A Bronx elementary school teacher accused of “inappropriately touching” two students and letting others see a pornographic photo has remained on the city payroll for years, The Post has learned.
Norman B. Dunkley touched a 10-year-old girl’s chest over her clothing, and other children on their faces and shoulders, in 2021 and 2022, making them uncomfortable, a newly released report by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation alleges.
The fifth-grade teacher also called students “baby” and “watched sexual content on his phone,” kids told investigators.
Several students told of seeing the “image of a fully nude adult female” on Dunkley’s phone as they dropped their assignments on his desk, SCI reported.
Dunkley, a veteran science teacher at PS 70 in Claremont Village, was arrested in May 2022 on charges of sex abuse and forcible touching. He’s been sidelined since, but still collecting his full salary — $132,699 last year — records show.
In January 2023 the Bronx District Attorney’s office dropped misdemeanor charges against Dunkley because the girl he allegedly touched on the chest moved out of the state “and could not be located,” SCI reported.
A Bronx DA spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.
The troubling case underscores the DOE’s failure to fire tenured teachers, even those deemed unfit to work with children.
“It is the recommendation of this office that Dunkley’s employment with the DOE be terminated,” Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman said in an August 2023 letter to then-Chancellor David Banks, summarizing the SCI’s findings.
DOE officials would not say whether they brought misconduct charges against Dunkley, or held an administrative hearing in which a state-appointed arbitrator decides whether termination or another penalty, such as a fine or suspension, is justified.
Dunkley remains “reassigned away from children,” said DOE spokeswoman Jenna Lyle. “This behavior is absolutely unacceptable.”
DOE teachers accused of sexual misconduct, if not fired, stay indefinitely in a disciplinary “rubber room,” either in an office or at home.
“The allegations of touching students are truly appalling, considering the age of the students – 10 years old,” said Betsy Combier, a paralegal who defends accused teachers. “The fact that Dunkley is not fired means that the DOE either failed to gather sufficient evidence to terminate him, or he made a deal to pay a fine and eventually retire.”
The state Education Department can revoke the license of a teacher found to lack “moral character,” but Dunkley currently holds a license to teach grades 1 to 6.
Dunkley, who refused to speak with investigators, hung up on a reporter when asked about the SCI report.
