Two Brooklyn Teachers Under Investigation
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Two Brooklyn middle school teachers are under investigation, a man who was charged yesterday with sexually molesting a 14-year-old female student in his apartment and a woman who is accused of with acting inappropriately with two of her students.
Horace Bedeau, 50, a math teacher at I.S. 392 in East Flatbush, allegedly molested one of his students in his kitchen and his son’s room on several occasions in April when she visited the teacher’s home, according to the Department of Education’s Special Commissioner of Investigation, Richard Condon. A male classmate accompanied the victim to the teacher’s house, but he was in another room during the alleged incidents, according to a spokeswoman for the commissioner, Laurel Wright-Hinckson.
Mr. Bedeau is not tenured and has been assigned to administrative duty during an investigation. He is charged with second-degree rape and faces seven years in prison if convicted.
“We are outraged by this behavior,” a Department of Education spokeswoman, Marge Feinberg, said. “We are seeking his discontinuance.”
Teachers are allowed to tutor their own students, according to the department, but may not charge for their services.
Also yesterday, the commissioner’s office recommended that Lisa Schmude, 30, a social studies teacher at JHS 259, be fired because of an inappropriate relationship with two of her students. Among other charges, the commissioner says Ms. Schmude in 2003 encouraged one of her male students to kiss one of her female students, who was 12 at the time.
The investigation of Ms. Schmude’s behavior came out during a trial this year involving the male student, who has been accused of shooting the brother of the female student. According to the commissioner’s report, it was disclosed that the male student may have shot the female student’s brother when Ms. Schmude reintroduced the two students two years after the first incident.
Ms. Schmude testified for the prosecution in the trial of the male student.
The Department of Education said in a statement that Ms. Schmude will also be reassigned and that the department will also seek her termination.
