When the students and staff return to PS 106, it will be a new day for them. They will not have to suffer under the questionable and vindictive policies of ex Principal Marcella Sills. Ms. Sills has been reassigned, pending her 3020-a termination hearing. The Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI) has substantiated that Ms. Sills failed to show up at the appointed time or in some cases not show up at all. The entire SCI report can be found Here. A summary can be found at the New York Post in today's paper. Unfortunately, for Ms. Sills "time and attendance" charges are the easiest for the DOE to prove and things look dismal for the "Leadership Academy Principal".
My question is why didn't Chancellor Carmen Farina remove her when the New York Post reported it in the first place? I guess its that "double standard" that the DOE practices and that the new Chancellor has apparently not changed. Moreover, why was Marcella Sills protected by the District 27 Superintendent, Michele Lloyd-Bey who admitted that she spoke to Ms. Sills about her time and attendance two or three years earlier when the Superintendent was made aware by various sources of the tardiness of the Principal. Yet the Superintendent didn't even bother to give Ms. Sills a disciplinary letter when made aware of the "time and attendance" issues nor did she require Ms. Sills to document her attendance. In other words, the Superintendent didn't do her job and worse seemed to protect Ms. Sills by not providing proper oversight when alerted to the problems at PS 106 under Marcella Sills.
While ex-Principal Marcella Sills will now face 3020-a termination hearings for "time and attendance" and maybe the more serious charges of "theft of service", the DOE's Office of Legal Service's Administrative Trials Unit (ATU) will most certainly charge Marcella Sills with additional charges since that is how they operate. Regardless, it appears the days that Marcella Sills will be getting a paycheck from the DOE are numbered.
Should the investigation end here? I think Chancellor Farina should investigate the actions of Superintendent Michele Lloyd-Bey and the useless "Children First Network" 531 in protecting Marcella Sills and their lack of corrective action on the problems that beset PS 106. Furthermore, what did the people at Tweed know about the issues at PS 106 and why did they fail to take action? For more information on Marcella Sills you can find them on my previous posts Here and Here.
Michelle Lloyd-Bey should be the next to go- because clearly she was covering up for Sills. As much as I hate to say it, I will bet you any amount of money that if Sills were a Caucasian principal and not Afro-American, she would have been reassigned 2 years ago. Was Lloyd-Bey protecting one of her own? Sure appears that way...
ReplyDeleteWhat are the consequences for the network of this school? Why do the networks always get a pass? Why aren't they held accountable? When a school closes under a network, the principal and staff have to either retire or find a new school or wind up in ATR pool. The network just walks away with no consequence. Where were they? When is Fariña going to start dismantling these waste networks? When???
ReplyDelete106 just got a new AP that was hand picked by Sills. She's a clone. Hopefully she'll be gone too and we can actually get support and teach!
ReplyDeleteToo many careers ruined and kids lacking what they need.
In all my years, I've never experienced such corruption.
All Farina has to do is get the 311 logs concerning calls about corruption in NYC public schools. In the last school I was in almost every teacher (100) called in to no avail. The school is closing and the principal is now a network leader! Multiply that by all the schools, in all the boros and she may get an idea of the rampant corruption of the past 12 years.
ReplyDeleteAnother disparaging article in today's Daily News. Readers note a picture of Bigfoot ( Mulgrew) is included!
ReplyDeletePerhaps he's not a myth.
Until the harsh glare of publicity was shone on this school, it seems as if NO ONE at the DOE or the public cared about what was going on at this school.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of the NY Post, but, in this case, the paper actually did perform a public service.
Why did the new Chancellor wait until the Post ran their article to rectify the situation at this school?
Chaz,
ReplyDeletePlenty of administrators I'm speaking to today have lost respect for Fariña. She really took a hit with this situation. Not only did she have the perfect opportunity to handle this herself a month ago, additionally (and prob more important) she had the opportunity to show nyc her toughness and fairness to the children/parents. She lost BIGTIME on this. Everyone is calling her a softee today. She has the reputation now if a grandma type softee who will not serve punishment. Well at least other powers stepped up because she failed to do so.
Fariña = Finished
Chaz,
ReplyDeletegive it a rest.. It has been about 6 weeks since the chancellor heard about the story. She removed her and that is the good news and that was with doing research and investigations.
I understand that many teachers were yanked out of their room with no warning and for no good reasons which is not right
Do you not think there are white principals being protected under the DOE? The Jennifer Rogers case at PS 28 where people were screaming for years for instance until things got too bad to keep her there. By the way, both Sills and Rogers were being protected by both the DOE and the UFT. As are many other abusive principals. Only when pushed very hard will the UFT expose some of these people in a rally or an article but soon after let's it drop.
ReplyDeleteFarina's big test will be seen in how many of these people and their protectors are left standing. And I do agree that this is one of the quickest SCI investigations I've seen. Question is if there will be criminal charges. I bet if she resigns nothing else will happen despite forgery of time cards -- I bet they go after the secretaries. Imagine a whistle blower in the school like Portelos and what the DOE would have done to that person instead of Sills.
Chaz and everyone else can give it a rest when the rest of the crooks are rounded up. You should not steal from the little kiddies
ReplyDeleteChaz, we live in a world where all i's have to be doted and all t's have to be crossed. There is no doubt that evidence had to be gathered as once she is let go, she will immediately sue everyone she can. The fact that it only took six weeks is a good thing. I think its time you start focusing on some of the positive stories out there like the woman who saved a kid using cpr instead of these negative stories that drag everyone down......as informative as they are
ReplyDeleteAll you have to do is read the monthly UFT rag and you'll get all the positive stories you want. ATR teachers don't exist, ever student is wonderful and every teacher is fabulous. Keep doing what you're doing Chaz. I don't always agree with you but at least it's real.
DeleteEverything reported is beyond true.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much more.
We shall see what happens
All accountability stops at the school level. No network or superintendent or Tweedie is every culpable- even for dereliction of duty such as in this case.
ReplyDeleteThe Ginormous Irony about how Marcella(a truly bad apple)Sills has been treated is the untold story how the Racist DOE,UFT & Racist print Media have protected the worst (White of course) Principal in all of NY!
ReplyDeleteJHS13's Principal has been at the center of so many criminal offense that he makes Sills look like the Second Coming of Albert Shanker & yet the Cone of Silence remains over JHS13,thanks to SCI's Richard Richard II !Also JHS13 Principal is a Leadership Academy from the same time period as Sills! Yuck!
I take issue with what one of the Anons said. Farina was the only one who did something. And did it fairly quickly. Klein and Walcott (and indeed Condon) all received letters telling of the many many problems and issues caused by Ms. Sills' vindictiveness and incompetence lo these 9 years.
ReplyDeleteFarina received letters too!!!
DeleteIt is so about time - 2012? -she has been doing this since 2004 when she walked in he building - and yes who was protecting her - but the lateness is just the tip - talk about forging timecards - what about teachers' signatures on observations - what about owing outstanding bills - what about harrassing teachers - parents - STUDENTS - calling 911 on so many occasions - what about throwing away books and supplies-
ReplyDeletelateness - only tip - she threw away books and supplies and reprimanded teachers who went picking through the trash to save them - what about conflict of interest - who is her attorney - the mother of a child who while in attendance in the astre program at the school demanded that his grades be changed and Sills had teachers do it -
ReplyDeleteSills - lateness - she was late and missed the graduation in 2009the AP conducted it- she showed up for the $90 party - I left the school after that - what other graduations - assemblies - parent meetings - other meetings - has she been late for - what about the teacher that she had ACS investigate because she reprimanded her own son (who should not have been registered in the school in the first place) that teacher was not allowed to attend her own son's 5th grade and pre-K graduations - vindictive is not the word -
ReplyDeleteFarina should scrutinize every network leader to ascertain how he/she was placed there. I'm sure she'll be shocked, and maybe compelled to do something.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how she is going to pay for her fake hair, fake nails, fake contact lenses, fur coats, make-up, and that BMW?
ReplyDeleteLet me be cruel. This monster changed people's lives , most of the time, not for the better. If she gets what she deserves, she will not need all that fake shit-not allowed in prison anyway!!
ReplyDeleteCan the DOE snatch her pension? They really need to. All of it.
ReplyDeleteAny violations regarding tampering of records or failing to keep required records is fairly easy to prove. There should be license sanctions in NY state against her over this; I know in my current state of Oregon this is serious enough for license suspension/revocation. The fact the district attorney is being notified of this is proof this is an extremely serious offense.
ReplyDelete