Results tagged “teacher”

Yesterday police arrested a special education teacher for the Bronx School Of Science Inquiry and Investigation at M.S. 331, charging him with rape and sexual misconduct. Teacher Bill Agosto, 26, is charged with third degree rape and sexual misconduct for allegedly carrying on a year-long sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, who was not a student at M.S. 331. Police sources tell the Daily News the relationship was consensual, and resulted in the girl getting pregnant. The affair allegedly began when he worked at a different school as a track coach.

It's understandable for a public school administrator to want a li'l drinky-poo after a hard day's work dealing with the kiddies, but driving to school sloshed? Those kids at IS 217 in the Bronx must be monsters! Assistant principal Melonie Lendor was arrested on the New York State Thruway in Rockland County at around 6:40 a.m. yesterday after other drivers called 911 because she was driving so erratically. Police say she failed a field sobriety test, but refused to take a Breathalyzer test. Worse: Her 10-month-old son was in the car. Still worse: This is her third drunken-driving bust. That means she's (finally) charged with felony driving while intoxicated and child endangerment. A seventh-grader at the school tells the Post, "No wonder we didn't see her today," but students should probably be used to that by now; a teacher tells the Daily News, "She was entirely missing from the school at times. She seems to make bad decisions."

A Long Island math teacher, who was arrested in July for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in an elementary school parking lot, is being charged with yet another sex crime. Daniel Rothbard, 28, was out on bail for the first alleged statutory rape when he was arrested again yesterday. Police say that two weeks before the parking lot incident, Rothbard allegedly lured a 13-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend to his house, where he resided with his pregnant wife. Prosecutors tell Newsday the 14-year-old walked in on him having sex with the younger girl. None of the victims were his students; Rothbard met them on MySpace posing as a 17-year-old with the screen name "DJ" or "D to the J." According to CBS2, the house is now empty and for sale, and Rothbard's lawyer says his client is on suicide watch and pleading not guilty. But Nassau County Police Lt. John Allen expects to find more victims, and the Valley Stream school district has barred Rothbard from school property and prohibited him from having any contact with children or their parents. He's currently behind bars in lieu of $600,000 bail, an amount his lawyer called excessive.

He's confessed to participating in a string of armed robberies in Queens, but the young model who made headlines because of his adolescent affair with a 37-year-old teacher insists there's no reason he can't go from perp-walking to cat-walking. Joshua Walter, now 20, seemed to be in denial when a Post reporter visited him at the Vernon C. Bain jail barge moored off The Bronx, where he's being held in lieu of $550,000 bail. After first telling the reporter, "I got nothing to say to you," he took the tabloid's bait when pressed about his modeling career, asking, "What do you mean? What happened? I still am modeling." Walter, along with three others, faces robbery and weapon-possession charges in connection with the June 14th through July 12th crime spree. And in May, Walter pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for punching and choking his older lover, former teacher Gina Salamino. As for his career, one modeling industry publicist tells the Post, "I wouldn't count him out, but a lot will depend on how he reacts and what he does now that he's in trouble. America loves a great comeback story." True, but America loves a great thieving thug goes to prison story, too.

Remember Joshua Walter, the teen fashion model from Queens who made headlines last fall after his 37-year-old lover, a former teacher, sued the city for firing her over their affair? He's back in the news, and if you recall the way he dealt with tabloid reporters outside his house in November— "You want to see assault? Turn that thing off!"—you won't be too surprised by the latest turn of events. Walter, now 20 and a dad, was arrested late Wednesday night with three others and charged with robbing 15 gas stations and delis in Queens and Greenpoint. According to the Post, they all confessed. The spree began June 14th and ended on Sunday at a Dunkin' Donuts on Horace Harding Expressway, where Walter allegedly pistol-whipped one of the victims. Police spotted the crew around 1:30 a.m. Thursday in a maroon Chevy Astro van matching the description of the getaway car; after being pulled over the young men ran but were quickly apprehended, and a .380-caliber automatic handgun was found in the van. Approached by the Daily News outside her Queens home, Walter's poor mother shouted, "I got something to say: Leave my family alone!"

As is so often the case, a game of dodgeball erupted in violence at a New Rochelle elementary school on Friday when a substitute teacher got into a fight with a third-grader. The teacher, Daniel Sanabria, claims he was acting in self-defense, but police have charged him with third-degree assault and child endangerment. It seems that the incident was sparked after Sanabria (pictured in his mugshot), who was officiating the game, called the unidentified boy "out," and the child disputed the ruling. Sanabria tells the Post, "He wouldn't sit out when I asked him to."

A Westchester County middle school social studies teacher and former lacrosse coach has a $500 a week crack addiction and a penchant for underage girls, prosecutors say. Gregg Cavaluzzi, who has taught at six schools (some in NYC) over the last decade but was recently dismissed from Pelham Middle School, was caught in a sting by cops posing as 15-year-old girls in online chat rooms. Thinking an undercover cop was a teen, he allegedly texted, "At a motel in Bronx partying you smoke? Can you get down here" and asked what's "one thing you like to do very dirty." Cavaluzzi was busted when he showed up in Elmsford, NY, for the rendezvous and was charged with enticing a minor for sex, which could get him up to life in prison if convicted. A previous student of Cavaluzzi tells CBS2, "[The girls] used to talk about how he was such a pervert and they all found it very disgusting. He might look at different body parts thinking the girls wouldn't notice but everybody noticed." Cavaluzzi denies the charges; his lawyer says his client suffers from depression and cocaine addiction.

Melissa Weber, the Queens social studies affair accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student (in her classroom), is being held on $100,000 bail. Her lawyer Donald Vogelman had tried to argue for her release, since Weber, 27, doesn't have a criminal history and that "the alleged crime amounted to a statutory rape charge that would likely result in probation," while prosecutors were asking for $200,000 bail. Of the $100,000 amount, Vogelman told the Post, "She doesn't have money, and her family doesn't have the money to make bail. With what she looks like, she is going to have a difficult time in jail." The Daily News reports that Weber denied any sort of inappropriate relationship with the boy; Weber allegedly told the police he grabbed her butt a few times, "The only thing I did wrong was not reporting it." The boy's mother, who heard rumors of her son's and Weber's alleged closeness apparently found hundreds of text messages between the two.

A 27-year-old female social studies teacher at M.S. 8 in Jamaica, Queens was arrested for allegedly conducting a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student—in her second floor classroom. Melissa Weber was charged with statutory rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child; prosecutors claim she told the boy, a student in one of her classes, "Don’t tell anyone. I could get arrested and I could lose my teaching license."

A public school principal in Fort Greene was arrested at P.S. 20 yesterday for allegedly assaulting a teacher during a meeting to discuss allegations of corporal punishment against a special ed teacher. Principal Sean Keaton has been the target of intense criticism from parents lately—many of them newer, more affluent arrivals to Fort Greene, who see him as authoritarian and resistant to parental involvement. According to The Local, "the community conversation about him often seemed to break down along class lines... with working-class parents defending him. There was often a racial component to the debate as well (Mr. Keaton is black)."

The Bronx teacher who barricaded himself inside his school and threatened to blow it up after a spat with the principal over an abuse charge had dealt with many discipline problems over the years. 55-year-old Francisco Garabitos has had 14 allegations of misconduct over his 28 year career, including two substantiated claims of corporal punishment. The Daily News reveals that he was also an author, including one book titled "The Virgin and the Beast" that they say "follows the exploits of a cloned woman 'reborn from the ashes of 9-11, 2001' who quickly evolves into a manipulative nymphomaniac." They mention that he also worked at a lingerie store for twenty years. Garabitos was charged with reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and criminal trespassing.

Earlier this morning, a teacher made a bomb threat at JHS 145 in the Bronx, prompting the school to be evacuated. The Post reports the threat was "called in to police by the teacher, who locked himself into a second floor computer room. Cops are communicating with the teacher, whose identity has not yet been released... The man told police he is protesting the mistreatment of teachers."

26-year-old Brighton Beach high school teacher Alexander Kravitz was arrested this week in a Queens hotel room, where prosecutors say he hoped to make a porn video with a 14-year-old girl to whom he'd been sending salacious instant messages and graphic live webcam video of himself. But the girl did not exist—Kravitz had been communicating with an undercover detective for the last six weeks. According to 1010 Wins, he could get four years in jail if convicted of several charges. After being released on $75,000 bail, Kravitz angrily cursed reporters outside his mother's Queens home, where he resides. It's also where detectives found his porno stash, which police say included images of sex with children ranging from in age from 13 to infants. Kravitz's mother Katherine told the Daily News, "I don't believe any of it. It has to be a mistake. I've never seen any young man work so hard. I don't see how he'd even have the time."

A 12-year-old boy was allegedly hit by teacher, who wielded a chair, in the Bronx. WABC 7 reports that police arrested Kevin Martin, a teacher at Aspire Preparatory Middle School, for reckless endangerment. According to student Joseph Santiago, Martin "was about two feet away from me and he threw it. As he threw it, one of the legs hit me." Santiago was taken to the hospital and suffered bruises; his mother was outraged, "He ended up black and blue. Regardless of anything, I understand that you are angry, but throwing furniture around is not going to help." The teacher's union says that Martin didn't mean to hit Santiago; per WABC 7, "The teacher slammed the chair on the floor and it bounced, hitting the student." In the meantime, Martin is now assigned to administrative duties.

A 19-year-old male model flew into a rage yesterday after a Daily News cover story sparked a media frenzy outside the Ozone Park home he shares with his 37-year-old lover, a former teacher who is suing the city for firing her over the affair. WCBS has video of the teen tantrum, which features Hugo Boss model Joshua Walter charging from the house in slippers, clapping his hands and yelling "Leave! Get the f--- outta here! Find someplace else to take pictures."

A tenured second grade school teacher in Queens is suing to win her job back after being fired because her boyfriend/baby daddy was a high school student at one point in their relationship.

The 10th grade schoolteacher who was fired for calling his students "filthy animals who belonged in a f---ing zoo" has opened up to the Daily News. Last week Steven Clarke's lawsuit against against the Education Department was thrown out, with Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer ruling that the principal at the Global Enterprise Academy was justified in terminating Clarke because "he had verbally abused students."

Tenth grade teacher and proud Cornell alum Steven Clarke (not pictured) lost his lawsuit against the Education Department yesterday. Clarke had been fired from his teaching fellowship at the Global Enterprise Academy in the Bronx after he told another teacher, in the presence of students, that, "My parents did not sacrifice for me to go to Cornell so I could take care of a bunch of animals." He then went on to describe the 10th-graders as "filthy animals who belonged in a f- - -ing zoo." Called on the carpet by the school's principal, Clarke refused to apologize, explaining that he was not speaking to the students directly, and that he was merely responding to one student's instruction to "get the f- - - out of my face." Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer ruled that Clarke's termination was permissible because "he had verbally abused students."

Emerson wrote that the "surest poison is time," but for Dru D'Amico, a teacher at the Talented and Gifted School for Young Scholars, the white powder a student slipped into her water bottle was also pretty cruel. D'Amico was taken to the hospital Wednesday after a pupil spiked her water with calcium hydroxide. The substance is used to make cement, but in this case it went to enhance that special bond of mistrust and contempt that's the hallmark of any real teacher/student relationship. Also, ingesting enough can cause internal bleeding, hypertension, and skeletal muscle paralysis. D'Amico was later released, and police have charged the 13-year-old with reckless endangerment, NY1 reports. Of course, this isn't the first time teachers have been poisoned by their scheming, bloodthirsty students: Remember the hilarious laxative cake prank?

Whenever a NYC teacher calls out sick to wrestle in the WWE or attend a relative's sentencing, the Department of Education has to send in an expensive substitute from the Absent Teacher Reserve pool.

Some more info about 23-year-old missing school teacher, Hannah Upp, who works at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem. WNBC reports police want the public's help in finding her. A source says cops "don't suspect foul play" since "she may have been unhappy in her job," though many close to her say she was looking forward to the school year. Her brother told ABC that she "isn't some naive small-town girl off to the big city thinking the world is made of cotton candy and gumdrops." The NY Post reports friends have "posted fliers throughout Times Square, where she last used her ATM card at a movie theater." And on the Facebook page they created, they say Upp enjoys running in two parks--presumably Jackie Robinson and St. Nicholas, which are both near her apartment (where she left her keys, wallet, ID and other belongings).

A reader has just written in to inform us about her friend who has been missing for a little less than a week. Hanna Upp (pictured) is a 23-year-old Spanish teacher in the NYC school system, and was last seen on August 29th near her home in Hamilton Terrace. According to her roommates she had planned to go away last weekend, but was returning by Sunday. When she didn't return, they went into her room and found "her keys, her phone, and her handbag containing her wallet. Her ATM card, her subway card, and her ID (right now just her passport) were all in there." The police are on the case, and her friends have started a Facebook page to inform others about the situation. If you have seen Hannah Upp or have any other information regarding the case, contact the 30th Precinct.

A 37-year veteran teacher is accused of punching and throttling a 12-yea-old student. Scott Antwork, 58, teaches at PS 54 in Richmond Hill and Queens DA Richard Brown says Antwork "punched 12-year-old Edgar Lopez in the head with a closed fist, placed him in a choke hold and then grabbed the student's right arm and pushed him into a table." Two students say that Lopez first punched Antwork. The teacher has been "reassigned" and is charged with third-degree assault, second-degree harassment and child endangerment.

The Staten Island teacher whose crush on a 15-year-old student has put her in Department of Education limbo has gotten a court-appointed lawyer. The Staten Island Advance reports this could suggest 39-year-old Colleen McGraham may try to fight any attempt the DOE will make to fire her.

A judge decided that the city can attempt to fire a Staten Island teacher who documented her crush on a student on her blog. According to the Staten Island Advance, New Dorp High school teacher Colleen McGraham "hounded the 11th-grader through instant messages and e-mails in 2005, when she was 36 and the student 15." She also visited his blog frequently.