A New York City assistant principal is still collecting a nearly $200,000 salary for a high school that never opened, as reported by the New York Post. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs was tapped to lead a proposed artificial intelligence and computer technology high school in FiDi, which came with a significant pay bump, but the project was scrapped.
Haraguchi-Combs, 33, saw his annual salary jump by $50,000 to $192,374 when he was promoted to “project director” in January, a role that typically transitions into the principal of a new school. He previously served as an assistant principal at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics in East Harlem, where he made $141,960 a year. A school official said Haraguchi-Combs is no longer at that school.
The proposed Next Generation Technology High School never got the green light. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels reportedly killed the proposal in April amid backlash over its merit-based admissions model and concerns about artificial intelligence in schools. Haraguchi-Combs has reportedly continued to collect his principal-level pay.
Nobody seems to agree on what his job is now
Reporters approached Haraguchi-Combs outside his home, where he declined to say where he currently works. He reportedly responded, “You came to my house? Outrageous.”
The Department of Education (DOE) said Haraguchi-Combs is currently “developing new proposals and supporting in-progress proposals,” which it described as a typical role for project directors whose schools don’t open. However, a DOE source disagreed, claiming that unless a principal has tenure, they should be moved back to an assistant principal role if their school doesn’t open. The source added that officials “never should have named a principal before the school was approved.”…