Report: NYC Principal Had On-Job Affair With Her No. 2
NEW YORK (CBS 2/1010 WINS) -- A local principal faces firing, after admitting to an on-the-job fling with her second in command.
Inside the Academy for Social Action, it's the sexual action between Principal Crystal Simmons and her assistant principal that had students buzzing on Friday.
"That's shocking," one student told CBS 2's Sean Hennessey.
An investigative report details a relationship between Principal Simmons and her deputy, Candy Jones, that included "intimate conduct in the school during school hours."
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1010 WINS Reporter Terry Sheridan with details
And after the relationship went sour, there was a death threat where Jones allegedly said "It was easy to purchase a gun down south."
"It's surprising 'cause I don't think that cause Miss Simmons carries herself way high standards," said 13-year-old Elvin Estrada. "Miss Jones? Yeah, she cool too. She carry herself way high standards, too."
Maybe not. The report suggests a possible conflict of interest when Simmons hired Jones, promising "If she came to Social Action," she'd make Jones "an assistant principal in two years."
After the promotion, Simmons noticed a "decline in Jones' work ethic." So the principal began "keeping a log of Jones' work" and even "wrote up" Jones a few times last year for "insubordination."
"That is false," one student said.
Not all students accepted the relationship between Simmons and Jones, one that soured when "Simmons found out Jones vacationed with another woman," and, according to the report, became combustible when Jones "threatened to kill Simmons if she received a 'U' rating," or unsatisfactory.
After Simmons gave her a 'U,' she asked her former lover "to resign." Then Simmons went to the NYPD and school department authorities over concerns for her safety.
"I think that's kind of hurtful because she was one of the really good people that went to the school," student Fadeelah Islam said.
Both Simmons and Jones have been reassigned but their days are numbered with the school. The DOE said, "We are currently seeking to terminate both Principal Simmons and Assistant Principal Jones. In a setting where the focus is supposed to be on student learning, conduct like this is simply unacceptable."
