It Is About Time That The News Media Is Starting To Realize The Poor Quality Of The Principals Being Selected By Tweed And How It Hurts The Children.

In the good old days for an educator to become a Principal it took many years of working their way up the ladder. First, the educator spent a minimum of ten years in the classroom, earning the respect of his or her peers. Then the educator spent a minimum of five years as an Assistant Principal, which included teaching one or two classes. Finally, the educator was offered a Principal position and while some principals might have had problems with their staff the vast majority of principals were respected by the staff due to their experience as a educator who rose through the ranks. However, than came the non-educators who came to dominate the upper levels of the DOE, lead by Chancellor Joel Klein who turned the New York City public school system upside down and not for the better.

Under the non-educator, Chancellor Joel Klein, we saw the formation of the "Leadership Academy". This program was a shortcut for people who had little or no experience in education to become a Principal, The problem was that these "newbie" principals have no classroom experience and had not worked in a school environment. The result has been a deterioration in principal quality. I previously, wrote about this here. It is these inexperienced "Leadership Academy" principals who have been told to run their school as they please that have caused the ATR crises and overcrowded "rubber rooms". However, the greatest problem is that these principals lack "common sense" as reported by Joanna Molloy of the New York Daily News and that brings me to the two dopey principals at JHS 190 and PS 52 who caused the City extreme embarrassment and ridicule. Remarkably, the Principal of JHS 190 actually defended her actions. Unbelievable! Even the DOE's mouthpiece, the New York Post had an editorial on these stupid principals. What will eventually happen to these principals? Probably nothing but a letter to their file. Yes, principals do get letters to their file. As for being reassigned to the "rubber room"? That's not happening. A recent example of a Principal staying in his school despite overseeing and hiding misconduct was when Principal Michael Soet apparently approved and participated in a rowdy drinking and dirty dancing party in the presence of students at their prom that resulted in sexual misconduct charges against one teacher at the International High School of Lafayette This "Leadership Academy" Principal is still running the school while SCI goes through the motions of investigating the incident over eight months later.

Until we see real educators regain control of the DOE and the principal positions filled by educators who move up through the ranks, look for more dopey principal actions as they are more interested in their control of their power base than what is best for the children of their school. "Children last" continues.