Brooklyn teacher NYC tried to fire decade ago for fixing grades is back in classroom and under fraud probe again: 'No accountability'

"In June 2011, Osman Abugana, now 63, was accused of "inappropriately changing the scores from failing to passing" on the state Regents physics exam for five students at Medgar Evers College Preparatory, a public middle-high school in Brooklyn. "The deceit and dishonesty which the department finds to underlie this conduct are, in its view, moral failings which cannot be remediated," according to a 2013 disciplinary opinion by a state-appointed arbitrator obtained by The Post."

""There is no option for a penalty in this case short of termination," the DOE argued at the time, after a probe by its own Office of Special Investigations (OSI). The department said Abugana's testimony at his administrative trial was "riddled with lies and misstatements" and made him "unfit" to teach. But Abugana, then 51, fought his firing with the help of New York State United Teachers' union, which provides defense to NYC teachers in these hearings."

"Instead of firing him, the arbitrator suspended him for one semester and ordered him to take a course on proper testing and grading procedures. While he was under investigation and his case was being adjudicated, he would have spent close to three years in a DOE "rubber room," the notorious holding spaces where disgraced teachers get paid to do nothing. Abugana is back in a classroom and makes $140,000 a year, records show."

Osman Abugana was accused in June 2011 of inappropriately changing five students' Regents physics exam scores from failing to passing at Medgar Evers College Preparatory in Brooklyn. A 2013 state-appointed arbitrator described the conduct as rooted in deceit and moral failings and the DOE sought termination after an OSI probe. The arbitrator instead suspended Abugana one semester and required a course on testing and grading procedures. While his case was adjudicated he spent nearly three years in a DOE "rubber room." Abugana later returned to teaching, now at Edward R. Murrow High School, earning $140,000 annually. Critics say the case illustrates how union protections can impede firing tenured teachers accused of misconduct.

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