A city watchdog says a Queens high school librarian crossed serious lines with a string of students, describing his behavior as predatory and manipulative. Investigators found that many of the young people he allegedly targeted were young, largely Asian women, and urged the Department of Education to take action.
What the SCI found
According to a redacted report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation, Douglas Von Hoppe, a library media specialist assigned to Maspeth High School, "communicated with at least 13 current and former DOE students" and stayed in touch through group chats, tutoring, dinners, vacations and job opportunities. The report labels his behavior predatory and manipulative and says his position at the school gave him an "endless pool" of students from which he selected those he wanted to cultivate.
Phone logs, texts and meetings
Investigators working off phone records and text logs documented heavy, repeated contact between Von Hoppe and former students, according to the New York Post, which reviewed the SCI materials. In one example, a former student and Von Hoppe exchanged nearly 6,800 texts. In others, the report cites hundreds of calls and thousands of messages. The Post also recounts investigators’ findings that Von Hoppe bought gifts, treated students to restaurant meals on multiple occasions and used internships and favors to keep former pupils in his orbit.
His role at Maspeth
School materials and community listings show Von Hoppe worked as a library and media specialist at Maspeth High School, a campus where students say staff frequently run after school programs and clubs that create regular contact between adults and teens. Maspeth High School’s own site and local program pages list Von Hoppe in past staff or program credits, placing him inside the same school community the watchdog scrutinized. Maspeth High School appears in those public records.
SCI asked DOE to act
In a letter to Schools Chancellor David Banks, the SCI recommended that the Department of Education terminate Von Hoppe’s employment and assign a problem code to his personnel file. The watchdog asked for a written response within 30 days and noted that copies of the findings were sent to the DOE Office of Legal Services and the New York State Education Department. The report frames the pattern as an abuse of trust and urges that the personnel record clearly reflect the substantiated conduct.
DOE response and current status
Per reporting by the New York Post, the Department of Education has reached an agreement under which Von Hoppe will "irrevocably retire" at the end of this school year. The redacted SCI report also notes that messages from a prosecutor’s file were shared with investigators during the probe as part of how they obtained communications records.
What comes next
The SCI’s release and the related coverage do not answer the question of whether criminal charges will follow. The office’s findings are administrative and were routed to DOE legal staff and state education authorities for possible further action. Families and former students who were named in or contacted during the SCI inquiry may be approached again as the DOE and any law enforcement partners decide what, if anything, comes next.
