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发帖数: 7881 | 1 When it comes to a textbook definition of “chutzpah,” former Queens high-
school principal Joan Klingsberg takes the cake. Yet she’s not the most
outrageous player in this truly bizarre case.
By all rights, Klingsberg should no longer be collecting a six-figure salary
from the Department of Education — since she was found guilty of
misconduct at an administrative trial for going on a $145,000 spending spree.
The arbitrator who convicted Klingsberg in 2015 said termination was the “
appropriate penalty.”
The big twist: During the trial, her union-provided lawyer switched sides,
interviewing for (and getting) a position as deputy counsel for DOE — the
same agency that was prosecuting Klingsberg, who was forced to write her own
closing arguments.
So DOE — fearing a lawsuit over ethics violations — reversed her
termination and gave her a new job as a “staff trainer,” plus more than a
year’s back pay, including retroactive bonuses and raises.
As part of this lucrative deal, Klingsberg agreed not to file any complaints
against DOE for anything stemming from the case.
But guess what? As The Post’s Selim Algar reports, she’s suing anyway: She
wants $2 million in damages from her ex-lawyer (who’s now DOE’s chief
counsel) and the principals’ union.
Don’t be too sympathetic. Look at the offenses for which Klingsberg,
founder of Voyages Preparatory HS, was being disciplined:
She misspent taxpayer funds on booze for herself and others and on bar tabs
at various restaurants, as well as on housewares and electronics, vacation-
like travel and an “opulent” remodeling of her office, including a bed for
her dog.
“I so hate myself,” she testified at trial.
Yet here she is, back on the public payroll, thanks to bungling by Carmen
Fariña’s DOE, which plainly has far too incestuous a relationship with
union functionaries.
That a lawyer could switch sides mid-trial like this — and have the city
buy off the convicted client — is a clear warning to city taxpayers,
parents and educators: The unions and Team Fariña are in bed with each
other, with your interests far from their minds. |
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