A Bronx assemblyman wants to keep minority kids out of a Riverdale elementary school, according to a lawsuit to be filed Tuesday.
PS 24 Assistant Principal Manny Verdi claims Democratic state Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz is trying to quietly discourage black and Hispanic kids from enrolling at the elementary school, the suit states.
Verdi alleges that Dinowitz even sent a top staffer to hover over kindergarten registration at the school in April and that he illegally accessed student records.
The tactics are “part of a politically and racially-motivated scheme to prevent minorities and other lower income children from attending PS 24 and other schools in the area,” the suit states.
“This is a political football for Dinowitz,’ said Verdi’s lawyer, Ezra Glaser.
Verdi claims that Dinowitz is exerting his political influence to get him fired after he complained to Department of Education brass, according to court papers.
But Dinowitz blasted Verdi’s claims in a statement to The Post Monday, countering that the administrator was trying to obscure his own misconduct.
Dinowitz said Verdi routinely allowed out-of-district children into the school despite a severe overcrowding problem.
He said Verdi and former Principal Donna Connelly also failed to ease the crush by failing to renew the lease on a campus annex building.
But Verdi insisted that he had no standing to secure the building and that Dinowitz was making him a scapegoat in order to look good in front of district parents.
“He’s the politician,” Glaser said. “He knew about the annex situation. He should have made a call.”
Dinowitz called the allegations of racism unfounded.
“At a time when racism is still a very serious and real problem in this country, it is appalling that an assistant principal would raise false charges of racism in order to distract from the serious issues his own conduct has raised,” Dinowitz said.
The suit names the city, the DOE, Chancellor Carmen Fariña and district superintendent Melodie Mashel as defendants.
A spokesman for the city Law Department said they will review the suit.