Ex-con hired as teacher’s aide in NYC under scrutiny for erratic behavior
An ex-con convicted in a 2010 gun case is now working at a Queens elementary school as a full-time substitute classroom aide, The Post has learned.
Aneesha Jacko, principal of PS 35, hired Marc Antonio Jefferies, 56, who works nearly every day at the Hollis school filling in for absent aides, teachers said.
Jefferies started the job in February and has been assigned to help teachers in special-ed classes.
Some faculty members allege Jefferies has acted erratically in classrooms – once yelling at a teacher who asked him to wipe the desks before breakfast — and used inappropriate language with students, including a gay slur.
Jefferies adamantly denied any misbehavior, calling the accusations “lies.”
Jefferies, who described himself as an artist, has a photography studio and became a school aide later in life because “I like learning,” he said.
“I didn’t do it for the money. I did it because a lot of these kids don’t have a chance to do what I do, what I’m able to do.”
DOE paraprofessionals make an average $30,000 a year.
Faculty members questioned why Jefferies regularly snaps photos in the school, saying he told multiple staffers he’s making a documentary on Jacko. Jefferies denied it, saying “You kidding me? A documentary on Jacko? For what reason?
“I was asked to do something as an employee. That’s it,” Jefferies said, refusing to say who gave him the photo assignment. “I can’t incriminate. I do not wish to do that.”
The DOE’s Office of Special Investigations is looking into Jefferies’ role and conduct in the school, insiders said.
Videos obtained by The Post show Jefferies photographing a March 31 mural unveiling ceremony attended by hundreds of students. One video, taken by a staffer, shows Jefferies in the audience grabbing a young girl’s hands and swinging her arms to music playing on the loudspeaker. Jefferies’ contact “appears unwanted,” a teacher said.
Under DOE rules, parents or guardians must sign permission slips before their children can be photographed in school for any outside use. Jefferies said he turns over all photos to whoever asked him to take them.
In April 2010, Jefferies was busted for allegedly throwing another man up against a wall and drawing a gun on him during an argument outside the Poconos International Basketball Camp for youths, the Morning Call reported. The nation’s longest running basketball camp’s past participants include NBA legends like Julius Erving, Chris Mullin and Earl Monroe.
Jefferies pinned the man against the wall and threatened him with a revolver, which he drew from a holster attached to his waistband, Pennsylvania state police said.
He was charged with making terroristic threats, carrying prohibited weapons, reckless endangerment, and harassment. In September 2010 he cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor making terroristic threats and was sentenced to up to a year in jail, records show.
“We agree that people deserve second chances, but not at all jobs,” said a PS 35 teacher. “Do we want someone convicted of a gun-related crime working closely with children every day? This is not the type of individual we feel should be around small children in a school.”
Jefferies said he disclosed his conviction when the DOE hired him. He claimed he was licensed to carry a gun in Pennsylvania, but no longer does. He said the man he attacked had robbed his nearby home.
“I said, ‘If I catch you in my house again, I’ll kill you.’ That’s what was held against me. It was a verbal threat, and out of anger.”
Despite receiving complaints about Jefferies, the principal will not discipline him, insiders said. This week, Jacko tried to track down whistleblowers who contacted The Post.
City Hall officials would not discuss what Jefferies’ qualifications are to work in classrooms for kids with special needs.
When asked about his past, Amaris Cockfield, a spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, said state law prohibits the DOE from “unfairly discriminating against a person previously convicted of one or more criminal offenses.
“As the mayor always says: ‘Where you are is not who you are,’” she added. “Although we expect everyone to follow the law, we recognize that individuals should be given the opportunity to redeem themselves and be a productive member of society.”
