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A Queens principal who counts former Jay-Z manager Damon Dash and his wife as close pals turned her school into a slush fund for friends, whistleblowers charge.
Aneesha Jacko of PS 35 Nathaniel Woodhull in Hollis has spent tens of thousands in taxpayer funds to buy books published by pals, hired others as consultants, and boldly touted their brands on a sprawling lobby mural that is practically a billboard, staffers said.
“It absolutely blows my mind that she is still allowed to run our school,” a faculty member said of the principal, who took PS 35’s helm in October 2020.
The Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools has been probing complaints about Jacko’s spending for more than three years, spokesman Jason Brooks confirmed.
“The case is still open, and therefore the SCI cannot comment,” he said.
Officials have not accused Jacko of any criminal wrongdoing.
The SCI issued a report in 2022, faulting Jacko for granting excess overtime to a teacher she favored, costing $10,500 in improper payments.
The independent agency referred three other complaints to the city Department of Education to investigate.
Obtained by NY Post
Jacko’s closest associates include Dash, who is Jay-Z’s ex-business partner and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, and Dash’s wife Raquel Horn.
Dash, a controversial figure who overcame drug dealing in his youth, recently filed for bankruptcy to avoid $5 million in lawsuit debts.
He currently owes New York $2.1 million in back taxes.
Horn last visited the 642-student PS 35 in February to celebrate her new book, “Dusko Goes to Sea.”
Jacko used school funds to buy some 500 copies, which retail for $14.95 each in paperback, according to insiders familiar with the purchase.
In 2022, the school bought similar boxloads of Horn’s first book, “Dusko Goes to Space.”
The total cost could not be learned.
Dash defended the purchases and blasted the SCI probe.
“There’s a budget for them to buy books. So why is it a problem?” he asked The Post, saying PS 35 “tested” the books first and found them beneficial.
“I think it’s a racist thing that she’s even being looked at and scrutinized,” he said.
“It’s just because she’s a black woman that has good reading scores for her kids and gets more for her money. She’s trying to help these kids learn how to read.”
On state reading exams last year, 40% of PS 35 students in grades 3 to 5 tested proficient, below the 47% citywide average, the DOE reports.
On Jacko’s Instagram account, the principal cites a “paid partnership” with Poppington Clothing & Dame Dash Studios, the embattled mogul’s apparel line and music company.
Dash said the studio dissolved several years ago, and no partnership exists.
Jacko used school funds to pay Poppington LLC $10,000 on March 9, 2022, according to school records reviewed by The Post.
The purchase was for t-shirts, Dash said, adding that he sold the clothes to Jacko at cost “so she could get more for her money.”
Jacko’s Instagram photos show the principal with Dash and Horn in social settings, including a birthday celebration at their home in Queens with the hash tag “family” in the caption, and a visit to a Legoland theme park with their kids.
“Of course, once you start doing business with somebody, you get to know them,” Dash said.
“So we know her, but the only way we know her is from her educating us and telling us how to help her.”
Dash said he met Jacko through education consultant Dennis McKesey, founder and CEO of In Our Best Interest, and Off School Grounds, companies working with principals to reform urban education.
School records show $49,100 in payments to In Our Best Interest LLC. in early 2022.
Staffers say Jacko hired McKesey at least two years in a row before the SCI probe began.
“Nobody knew what the hell he did for us,” a teacher said.
“There were no visible signs that this man was helping our school in any way. He was hardly ever there.”
Jacko’s Instagram page features many photos and videos suggesting a friendship with McKesey along with Dash.
The OSG website – currently down – promoted Jacko’s book, “Audacity to Speak: Finding the Power to Be Your Most Authentic Self,” which she self-published in 2022.
McKesey declined to comment on his role at the school.
Jacko also favored A. McClarty, a fellow member of Delta Sigma Theta, an African-American service sorority, tapping the school budget to buy about 100 copies of her book “Reaching for the Stars: 10 Secret Steps to Connecting with Celebrities and Building Your Brand” for all PS 35 fourth graders, insiders say.
The book encourages students — no specific age recommended — to reach out to celebs and learn about their careers.
Jacko paid McClarty’s non-profit, Young Faces Smiling, $26,877 in 2022, school records show.
Other purchases, records show, include a jaw-dropping 1,285 books by Jacko’s friend Brianna Greenspan.
One purchase order lists 435 copies of “Everything is Right About You” with three different subtitles; 200 copies of “I Am the Best Me;” 630 copies of “The Miracle Morning Art of Affirmations,” which is a $20 coloring book; and 35 copies in Spanish.
Jacko used school funds to pay Sussman Education Inc., which publishes those books, $61,000 in early 2022, the records show.
“She hardly buys any other books for children to read,” a teacher said of the massive purchase.
Instagram photos show Jacko and Greenspan as chums –in one, smiling side-by-side in a hair salon captioned “Sunday Funday in Queens.”
According to DOE procurement rules, employees who spend taxpayer dollars “shall encourage competition, prevent fraud, favoritism, and corruption, and obtain the best value in the interest of the DOE and the taxpayers.”
Irking insiders, Jacko had a vast mural painted in the school lobby which displays the titles or words from books by Greenspan, McClarty, another friend Amen Rahh’s “Revolutionary,” the letters OSG, Horn’s ”Dusko” and the logo of Horn’s YouTube channel, “Apple Fish Kids.”
“This is free advertisement for your friends with taxpayer dollars,” a staffer complained.
PS 35 staffers who spoke to The Post requested anonymity because they fear retaliation.
DOE spokeswoman Nicole Brownstein refused to answer any questions about Jacko. The principal did not reply to a request for comment.
