally responsive atmosphere where almost 20% of the UFT’s democratically-elected representatives can pretend to voice themselves. He also has built a strong and passionate relationship with the Department of Education’s Chancellor, who has spent his tenure in that role helping to maintain the system of screening and segregation in our schools. 

Further, Mr. Mulgrew appropriately organized and motivated the time of almost 20% of UFT’s democratic voice to allow himself to speak for over 65% of the meeting time. Consequently, he was able to thwart, for the 3rd year in a row, any attempt by the UFT rank-and-file to present motions for the UFT to support the Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools with funding, meeting space, and a spirit of solidarity. The success of this approach shows how Mr. Mulgrew is able to properly promote his own democratic voice in the room and silence any members interested in directly acting to change civil rights in our city. 

Next Steps 

Mr. Mulgrew, 

For the next assembly, please try to reduce the numbers of jokes you make. Further, you need to keep an eye on the time, especially considering you have assistants keeping track of time for you. Continue to harness your unique personality, but rely a little less on improvisation, such as your discussion of the population of Aspen for ~5 minutes, and instead focus on more victim-blaming of community members and the UFT rank-and-file. With this, you will be able to create an even more highly effective corporate business unionism for the UFT leadership. 

Please sign below to acknowledge your receipt of this report ,and thank you for all the work you don’t do for our students and teachers. 

Teacher’s Signature: ____________________________________________________

(By signing above you recognize that a copy of this report will be placed in your file.) 

Evaluator’s Signature: The Rank-and-File Educators of New York City 

Sex, Lies, and Newspapers

Comacho-Mendez and Mulgrew

More stories are out there today about Ivor Neuschotz, Mike Mulgrew, and Emelina Camacho-Mendez. Some are posted below.

Just to keep my part of this saga straight, I told anyone who asked me about what I knew of this tryst and alleged coverup that in 2004 the custodian of Grady HS found [Emelina and Mike] them in the act and told staff, "I finally caught them (Mike Mulgrew and Emelina Camacho-Mendez) in the act!!!!" I did not know the name Donald Herb until a reporter told me that he was the custodian. I never 'identified' Herb. Cant, as I never knew the custodian's name, and didnt know if indeed, the rumor was true. I believe it is, but Rachel Monahan is wrong about me identifying Herb. Didnt happen.

After being 'discovered', Mike and Emelina were moved to the UFT, and there was no investigation. The Dean told the Superintendent who told a teacher at another Brooklyn school that there was "other stuff" on Mike, and people should look into his conduct while at the school. Then Debbie at 25 Chapel Street told me she knew "stuff" about Mike Mulgrew, and he would not want her to reveal any of it, so she would not be spending any time in the rubber room. She left quickly, and never had any charges. All of this does sound familiar to anyone who has been through the Rubber Room experience. Only, nothing happened in Mike's case. This is the key issue. Why DIDNT anything happen, like substantiating or not substantiating the rumors at Grady??

We can see that Mike still received money from the DOE while negotiating for UFT members in 2008-2009, 2009-2010 :

See Through NY

For the faint of sight here are the numbers:
Michael Mulgrew, Department of Education, Subagency "pedagogical", position: Teacher, received $80,989 in 2008; $56,951 in 2009; and $1661 in 2010. Now we need to know what this is for.


I believe that what is important here is not the sex allegations, but why there was no investigation, as too many people were saying the exact same thing: that Mike and Emma had/are having a fling, and were given cushy jobs at the UFT as a result.

Harold Levy

Nothing is new about this kind of 'politicking', which doesnt make it ok. What about Burton Sacks? Burt Sacks was Deputy Chancellor under Harold Levy in 2001. I was, in 2001, Editor of the Parents Association newspaper at Stuyvesant High School, The Bulletin. In November 2001, after the school staff and students moved back to Stuyvesant from Brooklyn Tech, Principal Stan Teitel asked me to keep Chancellor Levy company, as Levy made a second office for himself at Stuy to show everyone that it was 'safe' to be there. So, I went in and talked with Levy several times. One day I decided to tell him about the segregation at Booker T. Washington MS 54. While I was there with him, he told me that I had to speak with his Deputy Chancellor, Burt Sacks. He called Sacks, and we made an appointment.

Burt Sacks' office was on the 11th floor of 110 Livingston Street, Brooklyn. When I got off the elevator there was a guard in full uniform and a huge American flag in the corner on the right. The guard called Burt, told him I was there, and told the guard to let me in to his office. We - Burt and I - talked for several hours. He took notes. When I told him the it seemed to be the case that Principal Larry Lynch was taking money that he should not have, Burt told me "They - Principals - do it all the time."

Burt Sacks

When I got home, I sent him a fax thanking him for his time, and I asked what happens to principals who, as he told me, always take money from their schools. 5 minutes later my telephone rang, and Burt screamed more curse words at me than I have ever heard from anyone, before or since. He told me  he would never say that about principals. He told me NEVER to contact him again. Never, never, never.

In or about November, 2002, I was at Tweed (NYC DOE headquarters) for a meeting of parent leaders, when we heard that everyone had to leave immediately in order for new Chancellor Joel Klein to have his cabinet meeting in the room we were in. I just happened to have the complete story of what Burt Sacks had said to me, as well as the details of what I uncovered at Booker T. Washington MS 54, in an envelope with "Chancellor Joel Klein" written on the outside. i assumed that Joel would want coffee, so while my friends left the room I walked s-l-o-w-l-y to the coffee machine, and was standing there when Joel burst into the room. He came over to me and introduced himself, and asked me how good was the coffee? I said it was delicious, and could I give him the envelope I had for him? He said "sure", poured himself some coffee, and sat down at the table with his cabinet, minus one. One chair was empty.

As I left the room (my friends were telling me I better hurry up), I looked back at Joel Klein, and saw that he had taken all the documents out of the envelope and was reading it. Everyone at the table was sitting, not saying anything. I got into the elevator and went to the first floor. I was talking with my friends when Burt Sacks comes running to the elevator and he said "Hello, Betsy! How are you? I'm very late!" I said, "yes, I think the meeting just started." Burt got into the elevator and went upstairs to the second floor.

The next day, newspapers posted how Burt Sacks retired. Within two weeks Burt was Randi Weingarten's Assistant at the UFT:

BULLETIN BOARD; Teachers' Union Hires a Troubleshooter

By Abby Goodnough, NY Times, Published: December 04, 2002

BURTON SACKS, a consummate Board of Education insider who retired last week after 33 years, has a new boss: RANDI WEINGARTEN, president of the United Federation of Teachers. Mr. Sacks, a liaison to the community school districts and a troubleshooter for five chancellors, will be a senior adviser to Ms. Weingarten, doing the same kind of crisis control he was known for in the New York City public schools system. Education officials said Mr. Sacks would be a valuable addition to the union's staff because he is well connected and is an expert at easing tensions. ''He's another set of antennae for Randi,'' one official said. Abby Goodnough

  He has one of the highest Annual Pension benefits in the State (#76), and a very high stipend from the UFT, where he was a lobbyist. (see 1999-2004 list)

 And what about David Hickey? How did he end up at the UFT as Assistant to the Staff Director, after being involuntarily removed from his previous position, I believe the PBA?

Stay tuned. Below are some articles, showing how much the Daily News supports Mulgrew. The newspaper was sued by Neuschotz, remember, and there was a settlement. Maybe the newspaper knows what happened?

 Sex scandal allegations involving Michael Mulgrew are ‘bull’

LINK

School staffer named as a witness: I saw nothing

Comments (1)

BY BEN CHAPMAN AND RACHEL MONAHAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 5:02 Pm

UFT President Mike Mulgrew

 The sensational allegations of classroom sex against teachers union President Michael Mulgrew in a federal lawsuit are “bull,” said a former staffer named as a witness.

Donald Herb, 69, of Brooklyn, a former custodial worker at William E. Grady High School who retired seven years ago, said he saw nothing of the kind.

"I didn't see anything. I'm telling you the truth. I'll take a lie detector test if I need to,” he said.

“If I did see something I would've reported it and had Mulgrew removed from the building.”

Last Wednesday, Queens math teacher Andrew Ostrowsky filed a federal lawsuit alleging the union was blackmailed into making labor concessions in exchange for covering up the scandal for Mulgrew.

The lawsuit does not name the witnesses other than to say the custodian and principal knew first-hand.

Former teachers union staffer Betsy Combier has identified Herb as the witness.

But Herb said he supported Mulgrew, calling him a “good guy.”

“We could tell he was a fighter back then. Now he's got some power and they're trying to take him down. That's all this is about."

The city has confirmed Mulgrew was never removed from the classroom for any investigations during his teaching career, contrary to the lawsuit’s allegations. He also was never found to have committed wrongdoing by any investigators.

As proof mounted that the 73-page federal lawsuit was paper-thin, Joy Hochstadt, the oddball lawyer who filed the allegations, emailed the press Wednesday, complaining that her conversations with journalists over the last few days had caused her to miss a filing deadline on a separate case.

She also defended her claims about the Mulgrew scandal, saying that the “the dates and the capitulation all fit” for the blackmailing conspiracy she alleges.

“As I wrote to Mike Mulgrew yesterday, it was NOT my intent to embarass him, it was to stop the extortion of eroding teachers rights,” she wrote.

rmonahan@nydailynews.com

Here is some background on Neuschotz:

Fear Hs Students Exposed To Asbestos

BY ELIZABETH HAYS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, May 22, 2004
LINK

A Brooklyn principal who hired students to renovate the school library never told the kids they could be exposed to asbestos, two students involved in the project told the Daily News.

Guillermo Mollins, 17, a junior at Grady Vocational High School in Brighton Beach, said yesterday that the five students tapped by Principal Ivor Neuschotz had no idea they shouldn't disturb floor tiles believed to contain the cancer-causing dust.

"We were just kids. We didn't know anything," Guillermo said.

Franchon Dixon, 17, another student who worked on the library, said: "We weren't even told about it. The principal just wanted to get the library done."

A Brooklyn principal directed students and a teacher to tear down library walls and shelves even though he knew the room contained asbestos, then tried to cover up the incident, teachers union officials said yesterday. 

Ivor Neuschotz, principal of Grady Vocational High School, received a letter of reprimand, a Department of Education spokeswoman said, with more disciplinary action pending an investigation. 

Neuschotz ordered the work done last month after getting a $300,000 grant to renovate the library, but union officials say the costs have climbed to $500,000 for cleanup instead of a $90,000 asbestos removal. 

They say everything in the library, including books and computers, will have to be thrown out, and they fear that other grants will be withdrawn. 

"He said the abatement was too expensive," said Michael Mulgrew, the school's union rep. "It wouldn't allow him to do what he wanted to do in the library - cappuccino machines? I don't know."

A letter of reprimand? A bit harsh, don't you think? 

What's next, asbestos abatement merit badge?

Mike Mulgrew: Come Clean With the Allegations of Tampering With An Investigation, Or Resign

I made this story happen by giving reporters the information that I had because I dont believe in deceit. As you will see in the article posted on my website early this morning, I was given the information about the coverup in March 2010 from Brooklyn rubber roomer John Haggerty. He told me to look into it. When a friend asked Norm Scott about it a couple of months ago, Norm said he knew nothing about it. Why he would not post it before now, if indeed he had the information, I dont know. But what I do know is, in 2005 the Principal of William Grady HS sued Mike Mulgrew, Ellie Engler and Newsday, and the case was settled. People I spoke to about this over the past year have told me that there was never any investigation of the allegations involving Mulgrew and Camacho-Mendez, but there were other violations of rules and law with the students that were also not investigated. This needs to happen.

When Randi Weingarten moved Mike and Emma to the UFT, what did she know, and how was she involved in keeping an investigation from happening? It seems to me that more and more teachers charged with 3020-a are getting a specification with words to the effect of "tampering with an investigation", thus we need to know if this applies to Mike Mulgrew, Emelina Camacho-Mendez, Randi Weingarten and the UFT/Unity Caucus. We dont need to know that Ms. Camacho-Mendez is now divorced/separated from her husband and Mike is living with another woman, but still carrying on with Camacho-Mendez, no one should care about this. What we should care about are secret deals and disparate treatment, politicians giving Mike Mulgrew rights that UFT members are denied and then terminated for relying on.

Emelina Comacho-Mendez

Last week a new entry on the UFT website intrigued me, the Parent Fact Sheet on Special Education Reform. Evidently if a parent has a complaint about their child(ren)'s Individualized Education Plan (IEP), they should call the UFT Special Education liaison, and these people with fix the problem. I called the number listed on the webpage, and got, of all people, Betsy, who sits at my old desk on the 16th floor. We spoke for a while, and when I asked how the UFT can fix a problem in a child's IEP without the parent going to an impartial Hearing, Betsy told me that she would ask someone to call me back. That someone was Emelina Camacho-Mendez, who did not answer my questions. She told me that she was the liaison to the Department for all special needs children and their parents. Huh? The United Federation of Teachers and Parents? Leonie Haimson and Mona Davids channel Unity - what do you know about this?

UFT members realize now, I think, that there is something very wrong in New York City with UFT leaders as far as supporting and complying with the Collective Bargaining Agreement and other contractual rules. The grievance procedure stinks, and all that is left is payment of money to the people who prosecute the claims and who claim to represent members. Its a business. So is the 3020-a arbitration.

 My point is this: I do not care who Mike Mulgrew has sex with, but if he covered up this, and other stuff while at Grady High School, he needs to be held accountable to all the UFT members who have seen their lives destroyed because of false claims against them and/or "tampering with an investigation".

If Mike Mulgrew made a secret deal to get away with whatever he did while at Grady in order to be President of the UFT, he needs to resign. Pronto. Workplace rights are not bargaining chips or for sale.

UFT Sex Scandal Rocks New York City by Betsy Combier 
Parentadvocates.org
LINK

---

Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers, and currently being attacked by UFT members fed up with his "do nothing" approach to the rubber rooms continuing and the denial of rights at grievance hearings, etc., are now confronted with the cover up of Mike's alleged affair with a married teacher from his old school, William Grady HS, Emelina Camacho-Mendez. Some say there is more, including special education fraud at the school while Mulgrew was there. Both Mulgrew and his girlfriend moved suddenly to the UFT and now hold positions of power there, he as President and she, as the liaison to the Department of Education for special education. I have their personnel files.

---

Michael Mulgrew

Two years ago John Haggerty, a teacher who was removed from his job at a Brooklyn public school and forced to sit at the worst of 8 rubber rooms (Park Place, Brooklyn), told me that I should look into when and why Mike Mulgrew was removed from his position at William Grady High School in Brooklyn in 2004 or 2005.

When I asked John about this he told me that Mike Mulgrew was found by staff, he believed it to be Donald Herb, the Custodian, having sexual relations with a teacher who is married to someone else. Her name is Emelina Camacho-Mendez. He told me that I could speak with a few people, and he gave me some names. He was outraged that Mike could "get away with this" without any investigation. This was, he said, a "UFT Cover-up" of the highest order.

One of the people he told me to speak with was "Debbie", at the other Brooklyn rubber room, 25 Chapel Street, who was a teacher at Grady. I did not remember meeting Debbie on my weekly visit to Chapel Street, because she was there only for a few weeks, not months or years, as everyone else (read the story about Steve Ostrin, accused of sexual harassment, there was no investigation, but he sat in the rubber room for almost 7 years, then was given a 6-month suspension without any evidence, and no help from the UFT). 

At my next visit I found Debbie, and sat with her a while. She kept saying over and over again that she had Mike Mulgrew on "speed dial" and she was not going to be sitting in the rubber room very long, because Mike knew that she "had stuff" on him, and he would either get her put back in her job or some other position soon, or she would tell his story to anyone and everyone. A few days later she was magically back in her teaching position.

Then I found out from John that he had leukemia. As he was getting more and more ill, I spent time with him at his house near to Brooklyn College. The last time I saw him, he told me again that he wanted me to look into the Mike Mulgrew affair because this was not fair to all the UFT members who relied on him for their jobs, and he was doing nothing to help anyone while he, Mulgrew, got away scot free.

After John died, the rubber rooms were "closed" (the April 15, 2010 agreement only scattered the imprisoned members), and the UFT - Mike Mulgrew, Ellie Engler, Leroy Barr - decided to get rid of me. So, on July 7, 2010, I was called by Angela Berry, the UFT staff Directors' secretary, to Ellie Engler's office. Engler and David Hickey were sitting there. I wondered if she was going to ask me if I wanted a drink from her liquor drawer in her desk. She didnt, this time (I dont drink the hard stuff, anyway, altho' I dont turn down a glass of wine). She told me that I had done a great job for all members, and the UFT was very grateful for my wonderful advocacy, but as there were no more rubber rooms, they did not need me anymore. There were no members who needed help.

I said, ok, I guess you will give me two weeks? She said yes. 

I loved my job as a staff representative at the UFT, partially because I could see the pained faces of Leroy Barr, John Settle, and many others when I asked them - no, begged them - to pick up the telephone once in a while so that a member could be helped. All my efforts to get anyone at 52 Broadway to assist a member fell on deaf ears, so this was a problem. Another problem was that I was able to see actions and read emails that showed disdain for the very members that the UFT was supposed to support, like those who were parked in the "Rubber Rooms", and people I was hired to help. 

Anyway, about two years ago I mentioned to a reporter of a major newspaper that I had heard this stuff cited above, about Mike Mulgrew, and we got the personnel files of both Mike and Emelina, asking for the information separately. The reporter got the information within a week or two, and I was refused for more than a year. Joe Baranello doesn't seem to believe that this kind of disparate treatment is wrong, so I will be addressing this soon.

Here is the information I received from the DOE after I filed Freedom of Information (FOIL) requests (broken down into sections because my scanner would not scan in all pages at once):
Michael Mulgrew
Personnel file1
Personnel file2
Personnel file3
Personnel file4
Personnel file5

Emelina Comacho-Mendez
FOIL papers1
FOIL papers2
FOIL papers3
FOIL papers4

About a month ago I saw Joy Hochstadt at 51 Chambers Street, serving Theresa Europe some legal documents. I asked her whether she knew anything about the Mulgrew/Mendez affair. ThenAttorney Joy Hochstadt filed her federal lawsuit in the Eastern District, and now the allegations are public property. I believe that as the UFT keeps paying people for political reasons, like David Hickey, Burton Sacks and Ron Isaac, members should know what is going on with their UFT dues. I will gladly tell all that I know, including the channeling of political support and money to parent activists such as Leonie Haimson and Mona Davids. 

So, what's the truth, Mike? Why did the Principal of Grady sue you and Ellie Engler in 2005? What was the settlement? The public does need to know.

And why are you on the payroll of the DOE through 2010?

Did you hide your affair and other actions at William Grady, then decide you would not help members put into the same situation? If so, perhaps you should resign.

UFT ‘sex coverup’
Union chief caught in act at school: lawsuit
By SUSAN EDELMAN, NY POST, Last Updated: 12:19 AM, May 20, 2012
LINK

EXCLUSIVE

UFT President Mike Mulgrew was caught “in flagrante delicto” with a guidance counselor at William Grady HS, where he taught before becoming the union’s boss, a bombshell lawsuit charges.

The accusation that Mulgrew was seen having sex with a co-worker in a woodshop at the vocational school, and that it was hushed up, comes in a rambling 73-page suit filed in Brooklyn federal court last week by Andrew Ostrowsky, a math teacher at Frank Sinatra HS of the Arts in Manhattan.

Ostrowsky, 35, names Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Mulgrew and the UFT, claiming the teachers union conspired with school officials to quash the scandal. It accuses the city of using the favor to “extort” labor concessions.

The suit claims that a custodian found Mulgrew and Emma Camacho-Mendez together at the Brooklyn school, and that the custodian and principal were “sworn to secrecy and denial.”

It charges the pair were shielded by then-UFT President Randi Weingarten to avoid embarrassment to the union leadership.

“Mulgrew was embroiled in a meretricious scandal for which anyone else would have been fired, ending his career as an educator,” the suit claims.

Mulgrew’s spokesman, Dick Riley, gave a curt response: “This lawsuit is a catalog of absurd, false charges which we expect the court to dismiss.”

Camacho-Mendez, now a UFT official, said, “I have no comment on that. It’s the first I’ve heard of such an allegation. I have nothing to say to you.”

The lawyer who filed the suit, Joy Hochstadt, told The Post she is seeking evidence of the alleged tryst.

“Everyone has only hearsay knowledge, but almost everyone in the school talked about it,” the suit says.

Several former staffers at Grady HS have told The Post they believed Mulgrew and Camacho-Mendez, who is married, were romantically involved, and there were rumors of an encounter on a drafting table at the time.

“The sex thing, it’s between them and nobody’s business,” one said. “The thing that upset me is the patronage job to Mendez — rewarding her with a high-paying job with my union dues.”

In 2005, soon after the alleged incident, Mulgrew became UFT vice president for career and technical high schools. Around the same time, Camacho-Mendez transferred to the HS of Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Brooklyn, but got a part-time job in Mulgrew’s union office.

She was later given the full-time position of UFT liaison for special education. She gets two paychecks — $22,000 in UFT compensation on top of her $85,000 city salary, although she’s no longer a guidance counselor. In 2010, Mulgrew presented Camacho-Mendez with a UFT award.

“No one ever heard of this woman until Mulgrew brought her on board,” said a longtime UFT rep. “She had no union credentials.”

Mulgrew was tapped to finish Weingarten’s term in 2009, when she left to head the American Federation of Teachers. In April 2010, he was elected to a three-year term to succeed her.

One of the most powerful labor leaders in the country, the fiery Mulgrew has fought Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Education on such issues as reversing the last-in, first-out policy in laying off teachers; plans to close struggling schools; and the public release of teacher ratings.

The UFT pays Mulgrew $250,400 a year, plus benefits.

Ostrowsky, a 10-year veteran, claims in the suit he’s being “targeted” for termination because an assistant principal gave him his first “unsatisfactory” rating last December. Supervisors also ordered him to undergo a DOE medical/psychological exam, but he wasn’t found to be unfit.

Hochstadt, who has sued the DOE over its notorious “rubber rooms” for teachers accused of misconduct, filed a similar suit for Ostrowsky last month in Manhattan Supreme Court.

She added the alleged sex scandal and coverup to the federal case, which complains the UFT has betrayed members by caving in to the DOE on several issues. Under one agreement, teachers “excessed” from closing schools, no matter their seniority, must work as substitutes until another school hires them. Walcott last week proposed buyouts for most of 831 educators in the Absent Teacher Reserve.

Ostrowsky seeks a purging of any negative documents in his file, and more than $600,000 in damages, including payment for “defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

susan.edelman@nypost.com