NYC gym teacher accused of lewd act with cleaning product in front of class leaves parents shocked, angry: sources
Parents at a Bronx special education school were shocked Wednesday after hearing a teacher was accused of exposing himself and doing a lewd act in front of students.Dana Barschdorf, 44, who was charged with two counts of attempted lewdness Tuesday, allegedly inserted his genitalia into an apparent Lysol container, sources told The Post as one parent said the gym teacher “never looked right.”“I was always a little skeptical about him,” Ana Rodriguez said about Barschdorf, who she said was her son’s gym teacher.“He never looked right — that man looks weird, let me tell you,” the 43-year-old stay-at-home mom told The Post as she dropped her 10-year-old off at PS 723 building on Webster Avenue, which serves autistic elementary students.“I’m very upset and angry because I don’t know if he has been inappropriate with my son.Most of these kids, including my son, are not able to articulate or say anything about what goes on in the school because of their developmental disabilities.“This is what worries me the most — my son not being able to communicate things like this,” she added.
“I have to advocate for my son because he can’t.”Other parents echoed her concerns, saying they were scared and outraged about the allegations — which led cops to collar Barschdorf inside the school at about 8:45 a.m.One woman who was sending her son to his third day of school said local administrators didn’t tell her about the arrest — which worried her even more.“They didn’t tell me that,” she said.“It scares me.
It scares me a lot.I don’t know what to think right now.”The city Department of Education said administrators reassigned the teacher pending an investigation.“This alleged behavior is completely unacceptable,” an agency spokesperson said in an email.
Other staffers reported Barschdorf to the authorities, police said.The alleged pervert earned close to $100,000 annually in 2024, according to data from SeeThroughNY.He had not ...