Bronx teacher lewd & shooed
A Bronx teacher was booted from his job after two investigations found he made a series of lewd comments to girl students.
Donald Cerrone, 69, a visual-arts teacher at the grade 6-to-12 Theatre Arts Production Company School, or TAPCo, was sent to a rubber room in December 2014 when the special commissioner of investigation began a probe sparked by a “confidential informant.”
While students watched a public service announcement on rape for a class project, Cerrone (right) allegedly told a group of “disorderly” girls: “Shut up before I rape you.”
One girl told investigators Cerrone called her “beautiful” and “whispered that if her looks came from her mother, then he wanted to meet her,” the SCI found.
Another said when she asked Cerrone for a cookie, he cracked, “No, but you can have some later underneath the stairs.”
One girl quoted Cerrone as saying while demonstrating a piece of camera equipment, “This is the hole and the tube is the penis,” the SCI reported. The girl described Cerrone as “an excellent teacher who made stupid remarks.”
A second SCI probe began in June 2015 when a student preparing to testify in Cerrone’s disciplinary hearing brought up other incidents.
In one case, Cerrone allegedly told a girl in class, “Pretend we are in a park on a date and I ask you to marry me — what would your response be?” When the girl refused to answer, Cerrone asked, “What do people do before they get married?” The girl responded, “Get engaged.” Cerrone then asked, “Would you have sex with me?”
She told probers she was “shocked and embarrassed.”
Cerrone, who made $82,900 annually, settled the case by agreeing to retire on Dec. 31, 2015.
Cerrone, who declined to speak with SCI investigators, did not return calls for comment.