Bet he thought this would wash clean.
A Brooklyn middle-school teacher was hit with a hefty fine for bribing his students with “no homework” passes — if they bought a bar of his homemade soap.
The scheme — which netted PS 66 teacher Marlon Scanterbury a mere $24, tops — cost him a $4,000 in fines levied by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board yesterday.
The 43-year-old flop of a salesman would have had to sell at least 1,000 family-made soap bars just to pay the fine and break even — but he sold roughly six bars at $3 or $4 a pop, according to city documents.
Scanterbury, who was also cited for conducting private business on city time, gave some 11- and 12-year-olds who bought soap bars stickers that they could redeem for prizes from the school.
Scanterbury, who earns $81,000 annually in his 12th year as a teacher, wasn’t available for comment late yesterday, according to a woman who answered a phone at his Brooklyn address.
This wasn’t his first reprimand for questionable behavior: In 2008 he was cited for corporal punishment, according to a Department of Education spokeswoman.
Details of that case weren’t available because it has been archived, she said.
At the Canarsie school, families seem more exasperated than annoyed after learning about the harebrained plan.
“That is ridiculous — selling soap to kids. If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” said Shanquana Chin, 18, who was picking up her cousin. “It sounds like he’s trying to make a little profit.”
But students spoke highly of Scanterbury’s skills as a sixth-grade teacher, with one student calling him “fun.”
“He’s the best teacher,” agreed another former student, who is now in the eighth grade.
Principal Lucille Jackson did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
In an unrelated conflicts-board case, a former Economic Development Corp. worker was fined $7,500 for making more than 100 shoe sales on eBay during work hours over three months.
Jonathan Lim, who left his post as an engineering auditor in January, admitted selling nearly $10,000 worth of sneakers on the bidding site as part of a side business.
The shoe buff also hit bidding Web sites an astounding 802 times per day on average — or more than 47,000 times total — and visited sneaker-related Web sites 159 times per day on average, or at least 9,530 times.
“I acknowledge that by using my city computer and e-mail account to perform work for my sneaker business, I violated [city law],” he said in his written acceptance of the fine.
Unlike Scanterbury, Lim managed to net himself at least $2,200 even after the fine.
He could not be reached for comment.