Even teachers play hooky to work on their tans. More than a dozen Department of Education employees were busted in the past two years for faking illnesses to take paid vacations, records show.
Two newlywed teachers jetted to Italy for a honeymoon. Another couple flew to sunny Aruba for a romantic getaway. And a school cook took her two kids – students at her school – on a cruise.
At least 13 teachers, classroom aides and school cooks broke Education Department rules and either lost their jobs or paid steep fines, reports by Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon show.
Each busted worker managed to get sick notes from their doctors – but most needed a lesson in how to be discreet.
Fresh tans and Facebook photos tipped off administrators and co-workers to some of the secret jaunts, according to investigators.
Robert Nappo, 55, a teacher and coach at Susan Wagner High School on Staten Island, and his wife, Cindy, a teacher at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, were each fined $7,500 for a honeymoon vacation in Aruba in 2008.
Both used five sick days and three unapproved personal days for the island romp, investigators found.
A teacher of 32 years, Robert blamed a jealous snitch for busting them. “It’s unfair that gutless people who may have it in for you stoop so low to do something this,” he told the Daily News.
Full story: Department of Education employees busted for using sick days to take paid vacation.