A $140,000-a-year official at the Department of Education who was accused of pressuring a principal to hire his wife landed in a funny position — he was named the principal of another school while the charges were being investigated.
John O’Mahoney, interim principal of Sheepshead Bay HS, admitted he’s guilty of breaking ethics rules and was slapped with a $4,000 fine, the Conflicts of Interest Board said yesterday.
Red-faced DOE executives say they’re now trying to figure out what to do.
“We take this matter seriously,” said a schools spokeswoman. “We will review the findings.”
The odd turn of events unfolded yesterday after the Conflicts-of-Interest Board slapped O’Mahoney with a $4,000 fine for violating the city’s ethics rules.
O’Mahoney acknowledged getting his wife a teaching gig at a school where he was then a “network leader.”
At the time, February 2011, O’Mahoney was a “network leader” whose job it was to provide operational and instructional support to several schools.
His wife was laid off shortly afterward in a June 2011 budget crunch. That led O’Mahoney to break some more ethics regulations. He had a staffer contact the principal to say “my wife’s position could not be excessed,” he said in the COIB papers.
In January 2012, the DOE named O’Mahoney interim principal at Sheepshead Bay — a position he holds to this day.