Teacher-Whistleblower Portelos JAILED for..... wait for it....... BLOG POST.
Short version: Francesco Portelos is a highly acclaimed STEM Teacher who created a firestorm in late 2011 when he asked about his school's budget ( as in "Where does the money actually GO?"
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Next thing he knows he's in a Rubber Room for 2 years while the DOE tried to figure out something to charge him with. In his enforced idleness, Portelos created this remarkable website: http://protectportelos.org which has become immensely popular to people here and around the country who are interested in learning how pubic school bureaucracies actually function.
It isn't pretty, in the case of NYC; but it is what it is.
Finally a marathon ( 6 mos) termination hearing was conducted in which he was accused , among other things, of ....wait for it..... staying 27 minutes later in the building than he was allowed to ; and not only THAT........ wait for it again...... LEAVING THE BUILDING BY THE WRONG DOOR.
Anyway... an arbitrator's decision as to whether or not he should be fired is pending. Not content with this uncertainty... the DOE... apparently driven NUTZ!!! by the website content, much of which is HUGELY embarrassing, decided to have Portelos ARRESTED. Which they did on Monday - and he was jailed for 33 hrs before the judge threw the case out at arraignment.
These people will do ANYTHING to keep this corrupt system in tact. *Anything*. Note: The aforementioned system pre-dates deBlasio who many are hoping will dismantle it completely and start over.
Norm Scott of ednotes followed most of the hearings in person and his EDNOTES account of the arrest and release follows: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Note to DOE Legal: How do you spell D-I-S-B-A-R?
Ramifications of tactic of having teachers arrested for fighting back will be felt.
I can just imagine the judge getting as big a laugh as Francesco got as he snookered DOE Legal into taking an outrageous action against him by involving the NYCPD in what was clearly a joke posting that he hacked into the DOE payroll system and gave himself a raise claiming he hacked in using Dennis Walcott's logon using the password kittensRcute. (How to “Hack” the DOE Payroll Portal and Give Yourself a Raise).
That either sent the crack DOE tech team into a panic given they seem to think Portelos can control their computers using smoke and mirrors. Or the real panic may be DOE legal thinks it will lose the case and not get Portelos terminated, so they came up with this attempted scam, which P is adding to his federal lawsuit. The boy may own the DOE by the time he is finished, and maybe part of the NYPD.
Portelos was at the post-MORE happy hour and informed is that another teacher was arrested by the very same detective just a week ago after her principal complained she was harassing her- the very principal who wrongly terminated the teacher -- more on this angle later.
Up to that point I felt P had gone too far with this post, given that he was expecting a ruling on his case. I urged him to keep this stuff under wraps until his decision came through. But when he pointed out that a Louis Scarcella like detective was apparently working as an agent of DOE legal by going after teachers who defended themselves things began to fall into place.
Will Portelos end up owning this apartment?
In another breaking development he just informed us that SCI has backed his claims that the DOE was lying when it claimed he used his computers at work for his real estate business, something we heard repeatedly from DOE Legal attorney Jordana Shenkman, hopefully soon to be disbarred.
SCI just released a statement indicating the real estate files were not found on my desktop but rather printed from the internet. http://bit.ly/1fqlESa
Here are some of his postings on Facebook.
Francesco ForEducation Portelos
Thank you all for your concern and texts. Just got out of jail around 7pm. Was arrested Monday morning due to trumped up charges by the DOE lawyers and held for 33 hrs. Sleeping on cell floor and handcuffed was an experience. The DA dismissed all charges.
Thanks everyone. We are adding to Federal lawsuit. Break me? I was lying on the filthy floor smiling thinking what wall I will post the shields and law degrees of those involved. As I was finally called out to leave, cell mate gave me fist bumps and one yelled out. "Don't forget to write about us teach. Keep fighting."
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