Local News

NYC Principal Accused Of Bullying Rebuts 'Rumors'

Anthony Aldorasi Says He's A Victim Of Exaggerations

NEW YORK (CBS) ― A Queens principal under fire for allegedly tormenting his faculty and students spoke out to CBS 2 Tuesday, saying there's another side to the story that hasn't been told.

Anthony Aldorasi spent the last year away from his principal's post at IS-141 in Long Island City after a departmental investigation found that he had inappropriately grabbed a student and verbally abused teachers.

"It's been a tear at my heart because I love 141," Aldorasi says. "I love the things that we're doing. I love the children and it's just, I want to go back."

And a state arbitrator ruled Aldorasi will go back, despite multiple allegations by parents and teachers that he berates and bullies students and staff. Teachers fearing retaliation told CBS 2 anonymously that Aldorasi ran the school like a tyrant.

Some parents are concerned about their children.

"She'd come home and say mommy he's so nasty, he pushes children around," says Valerie Janian, whose daughter attends the school.

Aldorasi says he's a victim of hearsay and that the truth has been bludgeoned.

"If you tell a lie over and over again, people believe it's the truth," he says. "I don't say it's lying. It's an exaggeration.

"It's an unfair characteristic of me to be mentioned as a tyrant. As a good disciplinarian, as a good educator, as someone who always wants the children to succeed in life [and] to be the best they can in the future, that's how I want to be remembered."

School district officials still have to determine when Aldorasi will return to IS-141. He says he expects to be back next week.

Still, parents and teachers say they plan to rally and picket outside the school on Friday to protest his return.

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