A Bronx middle school principal who put her sister on the school payroll and then supervised her is out of the big chair and into a lower‑paying city job after a watchdog investigation, according to investigators. Doreen Kendall, formerly the principal of Thomas C. Giordano Middle School (MS 45) in Belmont, agreed to a settlement that included a $5,000 fine and what officials described as a demotion that cut her salary by about $20,000.
According to the Bronx Times, the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation, or SCI, found that Kendall hired her sister as a full‑time social studies teacher outside the standard NYC Department of Education hiring process. Investigators said Kendall later moved her sister into a non‑teaching role while keeping her on a teacher’s salary, and personally handled her performance evaluations and leave requests. Those moves triggered an anonymous complaint to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board and set off the probe.
Thomas C. Giordano Middle School 45 (DBN 10X045) is located at 2502 Lorillard Place in the Belmont neighborhood and serves grades 6 through 8, according to the NYC Department of Education. The DOE notes that the school shares a building with other programs and lists contact details families use for enrollment questions and other school services…