They say that the best way to learn a language is by immersion, but what about a Spanish teacher who may have taken a student on a getaway to the Dominican Republic? The Daily News reveals that the Department of Education is investigating a teacher of doing just that - and the allegations are spurred by a fellow teacher who was staying at the same hotel. Apparently the teacher who saw teacher Johnny Cuevas and student Alenny Mercado told the principal of Harlem's A.Philip Randolph High School about the sighting last year. In fact, Principal Maurice Collins was told twice. Collins spoke to Cuevas, who denied the incident, in May 2005, but the principal didn't make a report. From the Daily News:
Collins told Cuevas Jan. 4 not to tell school investigators about that May meeting, fearing he would get in trouble for not making a report, Cuevas said in a notarized statement to investigators.
But 12 days later, on the Martin Luther King holiday, Collins told Cuevas he should mention that they discussed the matter in May, according to the notarized statement.
Collins offered Cuevas two days' pay for coming in on a holiday for the meeting, according to documents.
Oy, paperwork will get you every time! Cuevas has been reassinged to administrative duties and refused to speak to the Daily News. However, Mercado, who is now at Fordham University, did tell the Daily News she wasn't with Cuevas and that she has nothing to do with it. Her hypothesis: "He was a Spanish teacher, and a lot of people were upset that the Latin culture was growing in the school. Not students, but teachers."
