Teach your children well — or lose your job.
That was the lesson learned by a Bronx science teacher who wrote a book about managing behavioral issues yet publicly humiliated a student for the minor misdeed of fiddling with her necklace in class, according to a Department of Education charge.
George Ohakamnu taught grades K through 6 at PS 76, The Bennington School, in the Allerton section of the East Bronx until he was fired last month.
In March 2015 — the same year he self-published a book called “Improving On-Task Behaviors in the Classrooms” — Ohakamnu allegedly paraded a student up to the front of the class when he caught her fixing her locket during a lesson.
He told her to say, “I’m not perfect and I’m not a princess . . . my mom and dad might think I’m perfect but I’m not,” the unnamed student recalled to investigators.
The pupil returned to her desk and cried, according to a report. She said the incident “made her feel embarrassed and sad.”
Ohakamnu, 55, insists he called the student to the front of the classroom only to answer a question correctly. A DOE arbitrator later decided that while there was contradictory evidence about what exactly was said during the incident, Ohakamnu nevertheless embarrassed and belittled her in front of her peers.
The 23-year veteran instructor, who has a doctorate in teacher leadership, was also found guilty of screaming at a colleague in May 2015, telling a student to throw a book at his classmate’s head in September 2015, and grabbing another pupil by her hood in June 2016.
Ohakamnu “embarrasses and belittles students and fellow colleagues,” a DOE official said during his departmental trial.
“He has no explanation for his actions. He should be terminated,” the official urged.
Arbitrator Dean Burrell agreed, noting that while most of his infractions warranted retraining, a suspension or a fine, one incident was inexcusable.
When the student reported Ohakamnu for telling his classmate to hit him with a book, Ohakamnu went after the pupil even when he signed a statement promising not to retaliate.
“There is no excuse for respondent’s conduct,” Burrell wrote in a March 20 ruling dismissing Ohakamnu.
Still, the $106,000-a-year teacher is now suing over his ouster, claiming the punishment is “outrageous.”
He declined to comment through his attorney.