City officials yanked the principal of a Harlem school scarred by tragedy when a 12-year-old girl drowned on a field trip — but not because of that.
Columbia Secondary School Principal José Maldonado-Rivera was booted on unrelated allegations that he gave a staffer who baby-sits his child a free place to stay, officials said yesterday.
Maldonado-Rivera was initially put on probation over the summer after sixth-grader Nicole Suriel drowned on a poorly supervised school outing to a beach on Long Island.
Now school investigators say he violated conflict-of-interest rules by hiring his baby sitter, Monica Marin-Reyes, to work as parent coordinator at the school — and then giving her free lodging at an apartment he owns.
They also said Marin-Reyes escorted Maldonado’s son on several summer-school trips to Puerto Rico — attended by a host of students and teachers — at no charge.
“Looking at the full history of Dr. Maldonado’s conduct, we have determined that his repeated failures in judgment make it inappropriate for him to continue as principal of Columbia Secondary,” said a Department of Education spokeswoman.
Maldonado and Marin-Reyes told investigators that she had cared for the principal’s son in the school office only on rare “emergency” occasions after she was hired in 2008, and that she wasn’t paid for the work.
The principal also told probers in the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation that he let Marin-Reyes stay at his apartment rent-free for nearly a year — while he lived elsewhere — solely because she was a friend having financial troubles.
“There was no exchange of money, I did not think it was a conflict of interest,” Maldonado told The Post. “That was my mistake and I take full responsibility for that.”
But Maldonado and officials in the principals union called the punishment excessive.
“As far as I know, no principal has ever been fired for a conflict of interest of this kind,” said Maldonado, who is fighting the dismissal.
Several students and parents exiting the high-performing middle school yesterday said they supported their embattled principal.
“When I heard the news, I was really devastated,” said sixth-grader Max Paikin, 11. “He was a really great principal and person.”
Oliver Storch, a lawyer for the Suriel family, said they were stunned by the development.
“At the very least, it shows a pattern of poor judgment and disregard for rules and regulations,” he said.