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Teachers Fired for Facebook Flirting with Students
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 18, 2010
Modified Oct 18, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 18, 2010
Modified Oct 18, 2010
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Today the Post has an exclusive report on three teachers who've been fired for allegedly inappropriate contact with students on Facebook. Although some states such as New Hampshire and Ohio have implemented rules barring teachers from having any contact with students on social networking sites like Facebook, there are no such prohibitions in New York. And that's great for teachers like the one at La Guardia HS who gave extra credit to students who "friended" him on Facebook. (The teacher wasn't disciplined.) But some educators have reportedly been abusing their Facebook privileges! Here are a few of the worst offenders:
- Substitute teacher Stephen D'Andrilli has been barred from subbing after he got caught sending inappropriate messages on Facebook to several female students at Essex Street Academy, investigators tell the Post. He allegedly told one girl her "boyfriend [did not] deserve a beautiful girl like you." But D'Andrilli has a wandering eye, and allegedly told another girl she was pretty and that he'd tried to see her during one of her Saturday classes.
- Bronx high school teacher Chadwin Reynolds is said to have "friended" about a half-dozen female students and wrote comments like, "This is sexy," under some of their Facebook photos. He also allegedly tried to woo another student by sending her flowers, candy and a teddy bear. According to investigators, his Facebook tagline was "I'm not a gynecologist, but I'll take a look inside." He was fired earlier this year.
- And after Bryant HS paraprofessional Laurie Hirsch, 30, posted a photo of her kissing an 18-year-old male former student, the DOE launched an investigation and found that the teen had sex with Hirsch about 10 times in her apartment last year. Over a six-month period, they had 2,700 phone contacts, according to records. Sources tell the Post he was fired in May because of the affair, even though neither she nor the student had been attending school any longer when it began—Hirsch says she was already suspended for using her cellphone too much during school time.
So there you have it: Our teachers are acting as irresponsibly as teenagers on the Internet! We're so screwed.
Tagged
education
social networking
teachers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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