Honk News (New York City, NY) – A Bronx elementary school teacher accused of “inappropriately touching” two youngsters and showing others a pornographic photo has been on the public payroll for years, according to The Post.
According to a newly revealed investigation by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation, in 2021 and 2022, Norman B. Dunkley made a 10-year-old girl uncomfortable by touching her chest over her clothing and other children’s cheeks and shoulders.
The fifth-grade teacher also nicknamed students “baby” and “watched sexual content on his phone,” according to pupils.
Several students claimed seeing the “image of a fully nude adult female” on Dunkley’s phone while dropping their assignments on his desk, according to SCI.
Dunkley, a long-time science teacher at PS 70 in Claremont Village, was arrested in May 2022 on charges of sexual assault and forceful touching.
He has been sidelined since, yet he continues to receive his full wage – $132,699 last year, according to documents.
In January 2023, the Bronx District Attorney’s office dropped misdemeanor charges against Dunkley because the female he reportedly groped on the chest had moved out of state “and could not be located,” according to SCI.
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The alarming case highlights the DOE’s failure to remove tenured instructors, including those found unable to work with children.
“It is the recommendation of this office that Dunkley’s employment with the DOE be terminated,” Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman said in an August 2023 letter to then-Chancellor David Banks, detailing the SCI’s findings.
DOE officials declined to specify whether they filed misconduct charges against Dunkley or convened an administrative hearing in which a state-appointed arbitrator determined whether termination or another penalty, such as a fine or suspension, was appropriate.
Dunkley has been “reassigned away from children,” said DOE spokesperson Jenna Lyle. “This behavior is absolutely unacceptable.”
If not fired, DOE teachers suspected of sexual misconduct are placed in a disciplinary “rubber room,” which can be either an office or at home.