Brooklyn Assistant Principal Busted For Shady Cosmetics Gig

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — An middle school assistant principal in Brooklyn was busted by the city's ethics board this summer after she tried to recruit her employees to work for a side-gig she had with a cosmetics company, the board announced Thursday.

Sarah Monteleone, who worked at Sunset Park's I.S. 136, had to pay a $1,500 fine in a settlement with The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board, who found out she had tried to get several teachers to join her multi-level marketing gig.

Monteleone had been working on the side since 2017 for Younique, an Avon-like cosmetics company that has made headlines for its pyramid scheme-esque business model. A "presenter" with Younique makes money by both selling the cosmetics products and by recruiting new people to become presenters, according to the settlement.

But by trying to get her coworkers in on the company, Monteleone violated city rules that prohibit employees from using their position for personal profit.

"I acknowledge that, by asking two of my subordinates to become Younique presenters and having one subordinate create a Facebook group to facilitate my sales of Younique products, I used my City position in an attempt to benefit financially," Monteleone writes in the settlement.

Monteleone first tried to recruit a coworker in May 2017, when she asked a teacher she oversaw four times to become a presenter. The teacher declined, according to the settlement.

The assistant principal then sent a Facebook message to another teacher in September asking them to join the company. That teacher also said no, but created a Facebook group for Monteleone to promote her makeup tutorials, the settlement said.

The ethics board decided Monteleone should pay a $1,500 fine since she had a "limited number of solicitations" and most of them were unsuccessful, according to the settlement. The city's Department of Education agreed with the settlement.

Monteleone started teaching in 2001 and has been at the Sunset Park middle school since 2007. Officials said that she has no other previous disciplinary history.

“We expect our teachers and school administrators to practice good judgment, and the Board has determined the appropriate discipline,” Danielle Filson, a spokesperson with the DOE said.

Monteleone is still working at the middle school, officials confirmed. She did not return a request for comment.