Those Who Can't, Teach

In what other profession could one get away with this pathetic level of performance?

Teacher keeps job despite ‘unsatisfactory’ rating 6 years in a row

The city Department of Education has failed to fire a teacher rated “unsatisfactory” for six consecutive years. Ann Legra, 44, a first-grade teacher at PS 173 in Washington Heights, racked up “six years of failing her students,” the city ­argued in a 16-day termination hearing.

Hearing officer Eugene Ginsberg upheld charges of Legra’s “inability to supervise students,” excessive lateness and absence and poor lesson planning in the 2012-2013 school year.

But Ginsberg dismissed evidence that Legra was a lousy instructor, saying she didn’t get enough coaching.

WTF? She needs coaching? Since when does a college graduate with 20+ years of teaching experience need coaching? By that reasoning, the SCOAMF in the White House is a complete failure because he didn't get enough coaching.

GMAFB.

He imposed only a 45-day suspension without pay. Legra keeps her $84,500-a-year salary, but is now assigned to a pool of 1,400 teachers who serve as substitutes.

WHAT?!?! Six years of unsats gets you $84 grand a year?!? Good God Almighty, please grant me a job where I get paid that much for failing to perform.

Gov. Cuomo last month called the teacher-evaluation system “baloney” after the latest results revealed that fewer than 1 percent of the state’s teachers were rated ineffective.

Never thought it would happen, but for once in my life I agree with a Cuomo.

“Six U-ratings is an outrage. It’s a black eye on the system,” said Michael Mazzariello, a former chief prosecutor for the DOE. He faulted administrators and current lawyers.

The DOE said the case is under review. “We are committed to having great teachers at the front of all our classrooms,” said spokeswoman Devora Kaye.

Yeah, right.

Ginsberg’s ruling came the second time the DOE brought charges against Legra, who was hired as an aide 23 years ago and became a teacher at PS 173 in 2001, officials said.

In a prior settlement, she admitted excessive absences from 2009 to 2012. The DOE let her off with a $2,500 fine.

That worthless FIB (Fill In the Blank) can't even be bothered to show up for class, is unable to educate the unfortunates who have the bad luck to be stuck in her class, and yet still has the nerve to protest her dismissal.

In one example of her poor management, PS 173 Assistant Principal Kevin Goodman found Legra’s classroom in “chaos.”

“Students up out of their seats, at least one was running, another was demonstrating karate moves on the closet door and the majority of the students were not involved in anything instructional — an issue that has repeatedly plagued your tenure as a classroom teacher,” he wrote at the time.

Three of her 6-year-olds were injured in a classroom melee that day, he added.

Amid the “mayhem,” Goodman wrote, Legra was “buried in a corner at a computer table” where she could not monitor all the kids.

Legra said she was “re-sharpening pencils” that were too sharp — to prevent accidents. She claimed the students were “walking around the room working on word activities.”

Words fail me.

Over the school year, Legra was absent 27 times and late 37 times. Legra said she suffers asthma and had to go to court for a custody fight with her ex.

So that makes it okay not show up for work? Again, GMAFB.

Job protections for tenured teachers make it difficult to fire bad apples. The system requires that each charge be proven in a trial with witnesses, documents and arguments. The DOE must show the teacher was given training and chances to improve.

The hearing officers — picked jointly by the DOE and the teachers union — frequently balk at termination, instead ordering a fine or suspension and requiring the teacher to take courses.

Legra, approached by The Post at her home in Fort Lee, NJ, first insisted she was not the PS 173 teacher, but a friend named Margaret Morel — a mix of her middle name and married surname.

Legra later claimed she was ­harassed and targeted because of her high salary.

“They really want to get rid of workers who are there for a long time,” she said. She also complained she had no help with some special-needs kids.

Legra has since filed a federal lawsuit against the DOE, charging discrimination based on her race, gender, national origin and medical disability.

Oh, of course. I should have known. The poor thing is a victim. And of course, racism, sexism, and disabilityism are involved.

Yet one more example of why this once-great country is on a downhill slide...

Ann Legra, alleged teacher