New York City’s Department of Education is tapping the Law Department to conduct an investigation into DOE’s hiring practices after the alleged killer of Brooklyn jogger Katie Suarez turned out to be a teacher’s aide working with children.
The review is set to include “an examination of employee screenings and verifications, lawful interagency information sharing and post-hire safeguards,” according to a news release on Friday. Education officials said the full scope of the probe remained under development.
Mayor Mamdani first called for an investigation on Monday.
As part of the review, the city Law Department has been directed to issue findings and “actionable” recommendations. Spokespeople for neither department would offer a timeline for the recommendations or, even more troubling, commit to sharing them with the public.
“I’ve asked the Law Department to conduct an independent review of our hiring practices to identify if there are places where we can improve,” Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement.
“We stand ready to immediately take action based on their recommendations.”
Sayed Mohassib, 27, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday for the murder of Suarez, 28, stabbing her repeatedly in the neck as she ran along the Shore Parkway Greenway after work on Oct. 30. Suarez was found by her father and taken to a hospital, where she was put on a ventilator and died a few days later.
Mohassib, meanwhile, returned to the classroom until he was terminated earlier this week from his job at P.S. 200 Benson School in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, where he was employed despite a well-documented psychiatric history.
“The Law Department stands ready to conduct a review, follow the facts, and make recommendations based on what we find in order to make sure New York City Public Schools, and all collaborating agencies, continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff,” said Corporation Counsel Steven Banks, who heads the Law Department.
Mohassib, a former cop, lasted just 17 days in the Marines, and the NYPD wouldn’t rehire him afterward because of mental health concerns. In 2024 his family called the police because Mohassib had threatened to “chop them up.”
A source familiar with Mohassib’s employment history has said he was recently promoted from a substitute to full-time elementary school paraprofessional.
The DOE’s hiring process requires applicants to be fingerprinted to check for a criminal record, plus complete a background questionnaire on adverse employment and military service history.
The questionnaire requires that job candidates self-certify to be telling the truth. It’s not clear if Mohassib misrepresented his discharge from the Marines or what steps, if any, the DOE took to independently check the school aide’s background. Mohassib had no previous criminal history.
Suarez was remembered at a solemn funeral Mass on Thursday for how she lived, not the ghastly way she died.