Educators accused of sending inappropriate messages to kids still licensed, in classrooms

At least six teachers recently busted for inappropriate communications and relationships with city students are still licensed to teach in the state, including two who moved on to work in Long Island classrooms, The Post has learned.

Reports by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation cite at least 121 substantiated cases of NYC educators and other school staffers engaging in improper communications with kids since 2018.

The watchdog sends its reports to the state Education Department as well as the NYC schools chancellor. Many accused offenders resigned or were terminated by the city and no longer have active licenses. Others have continued to teach, records show.

One of them, Anthony Schiliro, sent three Eleanor Roosevelt HS students “excessive” late-night texts and joked about one having sex in front of the other two, the SCI found.

Schiliro resigned due to the alleged misconduct, and had a “problem code” stamped on his file. That red flag can prevent him from further work in the city Department of Education, but other districts or schools do not have access to it unless they ask the DOE for a background check, said Betsy Combier, an expert on teacher discipline.

Schiliro was hired as a permanent special-ed substitute teacher for more than a month in fall 2024, making $245 per day, according to Long Beach Public School records.

Superintendent Jennifer Gallagher told The Post the district was not aware of the SCI findings when they hired Schiliro, and that he no longer works for the district. She would not give further details.

Another, Curtis Haywood, allegedly used WhatsApp to ask one of his students from the Theatre Arts Production Company School in the Bronx creepy questions about their relationship, sometimes leaving her in tears.

Haywood went on to teach in at two different Long Island districts, Uniondale and then Hempstead, making $84,379 from the latter district last year.

The districts did not respond to inquiries from The Post.

Dulaina Almonte was fired from Harry S. Truman High School for texting a student 28,000 times, The Post reported in May. But after the DOE terminated her, she landed a job at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation. The school previously told The Post they weren’t aware of the allegations when Almonte was hired. She was fired after the information came to light.

Four other teachers — Daniel Matuk, Jorge Luna, Ellen Huynh and Andrei Hargobind — still have active state licenses, records show. The SCI had called for the four to be fired and repeatedly recommended — 55 times since 2019 — that the DOE prohibit employees from using personal numbers and accounts to contact students.

Matuk allegedly sent one of his 15-year-old graphic-design students at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens more than 700 messages, the SCI found, writing about her “brown ass” and “little butt” and calling her a “b—h” and “whore.”

Luna allegedly FaceTimed a Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics student at midnight on her birthday, and commented on her Instagram page that she had “sexy legs” in a photo and “should have opened” them.

Huynh, a teacher at the Civic Leadership Academy in Queens, exchanged more than 9,000 texts with a male student between 2022 and 2023, including hundreds after 9 pm and on weekends, investigators found.

Hargobind left the city DOE in 2023 as part of a settlement banning him from future employment with the department, yet still has an active teaching license, records show. He allegedly touched a 15-year-old student inappropriately and, when she was 18, exposed himself “entirely nude” on FaceTime, SCI found.

The state must step in and suspend teaching licenses faster following sexual misconduct cases, said the Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation, an advocacy group that represents survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The current average time it takes to suspend a license is three years, the group said.

It is calling on the state Board of Regents to approve proposals to fast-track license suspensions and have educators temporarily removed pending a hearing. A 60-day public comment period is under way for the proposals, which could be adopted in May.

Officials in the state Department of Education would not explain why the teachers cited by SCI are still licensed, saying the agency doesn’t comment on possible investigations.