Cops arrested a veteran city school administrator for groping two young girls at Public School 106 in the Bronx. Police say Joseph Ponzo, 59, inappropriately touched two girls, ages 9 and 10, in a hallway at the B-rated school on March 27. Click below to read the rest of the story.
He has been reassigned away from his school pending the outcome of his case. Education officials said that he has never been investigated for inappropriate behavior before.
Ponzo, who earns $117,739, started working in city schools as a substitute teacher in 1996 and previously served as an assistant principal at Public School 226 in the Bronx.
At least 18 city school staffers have been arrested in 2012, including at least seven workers who were arrested for sexually abusing children.
In two of the school sex abuse arrests, the alleged perverts had been previously investigated for inappropriate behavior on the job.
The number of arrests this year dwarfs the number of Education Department employees arrested in 2011, when at least 13 staffers were busted, the Daily News reported last month.
The rash of arrests of aides, teachers and administrators has worried parents and prompted Education officials to make changes in policy.
Last month, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott ordered a review of
1,000 city school workers who had been investigated for inappropriate behavior.
The investigation identified eight staffers who were pulled from their classroom for questionable activity, including Jonathan Polayes, 60, an instructor who has been fingered for misconduct three times and still draws a city paycheck.
City officials also identified at least 16 other staffers with sketchy records in the investigation, but because of contract rules those employees can’t be removed.
