A former high-level official with the New York City public schools pleaded guilty last week to using forged credentials.
Joan E. Mahon-Powell, who was selected last year by city Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein to be a local instructional superintendent and had served as chief of staff to his predecessor, Harold O. Levy, was sentenced to 10 days of community service and fined $1,000 in Manhattan criminal court.
Ms. Mahon-Powell was not certified as a teacher or as a school supervisor, according to the special commissioner of investigation for the city school system.
Michael Best, the general counsel for the chancellor, said in a statement that Ms. Mahon-Powell was fired in 2003 when problems with her credentials came to light.
The city department of education has improved its procedures for checking educators’ backgrounds, he said, and Ms. Mahon-Powell has been placed on a list of people ineligible ever to work for the city schools.
Ms. Mahon-Powell’s lawyer did not return a call for comment.
