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Principal cost old district $1M in suits, but city still hired him

As principal of Baldwin Middle School on Long Island, James Brown was accused of sexual harassment, racist remarks and bulšŸƒlying behavior ā€” and he cost the school district ļæ½ļæ½$1.6 million to settle a suit against him.

But the New York š“”City Department of Education hired him anyway ā€” as the new principal of Flushing HS in Queens.

Officialsā€™ excuse?

ā€œWhen DOE officials contacted the Baldwin school district for a recommendationšŸ”Æ, they did not disclose this information,ā€ a spokeswoman said.

While at Baldwin, Brown was šŸ accused of remarking on the tightness of a female studentā€™s pants, said a federal lawsuit against him.

Cheryl Farb, a former dean of students at Baldwin Middle School, won a $5 millioā€n jury verdict against Brown and the Baldwin school district in 2009 for Brownā€™s ā€œintentional inflictioź¦•n of emotional distressā€ and for the districtā€™s firing her in retaliation for her complaints against him. A judge reduced the award to $1 million, and the case was settled for $1.6 million in late 2010.

Farbā€™s suit sašŸ½id Brown once engaged in a 30-minutšŸ’®e conversation about ā€œhow prolific he was as a young man in snapping a girlā€™s rear bra strap and opening it up with one quick hand motion.ā€

Brown told Farb to make a school reportšŸ’§ ā€œtight as a virginā€™s, well, you know what is ā™›tight on a virgin,ā€ she reported.

Brown, who is black, allegedly told Farb, ā€œThere are no more white administrators and no one leftšŸŒŒ like you to talk to.ā€ He alšŸƒlegedly said he had to hire Farb, who is white, and others based on race.

Brown also made derogatory comments about a studentā€™s mom, the suit said, calling her ā€œso disgusting. How could šŸŒ her husband ever go to bed and sleep with that woman? Sheš’ŠŽā€™s just a clam digger.ā€

Farb said Brown intimidated her by going into her office and proceeding to ā€œviolently slam the door and pound his fists on her dź¦¦eskā€ and yell at her.

When Brown, 48šŸŸ, showed up days before the school year started as the new principal at Flushing HS, teachers ā€” who had learned about his past through ašŸ» Google search ā€” were stunned.

The DOE ā™‰refused to šŸŒsay whether it ran a background check. Brownā€™s salary is $132,633.

Brown refused to comment to The Post.

Farb declined to comment on Brownā€™s new job, but her husband, Harold Neź¦ŗwman, who joined her in the suit, was shocked.

ā€œPart of the reason we sued Brown was to get him out of education, because we didnā€™t think he deserved to be around children,ā€ he saāœ±id. ā›¦ā€œIf I had children, I wouldnā€™t be sending them to that school.ā€

Brown used to work in city schools, starting in 1988 as a substitute teacher. He served as a middle-school math teašŸ’®cher, assistant principal and principal in Brooklyn before resigning in 2001 to join Baldwin. After the 2009 verdict, Baldwin ā€œreassignedā€ Brown to the district office. He ā€œvoluntarily leftā€ in June 2012, a spokeswoman said.

Flushing HS is one of 24 struggling schools Mayor Bloomberg tried last year to shut and reopen with up tź¦ŗo half the staff replaced, but the plan was blocked by court order in a suit by the teachers and principals unions.

ā€œBloomberg is determined to close the place down, and ź¦”heā€™s been putting us through hell,ā€ a staffer said.