UFT Chapter Chair Is Arrested Over Bomb Threat After Transfer

FRANCISCO GARABITOS: An extreme reaction.

A Teacher and United Federation of Teachers chapter chair barricaded himself in his school building April 24, claiming to have planted a bomb in the library, after a disciplinary hearing led to his being re-assigned to a "rubber room."

Francisco Garabitos worked at the New Millennium Business Academy Middle School in The Bronx, which shared a building with two other schools, Junior High School 145 and the Urban Science Academy. All three were evacuated by the Police Department after Mr. Garabitos made his bomb threat and barricaded himself in a computer lab.

Bomb Threat a Hoax

Subsequent negotiations between the NYPD and Mr. Garabitos revealed that his bomb threat was false, and that he was angry over the way his disciplinary hearing had been handled. The previous day, he had been told he would be transferred to a temporary reassignment center.

The school was evacuated at 8:30 a.m., but Mr. Garabitos was in police custody by 11:15 a.m., with students who had not been taken home returning to classes before the end of the day.

At a press conference on the matter, UFT President Randi Weingarten said that she was "grateful that this morning's incident was resolved peacefully and that the safety of the students and the staff was assured." She said that Carol Harrison, the UFT District rep for District 9, had worked with the Police Department's hostage team to convince Mr. Garabitos to surrender.

She also said that the school's Principal had clashed with several of his Teachers in the past. "We know that there has been a history of problems in the school. We have been dealing with some of those problems. But let me be clear—no grievance is addressable in this way."