{"id":178106,"date":"2021-02-14T01:14:20","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T22:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nyc-doe-accused-of-stalling-fraud-probe-at-queens-hs\/"},"modified":"2021-02-14T01:14:20","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T22:14:20","slug":"nyc-doe-accused-of-stalling-fraud-probe-at-queens-hs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nyc-doe-accused-of-stalling-fraud-probe-at-queens-hs\/","title":{"rendered":"#NYC DOE accused of stalling fraud probe at Queens HS"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#NYC DOE accused of stalling fraud probe at Queens HS<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Eighteen months after the city launched a probe of academic fraud at Maspeth High School, investigators have yet to interview the school\u2019s leaders \u2014 stalling completion of the case, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

A group of fed-up Maspeth teachers came forward in August 2019 with documents and accounts of administrators pressuring the faculty to pass failing students, staff giving answers during Regents exams and phantom classes set up to push through kids who did little or no work.<\/p>\n

Students called their guaranteed grades the \u201cMaspeth Minimum,\u201d and the school\u2019s 99 percent graduation rate led to a national \u201cBlue Ribbon Award.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now the city Department of Education is sitting on the case in what whistleblowers and critics fear is a cover-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again there is no resolve whatsoever by DOE to address widespread grade fraud within NYC schools,\u201d said Queens City Councilman Robert Holden, who first met with the Maspeth teachers.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2019, Holden alerted Mayor de Blasio, who took no immedia<\/a>te action but assured the allegations would be investigated. Eventually, DOE investigators spoke to many teachers and students at the school before the COVID-19 shutdown in March.<\/p>\n

DOE officials claim they still \u201chave not been able\u201d to question Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir\u00a0and an assistant principal since March \u2014 even though schools reopened in late September, both in-person and remotely. The final interviews are needed to close the case, they say.<\/p>\n

\"Maspeth
New York Post\u2019s cover on academic fraud at Maspeth High School from Sept. 15, 2019.<\/figcaption>
csuarez<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The DOE\u2019s Office of Special Investigations (OSI)\u00a0 has not even scheduled the interviews, according to CSA, the union that represents principals and other administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cOSI has not conducted interviews with school leaders during the pandemic simply because the DOE has not proposed any plan to do so,\u201d\u00a0 CSA spokesman Craig DiFolco told The Post.<\/p>\n

The independent Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools says its own probe \u201cis still pending.\u201d<\/p>\n

DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson would not explain the standstill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not compromise the thoroughness and integrity of SCI\u2019s ongoing independent investigation, as well as our own internal investigation,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Abdul-Mutakabbir did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Maspeth
Thomas \u201cMac\u201d Creighton told The Post he graduated from Maspeth early \u2014 despite always skipping class and being drunk or stoned. <\/figcaption>
J.C. Rice<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holden calls it foot-dragging. \u201cIt\u2019s mind-boggling that OSI has still failed to complete their investigation and failed to interview the two main individuals associated with this alleged nefarious activity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Maspeth HS whistleblowers came to my office in August 2019 with a mountain of well-documented evidence of intimidation, deceit, fraud and abuse of power among other things that app<\/a>eared to be going on.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cJustice delayed is justice denied for dozens of former teachers, staff, students and parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden also sent a letter on Jan. 30 to Seth DuCharme, acting US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, urging the Feds to step in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhistleblowers have reached out to my office, frustrated that this alleged fraud continues and are beginning to lose faith in the legal system,\u201d the letter says.<\/p>\n

Staffers said Abdul-Mutakabbir, who made $193,000 last year, has rarely participated in meetings or school events \u2014 even pre-pandemic \u2014 and many students can\u2019t even recognize him. One called him \u201can absent presence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teachers are disheartened by the DOE delay. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything is going to get done, ever,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

A similar stonewalling occurred in 2015. Under former chancellor Carmen Fari\u00f1a, the DOE delayed releasing a scathing report on Dewey High School in Brooklyn, where the principal led a massive grade-fixing operation called Operation Graduation. Students called it \u201cEasy Pass.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#NYC DOE accused of stalling fraud probe at Queens HS” Eighteen months after the city launched a probe of academic fraud at Maspeth High School, investigators have yet to interview the school\u2019s leaders \u2014 stalling completion of the case, The Post has learned. A group of fed-up Maspeth teachers came forward in August 2019 with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/maspeth-high-school-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[93136,93307,5042,70643,71006,7028,70358,11247],"class_list":["post-178106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2-13-21","tag-academic-fraud","tag-bill-de-blasio","tag-department-of-education","tag-fraud","tag-high-schools","tag-investigations","tag-queens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}