After our discussion on principals and principals’ evaluations in our final class, I thought I would write about the same topic for this post. An article from The New York Daily News with the headline “'Least-trustworthy' principal in New York City public schools finally fired from Brooklyn post” poses a similar question I had from class: what, exactly, does it take to get the boot if you’re a principal, and who ultimately decides?
The article tells the story of Andrew Buck, a New York City principal at the Middle School for Art and Philosophy, and his turbulent history in his position. Surveys of his C-rated school found a violent and hectic environment where 40% of the students said they felt unsafe in the halls. He was voted ‘least trustworthy’ principal in 2008 by the teachers union, and made headlines in 2010 when he sent bizarre and almost nonsensical letters home to parents filled with grammatical errors about withholding textbooks from children.
An eighth grade teacher at Buck’s school commented: "I cried tears of joy… teachers were getting hurt, and the kids were running amok - he ran the school into the ground.” This teacher was assaulted by a student during class last year and openly blames Buck for conditions at the school. Many parents are also interviewed in the article and discuss his poor leadership and dangerous school environment.
I do not think that anyone would argue that this article paints Buck in a poor light, and that he clearly made a lot of poor decisions while running his school. Many of us have probably seen similar administrators or heard stories like this one. What I found most interesting in the article, however, was not the details of his tenure, but instead, what was glazed over: the process for his removal. The article begins by saying “The Department of Education is canning an infamous Brooklyn principal “ and later points out that Buck has been put on “desk duty” until he can be fired. How does this work? And since when does the US Department of Education step in to remove principals? Since our discussion on evaluations in class, I would be interested to look deeper into this story and the process it took to remove this man from his office.
1 comment:
Kath,
I saw this story, and my reaction was a mix between subtle amusement and outright disgust. However, I am all too familiar with this bleak reality.
It took 3 years for them to realize this guy is allegedly a horrible principal? And desk duty? Really? However, the article does also state that he was city administator, or something of the sort. He probably has some political connections....which echoes back to our very own principal scandals going on here in Baltimore. The Sun recently published an article stating that the principals of the two (that were caught) cheating schools both have political connections as well, and we have yet to hear of any sanctions for them.
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