Metro

‘Double-dater’ teacher

It was a parent-teacher-daughter association.

Gerard Cassidy, a physical-education instructor at a Queens middle school, was caught in a love triangle and fired for having an “inappropriate relationship” with an ex-student — while dating her mom, The Post has learned.

Cassidy, 44, who taught at MS137 America’s School of Heroes in Ozone Park, lost a fight for his $83,600-a-year job even though the 16-year-old student recanted her claim that she had sex with the teacher, according to city Department of Education documents and court records.

The age of consent in New York is 17. Cassidy denied any wrongdoing.

The scandal came to light in the summer of 2009, when the teen tearfully confided to an aunt that “she had been secretly dating her ex-teacher,” says a report by the office of schools investigator Richard Condon. She said she had sex in his house “once or twice a week” without condoms.

In a sick twist, the clandestine coupling occurred while Cassidy was courting the girl’s mom, records state. The teen, who was in Cassidy’s gym class a couple years earlier, had run into him at a store where her mom worked and introduced them.

Cassidy took the mom, who was estranged from her husband after accusing him of abuse, and the teen to Queens restaurants, together and separately. On a trip to the Hamptons with mother and daughter, the aunt said the girl told her that Cassidy “gave her a wine cooler.” The teen later denied he gave her liquor.

Cassidy also bought the teen designer eyeglasses, Nike sneakers, a wool coat, a gold and diamond-chip accessory and an iPhone. He paid her phone bills for months,

“Mr. Cassidy told her he would marry her when she turned 18,” the aunt told investigators the girl confided.

He “was very rich and would give her a house, a car, credit cards and security.”

The girl begged her aunt not to tell anyone, but the aunt told the teen’s father.

He called the city’s Administration for Children’s Services.

The Post is withholding the mother’s name to protect the teen’s identity.

The mom angrily told The Post, “It’s nobody’s business.”

When questioned by Condon’s office, the teen denied any sexual contact with Cassidy, saying he only held her hand “for support and encouragement” and kissed her hello and goodbye.

She said Cassidy helped her with family problems, the way she dressed and her vocabulary.

But the DOE still charged Cassidy, a teacher for 18 years, with misconduct after Condon’s office obtained records showing that he called the girl’s cellphone 553 times between March and July 2009 and sent 383 text messages to her iPhone. About 125 calls occurred between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

In his DOE hearing, Cassidy said he was only motivating the girl to do her homework and get up to go to school. The girl’s mother insisted that she permitted Cassidy to call her daughter any time.

The mother testified Cassidy’s mentoring helped her daughter rocket to an “A” average. But records show she was still failing.

Hearing officer Douglas Abel upheld Cassidy’s termination. Cassidy appealed in Manhattan Supreme Court and lost.

“I’m not a teacher no more,” he told a reporter Friday at his Woodhaven apartment.

“Get off my stoop.”

Additional reporting by Michael Gartland and Georgett Roberts

susan.edelman@nypost.com