NY1 Exclusive: Teachers Claim Queens Principal Over-Fired On Purpose

By: Lindsey Christ

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Last month, several teachers at a Queens elementary school were told they were losing their jobs due to budget cuts. But now there are charges that it was just an excuse to get rid of teachers the principal wanted gone. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

Seven teachers at PS 222 in Queens say they found out they were being let go in two letters that were sent a week apart. Both were signed by the principal, Yvonne Marrero. The second was printed on Department of Education letterhead. But DOE officials say Marrero never told them she was cutting the seven. Her budget called for cutting just two. Meanwhile, Marrero was openly advertising to hire teachers for positions she claimed she couldn't pay for.

"She's saying that I have to leave because there's no money, but then there's these vacancies under the position that I was for three years," said PS 222 teacher Michelle Galvez.

Budget cuts have forced principals across the city to cut teachers. Last year, more than 1,500 teachers lost their positions. Principals submitted their budgets for this coming year on July 2, and it's likely even more teaching spots were cut. That's because after three years of budget cuts, many principals say teachers are the only thing left to trim.

PS 222 had only 25 teachers total, so the staff said cutting seven was so extreme that it didn't make sense. And when four of those teachers didn't get follow-up paperwork from the DOE, they called to ask why not. That's when they learned they'd never actually been let go.

"To me it was very confusing," Galvez said.

Teachers who spoke with NY1 say they suspect the principal was trying to use the budget crisis as an excuse to get rid of teachers she didn't like. In fact, they say just last week the principal called several of the teachers she'd given letters to, again encouraging them to find other jobs.

"She was calling me to find out whether or not I've had an interviews, whether I'd not been hired by another school," Galvez said.

NY1 has reached out to Marrero, but she has so far refused to comment.

The DOE says she insists it was all a mistake and that she thought she would need to cut seven teachers but later realized she had to lose just two -- a claim teachers say just doesn't add up.