NYC School Ethics in Question
Not long ago, it was discovered that a principal and some teachers in Maspeth, New York (in Queens County) were “helping” students to improve their grades. They encouraged students to cheat and indeed, had a no-fail policy. If any ethical teachers complained there were threats of retaliation. It was fraud, pure and simple, and that choice led to the City Council, and one council member in particular (Robert Holden) to meet with the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Federal Probe
The firestorm has led to an FBI investigation into what has been described as “widespread academic fraud in New York City (NYC) schools.” Thus far, the FBI has reached out to a group of whistle-blowing teachers who have come forward to make complaints about other cases of grade fixing.
Councilman Holden previously sent a letter in late 2019 to the US Attorney’s office complaining of the discovery of “an apparent pattern of conspiracy to cover up” in terms of “grade-fixing, cheating and other wrongdoing might warrant an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which covers criminal enterprises.”
Apparently, certain elements within the Department of Education have been suspected of covering up these types of accusations for years. The Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for the Department has been accused of “sitting on cases” of grade fixing. The Special Commissioner, Anastasia Coleman, has been denying the accusations. The reason they have pointed at her office is that she is accused of boosting grade statistics to “make herself look good.”
In a letter to federal investigators about SCI, Councilman Holden stated “While SCI is doing more work, the quality of the cases being pursued is zero-to-none, and cases that are systematic in nature or that do show major fraud can’t be worked on because of a lack of resources or time…It’s increasingly apparent that we need an investigation to investigate the investigators.”
The SCI has not responded to the allegations made against it. Naturally, the grade-fixing scandal has reached its tentacles to the New York mayor’s office. During the election period this is a doubly serious matter for Mayor DeBlasio’s office.
The Perfect Storm of Missing Oversite
Though at this time, everything is alleged. There is enough weight of initial evidence to point the finger at several “players” within the Department of Education. If the Special Commissioner, Anastasia Coleman the person charged with oversite, gave her tacit “approval” to certain principals and teachers – and ultimately, students to encourage cheating and grade doctoring, then who was to know? Was it not for the ethical whistleblowers, this might have continued in perpetuity would it not?
The need to create an unethical atmosphere of low expectations was simple enough. Good “performance,” even though artificial offered job security and kudos for the those invested in moving kids ahead to the next year.
How could experienced educators rationalize their scam? In a sense, it was because they had no intention of doing their jobs. They had given up on these kids. They were no longer interested in teaching. Perhaps that is the biggest shame of all.
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