GIVE UP THE REINS NOW!
Fury at 'vice' principal's pony habit
A Bronx principal is playing the ponies — and tweeting about his bets during the school day — according to a complaint filed on behalf of fed-up teachers who want to him put out to pasture.
At least 25 tweets he posted during the 2017-18 school year allegedly show Steven Schwartz, the head of PS 24 in Riverdale, spends many mornings and afternoons following horse races.
He even writes a handicapping blog that offers advice to other gamblers and owns a thoroughbred racehorse.
The 38-year-old principal seems to think of his $133,000-ayear city job as an annoyance.
“This whole work thing kills my Twitter time,” he allegedly tweeted on May 16 under the user name @albundypolkhigh.
The Twitter account was deleted by Friday morning.
The night before, an educator acting on behalf of several teachers at the school filed a complaint against Schwartz with the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools. The horse-racing tweets — viewed by The Post — were forwarded to investigators.
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Investigation, which oversees the SCI, said only that the agency was “aware of the matter.”
Confronted by The Post on Friday afternoon outside his West 236th Street school, Schwartz jockeyed for an exit. “I can’t talk right now,” he said. Asked whether he was placing bets during school hours, he said, “No, I wasn’t.”
Asked about the tweets, he muttered, “Have a good afternoon,” and sprinted like a skittish colt back into the school.
Since becoming principal of PS 24 in fall 2016, teachers say they have noticed he often stays in his office with the door closed.
He speaks frequently about betting, and his cellphone ring tone is the bugle call you hear at the racetrack, one teacher said.
“Everybody has his vice now and then, but do it at home,” one teacher said. “Don’t go in your room and close your door and do these kinds of things when you should be in a lunchroom or classroom.”
The principal has, according to the complaint, tweeted about horses at least 25 times since November, suggesting he was closely following races and his own bets on school days.
On May 16, @albundypolkhigh tweeted four times before dismissal about his horses. After the bell rang, his horse came in.
“This angle paid big today,” he boasted after 5:30 p.m., referring to $49.50 in winning tickets at Belmont Park.
On Nov. 17, when the school was scheduled to hold a “coffee with the principal” day, the complaint claims Schwartz’s mind was, as usual, on the racetrack.
“Thinking of singling Salisaw (8-1) today. Lets get em,” he allegedly tweeted at 10:48 a.m.
The Department of Education’s policy warns employees, “Personal social media use, including off-hours use, has the potential to result in disruption at school and/or the workplace.”
The DOE did not immediately reply to a list of questions.
The complaint also links to articles on a horse-betting Web site called Danonymous Racing with the byline Steven Schwartz.
Since at least 2015, he has written detailed blog posts about horse picks and betting strategies as often as once a week. It was not clear when Schwartz researches and writes the articles.
While Schwartz allegedly analyzes turf conditions and racing trends at Aqueduct and Belmont, his K-5 school, built for 500 students, struggles to accommodate nearly double that number.
And teachers are at their wits’ end after years of administrative scandals, including an ongoing lawsuit accusing a local politician of scheming to keep minority students out of PS 24.
One educator said the content of the tweets is an affront to staffers, who have avoided giving any appearance of supporting gambling and have even refused to create a March Madness pool.
“Supporting betting really is the wrong message,” a second teacher said.
“People are disgusted there,” the first teacher said. “He should be removed as soon as possible.”