Fight vs. sex harass lags
Mayor de Blasio’s effort to bulk up Education Department staff investigating a crush of sexual harassment cases in city schools is lagging amid criticism over the city’s commitment — and transparency — in addressing the issue.
As of April, 133 active cases of sex harassment and discrimination were being handled by department staffers, and de Blasio vowed to double their numbers, adding 11 more investigators, as soon as July with a $5 million investment built into the 2019 city budget announced in May.
So far, none have been hired, and the latest estimate is that new staff will be onboard by September, the beginning of the new school year.
Education Department officials have investigated 338 sex harassment cases since 2014, noting complaints cover allegations of any genderbased hostility, discrimination or other forms of inappropriate behavior. But officials haven’t reported how many cases were substantiated — or tossed out — infuriating critics who demand more transparency and resources.
“Mayor de Blasio is making it loud and clear that he doesn’t see sexual violence and harassment within our schools as a priority,” said prominent victims’ rights attorney Carrie Goldberg, who’s litigated a number of high-profile sex harassment cases against the city school system. “With client after client, I’ve seen the dire result of this lax attitude — rape, revenge porn and severe harassment within the halls of our schools.”
The controversy has been heating up in recent months.
Figures post by the de Blasio administration on April 20 identified 471 cases of sex harassment complaints in city schools from 2013 to 2017. But internal records kept by Education Department officials showed 590 complaints during the same period — a figure about 25% higher than the number reported by de Blasio.
The mayor stirred the pot five days later, when he said he didn’t believe all the complaints, arguing “a hypercomplaint dynamic” drove a high number of reports of such incidents. He then walked back the assertion hours later, tweeting that “every single person who has the courage to come forward with a sexual harassment complaint deserves to be believed.”
In addition, city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza’s actions have been at the center of a $75,000 sex discrimination settlement in his previous district of San Francisco in 2016. Carranza has denied the charges in the suit. As the Daily News has reported, the suit was brought by a veteran educator who alleged Carranza ruined her career after she called him out for flirting at a conference with another woman.
De Blasio has said he doesn’t believe the claims in that case, and has maintained Carranza was properly vetted for his current job, even though the city didn’t contact the plaintiff or her lawyer in the sex discrimination case.