NYC ‘principal’ — who’s also a rapper — being paid nearly $200K to run a school that doesn’t exist

This is Ludacris.

An NYC educrat who moonlights as a rapper is raking in an eye-watering $192,374 principal’s salary for not running a school, The Post has learned.

Caleb Haraguchi-Combs was a vice principal in East Harlem when he was handpicked in January to become “project director” of the proposed Next Generation Technology High School.

Caleb Haraguchi Combs

Caleb Haraguchi Combs is collecting a nearly $200,000 salary but not working at any city school. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs/LinkedIn

The promotion came with a $50,000 raise to principal-level compensation. A project director of a planned school usually becomes the new school’s principal.

But Haraguchi-Combs’ new school — a proposed FiDi institution focusing on artificial intelligence and computer tech — was never approved or opened.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels torpedoed the proposal in April after woke backlash over its merit-based admissions model and general fear of AI in schools.

Yet the windfall continued for Haraguchi-Combs, 33.

In his previous role as assistant principal at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics in East Harlem, he made $141,960 a year, according to public records.

A Manhattan Center official confirmed that Haraguchi-Combs is no longer at the school.

When The Post confronted the educator this week outside his shimmering Downtown Brooklyn high-rise, Haraguchi-Combs refused to say where he worked.

“You came to my house? Outrageous,” he barked at a reporter.

Haraguchi Combs

Haraguchi-Combs is also a hip hop artist who rapped about being involved in a drug deal that devolved into gunfire. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs/Facebook

The DOE said that Haraguchi-Combs is currently “developing new proposals and supporting in-progress proposals,” a typical role for project directors whose schools don’t exist.

However, a DOE source strongly refuted that claim.

“Unless a principal has tenure, they get bumped back to AP if their schools don’t open,” the source said. Officials “never should have named a principal before the school was approved.”

Haraguchi-Combs would have been unable to apply for tenure as a principal since he never wound up serving in the role.

Caleb Haraguchi Combs in a white t-shirt.

Caleb Haraguchi-Combs refused to answer questions over where he’s currently working. J.C. Rice for NY Post

DOE insiders are fuming over the waste of taxpayer money — and questioned why Haraguchi-Combs simply couldn’t be sent to work at another school.

“What was the plan? There’s a lot of schools that could use a principal, there’s opportunities to appoint principals since then, it’s a huge waste of resources,” the DOE source said.

The erstwhile principal’s situation came to light in a letter sent to DOE leadership by anonymous Manhattan high school principals urging an investigation into Superintendent Gary Beidleman.

The October missive ticked off numerous concerns, including organizational dysfunction, hiring unqualified candidates, not meeting class size requirements, and Haraguchi-Combs’ status.

Manhattan High Schools Superintendent Gary Beidleman with a city skyline in the background.

Haraguchi-Combs’ situation came to light as part of a letter frustrations over Manhattan High Schools Superintendent Gary Beidleman’s leadership. beidleman/Iinstagram

Haraguchi-Combs has a curious alter-ego named Cal Combs, who has made two rap albums. He calls himself “half hip-hop artist, half English teacher.”

In his 2017 album “Carmel,” named after the Indiana city where he once lived, he rapped about a drug deal that went south, and having to flee gunfire:

“So now I got a nine hidden in my backpack/I took all the things I learned and put them on backtrack . . . They said that they would meet us at the spot at seven thirty/we packed a bag and arrived five minutes early.”

In his song “Roundabouts,” he rapped about snorting cocaine and excessive drinking:

“One more bump on that key/one more drink and I’m free/one more shot to forget/ how much I hate me.”

Zilvinas Silenas, president of good government nonprofit think tank The Empire Center for Public Policy, called Haraguchi-Combs’ lush salary an insult to taxpayers.

“This is a new level for New York, when you are getting paid nearly $200,000 for a job you’re not doing, most taxpayers have never even dreamed of making that kind of money,” Silenas said.

Haraguchi-Combs, who took his wife’s last name, started his education career as an English teacher in Tokyo in 2015, according to his LinkedIn.

Related Posts

MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME TO LEAVE HER WEDDING BECAUSE I WAS “EMBARRᴀssING HER.” THEN THE GROOM SAW MY FACE AND DROPPED HIS GLᴀss.

I never imagined my own daughter would be ashamed of me.

For 27 years, I raised Sarah on my own after her father walked out of our lives.

I worked double shifts at a small diner, cleaned H๏τel rooms…

Investigators Unearth Key Piece of Learjet Engine After Florida 𝔠r𝘢sh Killed Nine, Including Two Young Children

Investigators Unearth Key Piece of Learjet Engine After Florida 𝔠r𝘢sh Killed Nine, Including Two Young Children

Federal investigators have recovered a crucial piece of an engine from the wreckage of …

California DA goes ballistic over Gavin Newsom’s dєatᩚh row bombshell, vows to keep seeking executions

A California district attorney is vowing to keep pursuing the dєatᩚh penalty in murder cases despite Gov.

Gavin Newsom’s decision to commute the sentences of every inmate on the state’s dєatᩚh row.

Sa…

Ten Days After the Failed inje𝔠ti☉n She Was Walking With Help, Eating Again, and Back Behind Bars

ThuyGiang
October 22, 2026

By the time Christa Pike left the hospital roughly ten days after the September 30 attempt, her physical recovery had been described by her attorneys as rem…

MY PARENTS UNINVITED ME FROM MY SISTER’S WEDDING… BUT THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHO HAD PAID THE $85,000 BILL.

The wedding invitation arrived on a Tuesday morning.

It was beautiful—thick ivory paper, gold lettering, and a pH๏τograph of my younger sister smiling beside her fiancé.

For a moment, I felt happy.
…

Mother of Two Falls to Her dєatᩚh From 7th-Floor Hotel Window After Aluminum Frame Suddenly Gives Way

Mother of Two Falls to Her dєatᩚh From 7th-Floor Hotel Window After Aluminum Frame Suddenly Gives Way

A 26-year-old mother of two plunged to her dєatᩚh from a seventh-floor hotel window in Brazil after…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *