Creepy Stuff at NYC Whistleblower's Dismissal Hearing

Creepiness of the Orwellian variety: DOE's in-house "investigators" ( They're often retired NYC cops, I understand.) visiting ... and playing with Mr. Portelos *kids*; and later dropping by his wife's school. All of this AFTER the hearing is already underway.

Plus they're apparently packing the tiny hearing room w. on-the-clock DOE employees. ( Portelos had asked for an "open hearing" to allow for the actual "public" to attend.) The apparent plants take up available seats... forcing out legit members of the public.

Norm Scott's been attending scrupulously chronicling this most unusual ( Maybe it's NOT so unusual.) case on ednotes:http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/10/portelos-hearing-update-doe-lawyers.html#comment-form



Portelos Hearing Update: DOE Lawyers Pass DOE Employees from OEO As "Public" While SCI Harass Portelos' Wife in Her School
...while SCI investigators harrass Portelos family members.

"SCI investigators have visited my father-in-law at his job during the summer and more recently visited my mother-in-law the day before my termination hearing started. Well, apparently SCI Investigators Mr. Romano and Mr. Martucci are still going around visiting my family, including my wife today at her school.... " Francesco Portelos @ Protect Portelos


The DOE is DESPERATE to fire Portelos and will stop at nothing.



I won't go into details of the testimony by District 31 Superintendent Erminia Claudio and a teacher from IS 49, though there is a lot to say. But it will all come out at some point. I can say that she testified there were 8 or 9 investigators on the case. Add 2-3 DOE legal, the court stenographer, the hearing officer and the cost must be astounding. And yet barely a word about anything he did as a teacher. In fact much of this is about Portelos AFTER he was removed -- and how he fought back. They much prefer teachers to calmly put their heads in the guillotine in a calm and orderly manner.

Monday's (Sept. 30, '13) Portelos hearing was overflowing with public observers (with 4 of us from MORE), Betsy Combier and a retired teacher interested in the case and 2 other gentlemen who we didn't know (but have discovered who they were since then - they were there for benign reasons.)

But not 2 ladies who were present - they just didn't compute as they were squarely there to support the DOE -- shepherded in and out by the lawyers. Who were these people, we wondered?

When another MORE showed up late she was denied entry during a break -- DOE lawyer Francis Hobson claimed we were not allowed to bring in another chair despite there being space. Hobson claimed it was a ruling of the building manager, which we challenged. When someone was sent up and said we could add the chair, Hobson interjected that it was not allowed, despite having claimed to not making the decision. I challenged her right to tell the lady who came up not to allow it and she backed off. When I asked for her name she refused to give it to me. Betsy passed that info on. What arrogance these people from DOE legal have. Actually, most of the Tweedies.

Then it all clicked into place. They were packing the hearing room with their own people, people who I bet were getting paid to be there.

We looked up their names and: OEO!!! Office of Equal Opportunity. More taxpayer money spent to "fill seats". If the press is looking for a good scandal to expose, FOIL their timesheets for Sept. 30. (They were there for the morning session only.) Were 2 employees of the DOE getting paid to attend the hearing?

the rest at link: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2013/10/portelos-hearing-update-doe-lawyers.html#comment-form