NYK teachers sacked for flirting on Facebook with students
By IANSMonday, October 18, 2010
NEW YORK - At least three teachers from public high schools in New York have been sacked in the past six months for making indecent remarks while dealing with students on Facebook, a media report said Monday.
According to the New York Post, Chadwin Reynolds, one of the booted teachers who “friended” about a half-dozen female students, wrote creepy comments like, “This is sexy”, under some of their Facebook photos, investigators found.
Reynolds allegedly even tried to get one teen to go out with him by getting her phone number and sending her flowers, candy and a teddy bear.
On his Facebook profile, Reynolds, 37, posted a tasteless tagline that read, “I’m not a gynaecologist, but I’ll take a look inside”, according to the special commissioner of investigation for the New York City school district.
The department of education (DOE) confirmed that Reynolds had been cut loose because of the social-networking scandal, the report said.
Laurie Hirsch, 30, another former DOE employee, was canned in May for her steamy Facebook scene involving a student.
She had posted a photo of her kissing an 18-year-old male former student on the lips, which sparked an investigation.
The student subsequently told investigators that he had had sex with Hirsch about 10 times in her apartment last year, and records revealed 2,700 phone contacts between the pair over a six-month period.
Hirsch said neither she nor the student had been attending school any longer when their dalliance began.
“I was suspended indefinitely for using a cellphone too frequently during school time,” she said. “And it didn’t seem in any way, shape or form that I was getting my job back when the relationship with the boy took off.”
In Manhattan, New York, substitute teacher Stephen D’Andrilli also “friended” several female students on Facebook and sent inappropriate messages, the report said.
He allegedly sent one girl a message telling her she was pretty and told her he had tried to visit her during one of her Saturday classes.
D’Andrilli, who did not return a message seeking comment, was barred last month from subbing ever again.
Despite the flurry of troubling incidents, DOE officials said they don’t currently have a policy that addresses teacher-student communication on Facebook.
“Still, we continually look at ways that our policies may need to evolve to keep pace with technology,” said a DOE spokeswoman.
