School Misrule
When it comes to a textbook definition of “chutzpah,” former Queens highschool 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 unionprovided 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.