A New York City teacher who was fired after allegedly sending nearly 30,000 late-night text messages to a girl is working at another school.
Dulaina Almonte, 33, was fired from her job at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx in 2020 after a Special Commissioner of Investigation report found she had behaved inappropriately with students.
But the teacher now works at another charter school in the area despite being fired by the city’s education department.
“I can’t be guilty if I’m still a teacher,” she said. The New York Post. ‘I’m still a teacher working somewhere else. You can’t really touch me.
Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night text messages to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another man in the 12th grade.
Teacher Dulaina Almonte, who was fired after allegedly sending almost 30,000 late-night text messages to a girl, is working at another school
The 33-year-old was fired from her job at Harry S. Truman High School (pictured) in the Bronx in 2020 after a Special Commissioner of Investigation report found she had behaved inappropriately with students.
“It’s not a crime, but I still got fired, which, honestly, is why the DOE can be in great disgrace,” Almonte said. ‘I’m still a teacher! You can not touch me!’
The Special Commissioner of Investigation concluded that his “excessive contact and behavior with students demonstrates that he has no place in New York City schools.”
There was also an investigation by the New York City Police Department into a student’s claim that Almonte and a former student were “engaged in a sexual act,” according to a police report.
Almonte denied the allegations, which included an allegation that she and a student “kissed and had oral sex all the time at school.”
No arrests were made over the claims. However, it prompted the Special Commissioner of Investigation to investigate thousands of late-night and weekend conversations between the teacher and students.
The teens made multiple visits to Almonte’s home in the Bronx, according to the report.
But Almonte claimed the results of the year-long investigation were “completely false.”
He now teaches Spanish at AECI 2: Privately run New York City Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation.
The education department is facing criticism for not doing more to prevent teachers who have behaved inappropriately with students from working in other schools.
“No paper trail follows teachers from state to state unless they are convicted and it shows up on a (criminal) background check,” said investigator Billie-Jo Grant.
But the teacher now works at another charter school in the area despite being fired by the city’s education department.
Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night text messages to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another man in the 12th grade.
He now teaches Spanish at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation, which is privately run.
But fewer than five percent of school administrators nationwide report sexual misconduct to authorities.
“There’s a lot of motivation to not be on the front page of the newspaper,” Grant added.
The Special Commissioner of Investigation has confirmed 254 allegations of sexual or inappropriate conduct by education department employees over the past five years.
But only four cases have led to criminal charges.
Those who are convicted of sexual abuse charges have their state educator license instantly revoked.
However, in most cases, there need to be at least two arbitration hearings before a state teacher license can be obtained.
The education department also does not share data on laid-off teachers with other districts, religious, private or charter schools.
The conclusions of the report on Almonte were sent to the Department of Education, which has the power to revoke licenses if the person is found guilty of a crime or has an immoral character.
But there were no disciplinary hearings, according to the state website.
Department of Education spokesman Nathaniel Styer confirmed that Almonte was fired.
‘I’m not going to get into personal issues beyond the fact that she was fired. If others come to us to check her background, we respond,” she said.
While AECI 2 CEO Derick Spaulding insisted that the school conducts background checks on all employees who have to pass a ‘fingerprint clearance.’
‘All employees must be fingerprinted. “If there was something in a person’s past that was worthy, that would be shown,” he said.
“That’s the state’s way of indicating that this person can work (with children).”
However, since no criminal charges were filed against Almonte, none of the allegations would have been revealed using the fingerprint method.
DailyMail.com has contacted the education department and Almonte.