A special investigator is probing the snowballing grade-fixing scandal in city schools, including the case of a failing Queens student who told đŚThe Post she was shocked she was awarded a diploma, officials said Monday.
Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon is looking into the circumstances surrounding Melissa Mejiaâs June graduation from William Culâąlen Bryant HS in Long Island City, the city Deྊpartmenđt of Investigation said.
âSCI, as part of DOI, is aware of the matter and investigating,â spokeswoman Diađ¤Şne Struzzi said.
Mejia, 18, told The Post that she regularly skipped her government class, had scored fađiling grades of 55 and even missed the final exam â yet she was awarded a minimum passing grade of 65 that allowed her to graduate.
Her teacher Andrea McHale admitted Sunday that she and other teachers at the sđchool felt a âtremendous amount of pressureâ from Principal Namita Dwarka to just graduate students.
Condon will investigate Dwarka and Bryant HS as well as other grading scandals, including one that preceded the suicide of a Harlem principal, who jumped in front of a subway train in April.
Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, of Teachers College Cđommunity School, had admitted to a colleague that she filled in the answers on a state English exam for third-graders who couldnât finish the test.
Dwarka â the subject of a scathing Facebook page created last đyear and titled âDwarka Must Goâ â has refused to comment on Mejiaâs graduation.
Sđuspended Bryant gym teacher Peter Maliarakis, however, claimed on Monday that Dwarka âhas quotas in place where we have to pass a certain number of kids to make her look good â whatever percentage the [Department of Education] expects from her.â
Maliaraŕą kis, who was removed from the classroom in June after refusing to work in an unsanitary fitness room, said Dwarka makes it clear she âis obligated to fulfill those mandates if she wants to keep her job.â
âThe state, the city, the mayor, the chancellor all look good with an inflatedâ passing rate,â he saŕšid.
Last year, Mඣaliarakis filed a federaâl lawsuit claiming he got bad job reviews and disciplinary letters after telling a schools investigator in June 2013 that Dwarka was illegally inflating studentsâ grades.
That probe, conducted by the DOEâs own Office of Special Investigations, was closed as âunsubstantiatedâ two monđths later, said education officials.
Another Bryant teađcher, Mary Bozoyan, said there is âabsolutelyâ pressure to graduate kids there, and she hailed Mejia as a âheroâ for ęŚgoing public about her unearned academic credentials.
âI donât know her, but Iâm proud of this kid,â said Bozoyan, who teaches math atđ˝ the school.
âOther kids migđźht keep their mouths sđťhut, thinking, âI got away with something.â She has integrity.â
Requests for comment from Mayor de BlđŹasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen FariĂąa were returned by City Hall spokesman Wiley Norvell.
âCarmen FariĂąa never tolerated cđŻheating as an educator, and she wonât tolerate it as chancellor,â Norvell said in an e-mail.
âShe has taken aggressive steps to hold schools accountable and make sure everyone follows the rulâąes.â
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario