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A married couple could soon be barred from working in the Department of Education after investigators found that the husband arranged a job for his wife even though she was not qualified to hold it.

Investigators in the office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation found that Angel Namnum, a former deputy superintendent who earned $190,000 in the department’s finance division at Tweed Courthouse headquarters, had arranged for his wife, Rosa Castillo, to be given a job in a Bronx office that he supervised.

Castillo underwent an accelerated hiring process before landing a $50,000 “community coordinator” job that had not previously been vacant. Her new colleagues quickly realized that she could not handle her responsibilities:

[Seniors Grants Officer Maite] Villanueva explained that Castillo barely spoke English, although command of the English language was required for her position because she dealt with school personnel and issued permits. Villanueva said that Castillo had no computer skills and the office was at a disadvantage while Castillo was being taught basic computer skills. Villanueva added that Castillo did not understand e-mail and was unable to respond to internal or external messages.

Namnum will no longer work for the city after today and Castillo will face a disciplinary hearing next week, Department of Education officials said today. (more…)

A family firewall around discussing school issues has Chancellor Dennis Walcott taking a hands-off approach to managing trouble at a chaotic Queens school.

Walcott’s daughter, Dejeanne Walcott, is a physical education teacher at Queens Metropolitan High School, where an organizational crisis has caused schedules to shift frequently and left some students without instruction, including in physical education classes.

After last night’s Panel for Educational Policy meeting, where he vowed that the problems would be solved, Walcott said he had first heard about the troubles at the school “a couple weeks ago.” He said his top deputy, Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky, had heard complaints around the same time.

But Walcott would not say whether his daughter mentioned the issues to him, emphasizing that he and Dejeanne try not to talk shop.

“My daughter and I have established a protocol with each other with respect to business,” he said. “We try not to mix our respective lives as far as education is concerned.” (more…)