(New York Jewish Week) — The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in Manhattan has removed a teacher who was arrested last week on charges of raping a teenage girl.
The alleged rape took place in 2022, before the teacher, Daniel Haines, joined the faculty of the pluralistic day school.
Haines started at Heschel in the fall of 2023, where he taught seventh and eighth grade and coached seventh-grade basketball, according to an email Heschel leadership sent out to the school community on Sunday. The email did not say what subject he taught.
Haines’ lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. He was arrested on Thursday and is next set to appear in court on Wednesday.
“This is, of course, terribly shocking and upsetting news,” read the email from Heschel’s head of school, Ariela Dubler, and Ben Archibald, its board president, who added, “This information is challenging to process and terrible to contemplate in any of its particulars.”
Haines was charged with seven felonies, including rape and sex crimes against children. The charges related to incidents in 2022 involving a child who was 13 and 14 at the time. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $350,000 bail, court records showed.
Before starting at Heschel, Haines worked at a private non-Jewish school in Manhattan. Heschel has not received reports of misconduct since he was hired, according to the email. A spokesperson for Heschel told the New York Jewish Week said the school was informed of the allegations by law enforcement on Friday.
“We’ve asked our parents to share any information they have with us and beyond that it’s a matter for authorities,” the spokesperson said. “We’re all upset by the situation and the reports about this alleged misconduct that occurred prior to the individual’s arrival at Heschel.”
Prior to teaching, Haines worked as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx and New York City. He was listed as a prosecutor in criminal cases in the Bronx in 2017 and 2018.
The Heschel email said the school had no information on the allegations against Haines beyond what was filed in the complaint and that, “like all defendants, Daniel is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
But Heschel said he had been placed on leave and barred from the school’s systems and buildings as soon as the school became aware of the charges. Heschel said Haines had been hired after interviews, a reference check and a criminal background check. The school offered resources to parents including school psychologists.
“We have no knowledge of any allegations of criminal or inappropriate conduct within the Heschel community,” Dubler and Archibald wrote.
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“It is not our role or goal to speculate or reach judgments that belong within our justice system,” they wrote later in the letter. “That said, as always, our primary concern is for the safety of our children and our community.”
