PS 24 admin seeks millions from DOE, Dinowitz

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Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) Assistant Principal Manny Verdi is seeking millions of dollars in damages from school authorities and northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz in a suit stemming from a dispute about kindergarten enrollment and other issues. The administrator contends he was targeted after accusing Mr. Dinowitz of leading an effort to exclude minority and low-income students from coming to the 660 W. 236th St. school.

Last Friday, Mr. Verdi expanded a suit he filed earlier this year to include the assemblyman, whom he is now accusing of defamation following comments from Mr. Dinowitz blaming a range of problems at P.S. 24 on the assistant principal. The suit initially only mentioned Mr. Dinowitz while suing the Department of Education (DOE), the Schools Chancellor and local Superintendent Melodie Mashel for allegedly violating Mr. Verdi’s and students’ rights. The assistant principal claims that Ms. Mashel sought to punish him after he complained of discriminatory enrollment practices at P.S. 24, with Mr. Dinowitz’s Chief of Staff Randi Martos allegedly involved in the effort.

Mr. Verdi is seeking $14.2 million in damages from school authorities and $5 million from Mr. Dinowitz.

The assemblyman previously told The Press, “In a desperate attempt to create a smokescreen to divert attention from the fact that he’s the main reason for the severe overcrowding crisis at P.S. 24, Manny Verdi has brought a lawsuit containing one lie after another.” 

Mr. Verdi referred questions to his lawyer Ezra Glaser. 

“The bottom line still comes down to the fact that this is a racially charged political football that’s being brought on by elected officials,” the attorney said. “They literally admit to doing things that are completely unfathomable on the part of elected officials.”

The suit focuses on several days in March and April when Ms. Martos came to P.S. 24 to help process applications to enroll in the school’s fall kindergarten class. Mr. Dinowitz said Ms. Martos was there at the request of school officials — but Mr. Verdi contends having a non-DOE employee present at enrollment marks a violation of federal anti-discrimination and privacy laws. He claimed Ms. Martos worked to prevent minority and low-income students from enrolling and attributed racist comments to Mr. Dinowitz — an allegation that the assemblyman vehemently denies. Among the alleged comments, the assemblyman reportedly said around November 2009 that he could recognize children who are not from Riverdale “by the way they walk, talk and wear their pants.”

In a phone interview Monday, Mr. Dinowitz said he was yet to see the latest version of the suit, but reiterated his rejection of Mr. Verdi’s claims.

“It’s just not true. It’s just not true,” the assemblyman said of the allegations of racism. “I guess [Mr. Verdi’s] number one goal is to try to squeeze money out of the city and perhaps his lawyer is trying to generate publicity.”

The complaint cites five recent statements from Mr. Dinowitz to news sources blaming P.S. 24’s loss of an off-site annex and overcrowding problems on Mr. Verdi — which the assistant principal says amount to defamation.

Anti-Semitic incident?

The suit also says Ms. Mashel attempted to pressure Mr. Verdi into resigning and helped make conditions for the selection of a new principal at P.S. 24 unfavorable to Mr. Verdi. Former Principal Donna Connelly stepped down in the fall following a series of controversies. The DOE referred an inquiry to the city's Law Department, which did not immediately reply. It typically does not discuss ongoing litigation. Ms. Mashel did not immediately answer an interview request.

The suit further alleges that Ms. Mashel interfered with Mr. Verdi’s ability to do his job by barring him from going to P.S. 24’s annex — several classrooms for fifth-grade students at the Whitehall co-op at 3333 Henry Hudson Parkway — after he disobeyed her instructions to punish students involved in a charged, if vaguely described, incident in 2015. The description of the incident reads:

“Sometime in 2015, several schoolchildren at P.S. 24 were involved in an exchange where certain schoolchildren used the word ‘Nazis.’ Also, certain schoolchildren became upset about other schoolchildren singing in the Hebrew language. Plaintiff Verdi was thereupon asked to discipline certain schoolchildren by the parent of two of the children, whose role in other aspects of this lawsuit is mentioned in significant detail herein.

“Following several months of investigation, including contact with an Attorney on behalf of the Board of Education, Plaintiff Verdi found that there was no basis for disciplining any of the children complained about in this dispute. Following Mr. Verdi’s finding, the parent of the two children continually complained to him, and continued to insist that the other schoolchildren be punished (particularly as to the singing of the Hebrew song).”

The suit continues that Ms. Mashel used this “frivolous complaint” as a pretext for punishing Mr. Verdi for his own, previous complaints about Mr. Dinowitz’s involvement with kindergarten enrollment. In May, Ms. Mashel allegedly barred Mr. Verdi from visiting the P.S. 24 annex and interacting with the schoolchildren whose parent had complained. Mr. Verdi says Ms. Mashel wrote a letter placed in his personnel file after she unjustifiably accused him of breaking the injunction.

Mr. Glaser said he plans to serve Mr. Dinowitz with the suit this week. The case is in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since Mr. Verdi alleges the recent kindergarten enrollment violated federal privacy and anti-discrimination laws.

The back-story

Mr. Verdi initiated his lawsut in May, as P.S. 24 struggled with the loss of its annex and principal. In October, parents were furious to learn that the School Construction Authority had let a lease on the Whitehall annex expire. Since then, school officials have moved to build new classrooms in P.S. 24, which already has about twice as many students as the building was originally designed for.

The revelation about the lease, and a scandal over removing teachers’ desks, prompted Ms. Connelly to resign in November. The DOE then suspended the process of hiring a new principal, citing an investigation — an apparent reference to Mr. Verdi’s contention that the process was biased against him.

PS 24, Manny Verdi, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Melodie Mashel, Ezra Glaser, Shant Shahrigian

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