Exclusive | Complaints against NYC school employees are skyrocketing but agency in charge of investigating only probed 4%

Complaints of misconduct by city Department of Education employees have skyrocketed, but the agency charged with investigating them opens only a tiny fraction of cases each year, records show.The Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools fielded an all-time record 11,874 complaints of alleged wrongdoing by educators and other school workers and vendors in 2024, but launched probes of just 484 — or 4%, according to its 2024 annual report. “We certainly need more funding for investigations, but I don’t know if the administration has the resolve for it.They really don’t,” said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), who has called for a federal probe of “deep-rooted fraud” in the DOE.“The system actually encourages corruption, because if you’re caught, nothing happens,” he said.An undisclosed number of DOE employees are fired or resign as a result of the SCI findings, but Holden noted that some accused educators and exiled principals get paid to idle indefinitely in a disciplinary “rubber room” – an office or at home.Examples include:–After a two-year SCI investigation, Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir was ousted as principal of Maspeth High School in 2022, following a Post report on his fraudulent schemes to raise the school’s graduation rate.

In a sweetheart deal, the DOE agreed not to fire him, and to keep him on the payroll – with paid vacations, holidays and benefits – for seven years until he retires in 2029.He made $207,418 last year alone.–Oneatha Swinton, convicted of car-insurance fraud in 2018, was removed as principal of Port Richmond HS but kept on the payroll – despite what the SCI called her “pattern of dishonesty.” She improperly funneled $100,000 in school funds to a vendor, and “failed to safeguard” 600 DOE computers, printers and laptops which vanished under her watch, investigators found.

She collected $219,245 last year.–Townsend Harris HS teacher Joseph Canzoneri brought a former female st...