The city’s worst high schools for dropouts

DeWitt Clinton HS in The Bronx is top in the city — for school dropouts.

The troubled school lost 238 students from the class of 2014, which has about 950 students total, according to data released by the state Department of Education. Those kids began as freshmen.

Herbert H. Lehman HS in The Bronx shed 163 students, John Adams HS in Queens lost 156 teens, Fort Hamilton HS in Brooklyn lost 127 students, and Richmond Hill HS in Queens dropped 124 students from the class of 2014 in the last four years.

DeWitt, Lehman, Adams and Richmond Hill all earned spots on the city's list of poorly performing schools, which face reorganization and closure if they do not improve over the next three years.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said teachers who do not help students succeed could be moved.

"I believe in a chance, but I don't believe in many chances," Fariña told reporters on Thursday. "There's got to be a time when we say enough is enough."

The school with the highest dropout rate was the Lower East Side Preparatory HS, with a staggering 37 percent of its students dropping out. But it is a "second-chance" school that focuses on students who have already dropped out and are there to give it one more shot.

DeWitt Clinton students stood by principal Santiago Taveras, a former deputy chancellor, who has been trying to fix the school since September 2013.

"Before the principal, the school was worse," said sophomore Alyssa Wade, 15.

Taveras declined to comment. The UFT did not return calls seeking comment.

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Grinch swipes beloved holiday decoration

The spirit of Christmas eluded this Mercedes-driving grump who stole a Staten Island family's prized ornament.

Security cameras outside the New Dorp home of Christina Fischetti-Smith captured footage of a woman in a hoodie pulling up in a black luxury sedan this past Thursday night.

The thief untethered the Christmas-themed rocking horse — which is topped with a teddy bear — and struggled to carry it away.

She first tried to cram it into her car's back seat.

When that failed, she placed the horse in the trunk — but couldn't get the door closed.

So she drove off with the trunk open and her loot still visible.

Fischetti-Smith and her husband pored over hours of middle-of-the-night footage from the camera Friday but discovered that the horsey heist actually occurred just after 8 p.m.

Fischetti-Smith posted the video on Facebook and it has been shared more than 1,000 times.

"She [the thief] must have seen it other day. She didn't slow down. She knew to stop right there," Fischetti-Smith told The Post on Sunday.

But Fischetti-Smith said she's now embarrassed at how much attention she has attracted, especially in light of Saturday's murder of two Brooklyn cops.

"This seems like a waste of news considering what happened a short time ago," she wrote on Facebook. "Please pray for the officers that lost their lives today and the men and women who go out everyday to protect us."

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How to spot a real Cuban cigar from a fake one

HAVANA — It's the equivalent of buying a Gucci bag on Canal Street.

Vendors who fill Havana's streets selling black-market cigars to unsuspecting tourists are salivating over President Obama's decision to try to normalize relations with Cuba.

American stogie lovers may be salivating at the thought of a good Cuban cigar. But buyer beware: With a box of 25 high-end Cohibas selling for more than $500 in Havana, some may fall for the too-good-to-be-true offers at half that price being offered by workers from the Cohiba tobacco factories.

"You wouldn't buy a Rolex on the streets; you'd go to an authorized store," warned an official state vendor in the Melia Havana Hotel, who asked not to be named. "There is no doubt about it that they will be fake if you buy them on the streets. And there's no way you can tell if they're real or fake."

The Post was approached twice in Old Havana by two friendly Cubans — both with the same story.

"There is one day per month where Raul [Castro] gives tobacco workers a break on boxes of cigars," one seller said. "I can get them for you at half the price of the hotel."

A hotel maid, working for a black-market distributor, made the same pitch, and provided an insider's look at a market where the discounted cigars were sold.

The cigars looked, smelled and tasted the same as the real thing, and even had an authentic Cohiba wrapper.

The one thing missing? An official state seal.

An official dealer at the Hotel Inglaterra in downtown Havana explained that the black-market dealers work in the factory but they're collecting the scraps and rolling them at home.

The cigars burn evenly, but experts say that is not a mark of authenticity. So, to the cigar novice, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference.

"The entire cigar needs to be hard when you squeeze. There can be no soft spots," she said. "Because they're rolling them at home, there can be bacteria in them."

Under new regulations, tourists would be allowed to bring back $100 worth of tobacco, which, according to experts, amounts to about four good Cuban cigars.

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Education commish wants a stop to limiting charter schools

State Education Commissioner John King is going out with a bang — recommending that Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature totally scrap restrictions on how many charter schools can open in New York.

"The cap shouldn't be an obstacle to opening high-quality schools," King, who is stepping down as New York's schools' chief to take a post in the Obama administration, told The Post. "One solution could be eliminating the cap completely."

Under state law, no more than 460 charter schools can operate throughout the state. But New York City, where most of the charter schools are located, is bumping up against its portion of the cap.

Most of the demand for charters is downstate, not upstate; 231 charters are operating or have been approved for the city. Under the cap, only 25 slots remain for the city despite pent-up parental demand.

Outside the city, 132 new charters can still open.

At the very least, King said, Albany could rearrange the cap to allow more charter schools to open in the city.

"Overall, charter schools have much to contribute to education in New York state and New York City in particular," King said.

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Judge OKs garnishment of crooked ex-pol’s pension

A federal judge has green-lighted the government to seize $22,000 in state pension funds from disgraced ex-Assemblyman Eric Stevenson — money he's yet to pay taxpayers back following his bribery conviction.

The Bronx Democrat  — who was convicted in January of helping four Bronx developers fast-track adult day-care-center projects by proposing legislation to block their competition — was ordered in May to immediately forfeit $22,000 he pocketed in bribes as part of the scheme when sentenced to three years behind bars.

Chief Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska in a ruling last week backed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara's request to garnish Stevenson's pension and settle a $22,000 judgement that is seven months delinquent and "remains fully unpaid."

Although pols have historically been able to keep their pensions after being convicted of felonies, Bharara in 2013 began a campaign to go after the pensions of disgraced politicians who failed to forfeit their ill-gotten gains after they were convicted.

Ex-Councilman Miguel Martinez (D-Manhattan) in August became the first to buckle to the lawman. He agreed to forfeit $106,000 in pension benefits to pay off a forfeiture order related to his 2009 conviction on corruption charges.

Stevenson, who throughout his trial claimed he was struggling financially, is fighting to keep his pension. He filed legal papers Thursday saying he's appealing Preska's forfeiture order and has previously claimed federal courts don't have oversight over state pensions.

Other convicted pols in danger of having pensions garnished under Bharara's campaign include ex-Councilman Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx) and former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens).

Prosecutors said Stevenson made two down payments totaling $2,900 on a 2003 Jaguar within four days after he allegedly pocketed a $10,000 cash bribe on Sept. 7, 2012.

After one hearing, Stevenson rode off from Manhattan federal court in a shiny black Mercedes-Benz sedan — after telling a judge he didn't have enough money to defend himself against bribery charges.

To convict Stevenson, the feds used damning audio tapes and the word of Sigfredo Gonzalez, a former political operative with a long rap sheet, who agreed to wear a wire to avoid significant jail time.

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Executed cops were loyal to their family and the badge

One was a newlywed, the other a dad of two sons who had just celebrated his 40th birthday a week ago.

Portraits emerged of the two ­officers slain in a senseless Brooklyn ambush Saturday — men who were liked and respected in their Downtown Brooklyn precinct and beloved at home.

Officer Rafael Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu died side-by-side after being shot point-blank in the head by a gunman who hours earlier had railed online about wanting to take two cops' lives in revenge for the police-involved deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Ramos was the older partner. Raised in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, he lived close to his childhood home.

He and his wife raised two sons, the eldest now attending college in Maine.

The youngest, Jaden, was just 13, and accompanied his mother Saturday to Woodhull Hospital upon hearing the tragic news.

"This is the worst day of my life,'' the young teen posted on Facebook.''

In a second post he said, "Today I had to say bye to my father.

Officer Wenjian LiuPhoto: NYPD

Officer Rafael RamosPhoto: NYPD

"He was there for me every day of my life, he was the best father I could ask for.

"It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops, but they are the people they call for help.

"I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad,'' the grief-stricken boy wrote.

Juan Rodriguez, president of the 75th precinct community council, was a longtime friend of Ramos from the neighborhood.

"He was a good guy. He was a religious man. He was not only a police officer,'' Rodriguez said of his friend.

"This guy was in the community. He was a community guy. He'd go to the church with his family. He'd go to the pizzeria. A regular father.

"You wouldn't even know he was a police officer because he wasn't the type of guy to be flashing around, 'Hey, I'm a cop.' You wouldn't even know it.''

Rodriguez said his pal became a police officer "because he wanted to serve the people.

"That was his passion; that's what he loved doing.''

He said Ramos was deeply religious, and four years ago had considered becoming one of the clergymen on call for cops.

But he eventually decided to join the NYPD as a school safety officer and managed to work his way up to becoming a cop.

"I know when he was out there he was doing his job as a police officer and also as a religious man,'' Rodriguez said, his voice breaking.

"His family is very hurt.''

A colleague of Ramos, who asked that his name not be printed, described the slain officer as "a nice guy, willing to do whatever he had to, whatever he was told to do.

This is the worst day of my life… Today I had to say bye to my father. - Officer Ramos' son Jaden on Facebook

"He was still new, eager, and willing to work harder than this city deserves."

Liu, 32, also of Brooklyn, had married his sweetheart just two months before his death.

Liu's wife, too, rushed to Woodhull after learning of her husband's assassination.

Insiders described her as virtually paralyzed with grief.

Although shunned by most of the hundreds of cops who kept vigil at the hospital, Mayor de Blasio did manage to approach the two families.

"We met the parents of Officer Liu, the woman he recently married," the mayor said.

"We met the wife of Officer Ramos. We met his 13-year-old son, who couldn't comprehend what happened to his father," the mayor said.

He described both officers as "heroes."

Additional reporting by Laura Italiano

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Dear John: Cash in pension after losing job?

Dear John: I am 58 years old and currently unemployed. I have been in the banking industry for the past 34 years. I lost my job in June.

While I have savings to last me through next July, I have debt that I would like to pay off. I am considering cashing in one of my pension plans with my previous employer. I know cashing in a pension is probably never a good idea unless you roll over, but I would like your advice on my situation.

I have a conventional pension plan worth $185,000 I am looking to cash in. I also have 401(k) plans that I will not touch totaling about $225,000.

Cashing in the $185,000 will allow me to pay off my mortgage, credit-card debt and private loans totaling about $60,000.

I am also saddled with student loans for my two daughters of about $40,000. Interest on the credit cards run about 9 percent and the mortgage is at 5 percent but only has 2 ½ years left to pay off. The private loan is no-interest, but the student debt is costing me 8 percent.

Payments for this debt total about $2,600 per month. These payments are eating up my savings, but I will still last until July.

Employment prospects do not look good. If I can pay off, I would be free of those payments and might possibly find a lower-paying job and not have to worry about the debt.

My salary in my banking career was in the mid-six figures — good money.

Even after cashing in, I would still have my 401(k) and my Social Security to live on when I reach 62. My wife will have hers at 62 as well.

She only has a small pension due her, which will pay about $150 per month. All of these incomes add up to about $4,700 per month once I formally retire. With no debt, I think am OK.

If I did not cash in the $185,000, that would give me another $1,500 per month. I do not believe I will have to pay any penalty to cash in as I was over 55 when I became unemployed.

I do not want to cash everything in and just live on Social Security alone, or work for the rest of my life. I'd like to find a job I can live with, even at a greatly reduced salary, and not have to worry about bills.

Please let me know your thoughts on my issue. Thanks for your time. Mike

Dear Mike: Ah, the Golden Years! Aren't they great?

I asked Scott Brewster, a certified financial planner in Brooklyn, to opine on your situation.

"Sorry to hear," says Brewster, who is a member of the Financial Planning Association. "It must be very stressful after 34 years in the banking industry to lose one's job making mid-six figures and struggle to find another job."

Brewster doesn't think that cashing in your pension early is the solution you need.

"You probably are correct that since you were separated from service after age 55 you might not be hit with the 10 percent penalty on withdrawing your pension money," he says. If the funds were in an Individual Retirement Account, the early withdrawal penalty would apply until the age of 59 ¹/₂ .

But Brewster warns that "you will get taxed on the withdrawal, and $185,000 cashed in might only leave you with $110,000 after taxes. Not only that, you would be reducing your retirement nest egg by close to 50 percent."

He says the real issue is that you are struggling to find work and even with your loans paid off, you are going from making a mid-six-figure income to just looking to get by in a few years on Social Security and a 401(k) that is about equal to what you made in one year while working.

"My action plan for you," says Brewster, "would be to make getting another job your No. 1 priority. Working on finding your next job eight hours a day is not enough. You need to put in overtime securing your next job so that you not only avoid cashing in your pension but are in a position to keep saving more for retirement and pay off your debts from your income."

Mike, (this is John speaking) you and I know that the job market stinks and that you are at an age and salary level when employers think they can get a better deal with someone younger.

So you need to make prospective employers know that you don't have what they call "salary demands." You have, instead, salary suggestions. And that you are very flexible.

And you need to connect anyone from your previous job who might be able to help you find work. Beg them if that's what it takes.

"If you work long and hard all the way until next July when your savings will run out, and you do not find a new job, then you can — without guilt — pull money from your pension, because then you have tried everything you possibly could to not do so," says Brewster.

And even then, Brewster says, he would only pull out what you need to make the minimum loan payments and keep working at the job hunt. "And yes, it is a hunt. You have killed it for a long time, and you need to go back out and continue to kill it," he says.

"With 34 years of experience under your belt, don't sell yourself short. This period of unemployment will pass, and if you throw all your energy into getting to the other side, you will be stronger for it and will have your pension still intact along with your 401(k)," Brewster says.

Both he and I wish you the best of luck. Stay optimistic and smile when you interview. Prospective employers like to hire happy people.

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Couple earns court victory over mortgage debt ‘vulture’ investor

Bankrupt, broke and living with their son, a retired Westchester couple scored a precedent-setting victory last week in the harsh world of distressed mortgage debt.

A federal judge in New York tossed out the claims of a vulture investor against the couple, who were represented by attorney Linda Tirelli. Investor Craig Marx failed to show a correct chain of title, or transfer of ownership, from the original lender through to the Florida hedge fund that sold the couple's mortgage debt to Marx.

"That's a fatal problem," said Judge Robert Drain.

The court win for this couple — who asked that their names not be used — came after a five-year struggle to learn who owned their debt and to fight dubious claims. Seven years into the foreclosure crisis, shoddy if not fraudulent mortgage documents continue to wreak havoc on ordinary New Yorkers and investors alike.

"The financial industry has devastated the US title recording system," said attorney Tom Cox. "Titles are interrupted and open to doubt."

Marx's documents claiming to detail the loans' path — from Bank of New York, to another bank, to a hedge fund and then to him — were ruled so problematic by the judge that it remains unclear who owns the couple's debt.

Back in 2003, the couple's comfortable retirement seemed assured. After the husband's 28-year career in customer service at Bank of New York, they had a substantial nest egg. In 2004, the couple took out a home-equity line of credit for up to $400,000, and then, in 2006, a second mortgage for $430,000, turning to a trusted lender, Bank of New York.

Then the Great Recession hit, wiping out more than $1.5 million from their retirement account when the stock market tanked. They began tapping their debt.

In 2009, Bank of New York told them a new loan servicer would be in touch. They didn't know whom to contact, and hoped their remaining assets would rebound. In 2011, they heard from Linear Mortgage Group. Soon after Marx introduced himself as owner, offering to pay taxes and throw in $2,500 if the couple would sign over the deed and clear out.

Investors like Marx buy up second mortgages at a discount, sometimes as low as pennies on the dollar, in hopes of making a windfall. Instead, he got burned by a broken chain of title.

In fact, chain of title problems are so widespread with second-lien debt that Peter Andrews, CEO of Manhattan hedge fund Dreambuilder Investments, sees them in roughly 20 percent of the loans he reviews for purchase.

The couple's problems aren't over. They still owe money on both loans, and still don't know whom to pay. They can't sell the house, because it doesn't have a clear title.

For now, they live as guests in their son's home—a house they bought as newlyweds in the 1960s and sold to him in 2003. Their house is boarded up.

"We're back to where we started, only we don't own the house we live in now," he said.

Marx and his attorney declined to comment. Officials at Linear could not be reached.

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How the US is losing the escalating cyber-war

Last week we witnessed the repercussions of a cyber-attack on American business interests like we have never seen before.

Sony Pictures, which has a massive presence here in America, was intimidated into canceling the release of its movie "The Interview."

Sony's stock got crushed. Its shares, which trade on the NYSE, lost roughly 10 percent of their value as the leak of confidential corporate communications became public.

That amounts to a drop of about $2.5 billion in market value.

This series of events shows that not only any company is vulnerable to cyber-invasion, but that existing security methodologies need to improve to combat this threat.

It's not just Sony — it also has happened with banks.

In October, after JPMorgan got hacked, CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank would probably double its $250 million cyber-security budget over the coming years.

And it has also happened with Target, Home Depot, and Friday Staples said 1.1 million customers were hacked.

Last year, Target was hacked, and 40 million customers had their credit and debit card data compromised.

But the Sony attack was different, deeper and seemingly personal. And it represents a huge escalation in the cyber-war that we are losing.

With the battle charged, it's time for our Silicon Valley whiz kids to come to the defense of the US cyber infrastructure. Stop developing the latest SnapTweetBook app! Get to work on a robust cyber-defense shield in the US.

Clearly, if hackers can gain access to embarrassing company e-mail correspondence and make it public, as in the case of Sony's Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin, just imagine what they have access to we don't know about.

Cyber-security expert and professor of computer science at Stevens Institute of Technology Dr. Georgios Portokalidis said, "Security usually comes as an afterthought when companies are building their systems." As opposed to doing it as an add-on to create a more secure network and system, he said, "it must be part of the design of the systems from the design-phase principles."

Out of crisis comes opportunity, and security could become the next big growth sector in technology. If this calling doesn't attract the next wave of brash, brilliant, boy-band wannabe billionaires, nothing will. There's a known need, and the problem is now defined.

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Startup KeyMe offers cheaper alternative to replacing car keys

If you get locked out of your car, there's now an alternative to being "gouged" by a car dealer or locksmith for a new key.

That's the aim of the owners of a new service that provides digital key replacements.

"You can go to car dealers and now actually spend between $200 and $400," according to Greg Marsh, CEO of KeyMe. "People really shouldn't be paying that much to get a new key. They're getting price-gouged today."

He added that KeyMe will provide a digital key at prices that range from $20 to $65, depending if it is an electronic or traditional key that is being replaced.

The technology can be used for home, office and mailbox keys. The startup business, which now has some 10 kiosks in the New York City metropolitan area, will copy car keys, both with and without transponder chips.

How does the digital key work?

Customers scan a digital copy of their key at a KeyMe kiosk. The company then ships a copy with a tracking code in two days. Prices are $20 for nontransponder, or mechanical, keys and $65 for electronic, or transponder, keys.

"This is an industry game-changer, as this is the first time car keys have ever been able to be copied at a self-service kiosk," Marsh adds. The digital storage technology can also be used with mobile devices.

The technology uses bio-metrics and other verification processes. KeyMe officials also say they don't store personal information, such as addresses, that could be used to link key data with a location or a lock.

Marsh says the KeyMe technology is compatible with 70 percent of cars' keys.

KeyMe, which will generally operate in convenience stores, expects to have 100 kiosks operating in New York City and on Long Island by the end of 2015.

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