Drowned student’s father forgives
THE FATHER of the Harlem girl who drowned on a field trip under the watch of Principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera had a message of forgiveness for the educator.
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” said Juan Suriel, 45, whose daughter Nicole drowned on a June 2010 class trip.
The Columbia Secondary School did not get permission from Nicole’s parents for the beach trip, and Suriel said he would not have allowed his six-grader to go if he’d had details.
But Suriel, a devout Christian who immigrated to New York from the Dominican Republic in 2003, said he harbors no bad feelings.
“I don’t have anything against him,” said Suriel calmly in Spanish at the Harlem walkup he and his wife, Marisol, shared with their daughter until her tragic death.
Education officials are not as forgiv- ing. They banned Maldonado-Rivera from city schools in 2010.
Parents of students now under his supervision at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School fear their kids could be in danger.
“He broke rule after rule,” said one worried mom. “He destroyed a family. I don’t want him in our school.”