Chancellor 'Appalled' By Sex Abuse Allegations

Parents at P.S. 174 in Rego Park were scheduled to have a meeting with school staff Friday morning, just hours after former computer teacher Wilbert Cortez was charged with inappropriately touching students during the last school year.

After news of the incident broke, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the Department of Education would take action to protect students.

"I am appalled by the allegations against Wilbert Cortez. No adult who inappropriately touches a student, in or out of school, belongs anywhere near the children we are responsible for protecting," Walcott said. "I will do everything in my power to ensure that individuals like Mr. Cortez can be swiftly removed from our classrooms as soon as allegations surface — and be barred from teaching in our schools if those charges are substantiated."

The question remains, however, whether the incident could have been prevented altogether, after evidence became public that Cortez was disciplined for similar actions, but never charged, in 2000.

Cortez was warned and put on probation after a similar incident at a Brooklyn school more than ten years ago, and had a letter placed in his personnel file on behalf of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the NYC DOE.

In the letter, the schools investigator establishes a "clear pattern of inappropriate conduct" which included slapping students on the rear end during class, and warned Cortez that he would be fired if his conduct continued.

Cortez was removed from the classroom in Rego Park in October 2011, when the current investigation started based on student complaints from the last school year.

A letter sent to parents on Thursday by P.S. 174 Principal Karin Kelly advised parents that they could be contacted by either the New York Police Department or the Queens District Attorney's Office.