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Carlos Tapia, a convicted heroin dealer, was hired in May at Innovate Charter School, where he supervised kids in the cafeteria
Carlos Tapia, 31, was hired in May at Innovate Charter School, where he supervised kids in the cafeteria. He was expected to be fingerprinted so his past could be checked, but the school didn’t bother, he said. “I could have been a person who was dangerous,” said Tapia, who was a public school teacher’s aide before he served a year and half for heroin distribution. A background check would have quickly turned up his criminal past. Tapia applied to Innovate Manhattan because of his previous experience in education, and even says he checked with the state to see if charter schools would be able to hire someone with a criminal record. He fully expected to undergo the fingerprinting required by the state for charter schools as well as public schools.
The high-profile school, then sharing Tweed Courthouse space with the Department of Education itself, did fire Tapia after three months — but he still can’t believe that he was even hired by a charter school in such a prime location. “It’s just crazy. What if I was someone who really couldn’t be trusted?” Tapia said. “What if I had anger-management issues? “I even took the elevator with the chancellor (Dennis Walcott) all the time,” he added. A charter school official said that background checks were “always done,” claiming that Tapia’s had been completed by an employee no longer with the school.
Head of school Gayla Thompson declined to further comment, saying that Tapia “is no longer an employee here.” She then hung up on a reporter. A source familiar with the inner workings of the school said officials were entirely in the dark about Tapia’s past until contacted by a reputable news source. The school is now reviewing all personnel records, the source said. Aside from the heroin arrest, Tapia’s résumé suggested that he was qualified for the charter job. Before turning to crime, he made $10 per hour as a public school teacher’s aide. He said he was barely making ends meet — then his hours were cut due to the fiscal crisis. That’s when he made a “mistake,” choosing to supplement his income by transporting heroin to Ohio. The city fired Tapia after the arrest.
Innovate Charter parents expressed shock at the revelation. “I didn’t know anything about it. Now I’ve got all kinds of questions for the school. I want to know if my daughter is safe,” said Huberney Chavez, 47, whose daughter is in sixth grade. “They’ve got to check the backgrounds of employees. It’s important you’ve got to know who’s taking care of our kids. I don’t care if it’s public, private or charter they should check their backgrounds.”
Innovate Manhattan is not the first charter school to hire an employee previously fired by the public schools. Columbia Secondary School Principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera, fired after the drowning of 12-year-old Nicole Suriel on a field trip, was hired by Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School, The News reported in June.
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Brian
September 11, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Where do you get these ideas! If the school did it’s jpb the would be no way to be set up! What ever his motives were he help protect children at this and other schools in that district.
Random testing is how quality control is done actually not done enough to test for food quality and safety. This organization should not be exempt for this kind of a testing.
D.C.
September 10, 2012 at 3:32 pm
I could not have said it better than Keepsitreal. A setup to discredit the school maybe. If the ex-con is not serious about turning his life around why not just re-offend and go back to jail instead of causing issues for everyone else. If it is not part of the parole instructions that this person not come into contact with children, then what is the issue. If it were an issue of ex-cons not having contact with children, many parents would loose their parental rights and their children. This smells funny, again, a setup.
DLC
September 10, 2012 at 10:59 am
Why did this man apply for the job in the first place? What were his motives? Was he paid money for his story? Remember his past, making $10 an hr, hours cut, transported dope to make ends meet, served time, got out & got a honest job @ charter school then advertised the big mistake the school made. Was he paid more money in one lump sum for his story to make his ends meet? Did he list his conviction on his application for the job? If not, how can he claim to be an honest person? I bet he got paid for this. The other side “YES”, the school employee slipped & lost their job & parents should have been informed, but by the school not a wide open story like this. It was very wrong for this FELON to do this! “Stand4JesusFall4NothingAmen”
keepsitreal
September 10, 2012 at 10:54 am
This article is full of shyte. This Papia character is a fool for for not thinking that he deserved a second chance at doing something for himself. Sure there should have beena background check. But even so, jsut becasue you have a past it doesn’t make you a bad person. Distribution is different to murder, child molestation, being insain in the membrane, etc. This could have been an opportunity for the school to become a model for giving inmates with non-violent pasts a chnge at rejuvenation. Instead, this fool blows his chance and the school makes itself look retarded for not doing what they should have done in the first place.