A teacher in New York City who was fired after allegedly sending nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a young girl is working in another school.
Dulaina Almonte, 33, was let go 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 the students.
But the teacher now works at a different charter school in the area despite being fired by the city’s department of education.
‘I can’t be guilty if I’m still a teacher,’ she told The New York Post. ‘Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like, you really can’t f***ing touch me.’
Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night texts to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another male in 12th grade.
Teacher Dulaina Almonte, who was fired after allegedly sending nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a young girl, is working in another school
The 33-year-old was let go 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 the students
‘It’s not a crime, but still got fired, which is honestly why the DOE can suck a big pr–k,’ Almonte said. ‘Still a teacher! Can’t touch me!’
The Special Commissioner of Investigation concluded that her ‘excessive contact and behavior with the students demonstrates that she has no place in the 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 ‘involved in a sex act’, a police report stated.
Almonte denied the allegations, which included an accusation that she and a pupil ‘made out and had oral sex all the time in school.’
No arrest was made over the claims. Although, it sparked the Special Commissioner of Investigation to look into thousands of late-night and weekend conversations between the teacher and students.
The teenagers made multiple visits to Almonte’s Bronx home, according to the report.
But Almonte claimed the results from the year-long investigation were ‘completely false.’
She is now teaching Spanish at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation which is privately run.
The department of education is facing criticism for not doing more to prevent teachers who are found to have behaved inappropriately with students from working in other schools.
‘No paper trail follows teachers state to state unless they’re convicted and it shows up in a [criminal] background check,’ researcher Billie-Jo Grant said.
But the teacher now works at a different charter school in the area despite being fired by the city’s department of education
Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night texts to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another male in 12th grade
She is now teaching Spanish at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation which is privately run
But less than five percent of school administrators around the country report sexual misconduct to authorities.
‘There’s a lot of motivation to not have it on the front page of the paper,’ Grant added.
The Special Commissioner of Investigation has upheld 254 allegations of sexual or inappropriate misconduct by department of education employees in the last five years.
But only four cases have led to criminal charges.
Those who are convicted of sexual abuse charges instantly have their educator’s state license revoked.
However, in most cases, there needs to be at least two arbitration hearings before a teacher’s state license can be taken.
The department of education also does not share data on a fired teachers with other districts, religious, private or charter schools.
Findings from the report on Almonte were sent to the Education Department, which has the power to revoke licenses if the person is found guilty of a crime or has immoral character.
But there was 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 personnel items beyond she was terminated. If others come to us for background checks, we respond,’ he said.
While AECI 2 CEO Derick Spaulding insisted that the school does background checks on all employees who have to pass a ‘fingerprint authorization.’
‘All employees have to get fingerprinted. If there was something in a person’s background that was worthy, that would show up,’ he said.
‘That’s the state’s way of stating this person’s allowed to work [with children].’
However, since there were no criminal charges brought against Almonte, none of the accusations would have been revealed in using the fingerprint method.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the department of education and Almonte.