Mother and son DOE employees scammed NYC school for kids with disabilities: probe

A mother and son duo employed by the city Department of Education scammed a Manhattan public school for kids with disabilities out of nearly $8,500, investigators found.

Marlene Delgado, 62, is a school secretary at PS M169 on East 88th Street – a K-12 school for 305 students with special needs.

She approved payments to her son, Nicholas Koukaras, 36, a substitute paraprofessional, on 55 days when he did not sign in or show up, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools says in a newly-released March 23, 2023 report.

Delgado, who was responsible for processing payments for subs, also credited her son with an extra 50 minutes on five days when he did sign in, officials said.

“Koukaras knowingly received these improper payments – totaling $8,479.78 – for dates and times when he did not work,” the report to Chancellor David Banks states.

In September 2019, the PS 169M principal authorized Delgado’s son to fill in as a substitute aide for two weeks at the school.

Then, without the principal’s permission, Delgado assigned her son to the school for another six months, and entered time sheets for him into the DOE payroll system, officials found.

The mother and son “engaged in employee misconduct, falsifying documents, and theft of service,” the SCI report says.

Both Delgado and Koukaras refused to be interviewed by SCI investigators.

Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman recommended that Banks take disciplinary action — up to and including firing them.

Koukaras was fired and put on the DOE’s “Do Not Hire” list in January 2020.

But Delgado — whose actions a DOE spokesman called “unacceptable” — remains in the same job at PS M169.

Last fiscal year, she took home $83,883.

In March, Delgado agreed to pay a $10,000 fine to the city Conflicts of Interest Board.

Delgado and Koukaras did not return messages seeking comment.