Consider it her final exit.
The unhinged art teacher accused of threatening to shoot up Fort Hamilton HS in April — so she could “settle some scores” — has resigned rather than face the city board tasked with firing her.
Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg confirmed that Sabrina Milo, 35, resigned on Dec. 7, eight months after a grand jury failed to indict her for threatening to smuggle a machine gun to the 4,300-student school under a trench coat — a chilling reference to the 1999 Columbine HS massacre in Colorado that left 13 dead.
Milo wasn’t facing any criminal charges, but she didn’t return to a classroom either: even after she was cleared, she remained assigned to a Department of Education office on Chambers Street away from any children.
Students and faculty never believed Milo would act on the threat, and rushed to her defense, even staging a walk-out in protest.
“We knew all along that [Milo] wasn’t serious about what she said,” Nancy Ta, a 2007 Fort Hamilton graduate, told us in April.
Omar Elsayed, who took Milo’s Core Art class last year, added, “There are so many teachers in this school who say things like this and they don’t get arrested.”
The grand jury didn’t buy the claim that Milo was a terrorist, citing insufficient evidence despite the prosecution’s contention that Milo warned her co-workers inside the teacher’s lounge, “It will be Columbine all over again!”
One teacher, who wouldn’t give his name, said his former colleague was under a lot of pressure and possibly being “bullied” by Principal Jo Ann Chester, who “goes after a lot of people.”
A phone number listed under Milo’s name rang for nearly two minutes, but didn’t return an answer or voice mail. Her Facebook profile currently lists her as a “freelance visual artist.” Queries to the Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers and the Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York about the state of Milo’s Department of Education pension and benefits remained unanswered at press time.
Reach reporter Dan MacLeod at dmacleod@cnglocal.com or by calling him at (718) 260-4507. You can also follow his Tweets at twitter.com/dsmacleod.
