Sometimes teachers aren’t the best role models for our kids. This was never more evident than in the past week, when officials were deciding whether a pair of city teachers should face punishment far worse than detention. One such educator taught Spanish at A. Philip Randolph High School in Harlem. Last year, Johnny Cuevas, 37, allegedly took an 18-year-old student on a pleasure trip to a Dominican Republic resort. Although the island does count as a Spanish-speaking region, by all accounts the trip was not educational in nature. A colleague of Cuevas claims to have spotted the couple on its Caribbean romp, but the suo asserts its innocence. The school administration is taking the accusation seriously, and has removed Cuevas from the classroom while the investigation continues. While they’re at it, the administration might want to keep an eye on the French teacher’s upcoming jaunt to that villa in Martinique.
Another educator went on trial Thursday after being caught allegedly scrawling racist graffiti during an elaborate police sting. Yolanda Moorjaney, 33, was a special education teacher at Public School 256 in Far Rockaway when detectives surreptitiously tracked her trips to the bathroom. Immediately after relieving herself one day, the officers stormed the restroom and found racist ramblings in the bathroom stall, including “N---r Die!” as well as various sexual references. The officers claimed the writing had not been there previously and helped further dig Moorjaney’s professional grave when they found a marker in her possession that corresponded to the writing. Moorjaney, who is white, was teaching in a school that is 85 percent black. She is now facing up to four years in prison, where guards will hopefully keep her cell Sharpie free.
