Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Retaining Of Iris Blige As Principal At Fordham High School For The Arts Is Just Another Disgusting Example Of The DOE's "Double Standard".



Well we are now under the Administration of the unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black, and nothing has changed when it cones to disciplining Administrators. The latest example of this is brought to you by the "Principal from Hell". Ms. Iris Blige, Principal of Fordham High School of the Arts who was allowed to keep both her job and stay as Principal of the school despite being found by a school investigator for trying to falsely terminate teachers and deny them their livelihood. The DOE, rather than try to fire her, in what would appear to be an iron-clad case with at least two Assistant Principals and numerous teachers ready to testify against her, cut a deal and paid a $7,500 fine without pleading guilty to the charge. Just unbelievable but business as usual when it comes to the DOE. This is just another example of the DOE "double standard" which allows administrators relatively free passes to continue in their positions while attacking teachers and demanding termination who do much less, if anything at all.

The New York Post reported today that the Principal targeted a dozen teachers for "unsatisfactory ratings" and eventual termination without cause. Gotham Schools has the entire OSI report here. and is interesting reading.

This is not the first time this "Principal from hell", Iris Blige has made the news. Back in March of 2009, she was cited and criticized for the high teacher turnover that occurred under her leadership and was reported in Gotham Schools Even the New York Teacher via the Rubber Room Reporter wrote about her underhanded and sleazy intentions about going after people and even had a "hit list" of teachers she wanted terminated. On the other side of the teacher spectrum, Education notes online wrote about one teacher who was removed to the "rubber room" simply because she pissed off Ms. Blige and is a must read Here. She was subject to a protest demonstration outside the school by disgruntiled staff and students back in March of 2009 that made the local news.

Ms Blige is one of the first graduates of the infamous "Principal Leadership Academy" that wastes 10 million dollars annually and is just another shinning example of the inferior leadership this money-wasting Academy produces. Maybe that was where the mysterious 10 million dollars that Mayor Bloomberg gave to Cathie Black for test tutoring came from? One can only hope so. However, let's go back to Principal Iris Blige.

Ms. Blige was known to target Chapter Leaders in particular and earned the unions ire which named her a member of their exclusive PINI Principal list. JD2718 named her school as one of the schools that teachers should not apply to and rightly so. Until the DOE gets rid of these PINI Principals like Iris Blige, their claim that they are trying to provide a quality education to the students is just a fraud. The DOE just continues in their "children last" policy when it comes to the students where these principals are in charge of.

11 comments:

OTE admin said...

This is true nationwide. Principals cannot be gotten rid of except if they are caught committing crimes (and then makes news), and they, too, are also represented by unions for the most part. Principals and higher ups (save for superintendents or chancellors) have ironclad job security. Of course, the least talented educators, if they ARE educators to begin with, are put in administrative jobs. These jobs are typically given to cronies of higher administrators, not as promotions to the "best and brightest."

If truly horrible principals like Blige are given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue their terror, there is utterly no hope for teachers in this country. The "due process" system is a total farce.

Anonymous said...

In NYC, total teacher's salary takes about 27 percent of the DOE's budget, and teachers who are with kids every minute of the school days get blamed for anything and everything. Anyone else who hides behind and above the students is considered to be an hero. There is so much waste in the system, but all BloomBlack can think of is to squeeze the group who actually do everything for kids and bring value to the table.

Anonymous said...

I have just read the report by the OSI and the stipulation agreement the DOE allowed this principal to make in order to keep her position. It is beyond unbelievable. The UFT if it has any integrity left should use its resources legally, politically, and hold weekly protests in front of the school until this anathema to education is removed and her license removed to prevent her from teaching in New York State.

Chaz said...

I'm not sure what the UFT can do but a sound bite by Michael Mulgrew is not sufficient. The UFT should be doing a hell of a lot more and demand that she be removed from the system..

Anonymous said...

Quick go Gotham schools and check out the comments by Jim Callaghan regarding the UFT's part in this travesty.

Anonymous said...

The retaining of Iris Blige is just the tip of the iceberg.

We could use your voice and your presence on Thursday at the rally to protest the proposed closing and privatization of 25 NYC public schools. Once that happens every principal will be an Iris Blige.

We have a long list of sponsors and endorsers (including the UFT)that is growing by the minute. Please check them out at our blog:

http://stopschoolclosings.wordpress.com/

or at the Grassroots Education Movement Blog:

gemnyc@gmail.com

The Rally will take place at City Hall Plaza this coming Thrusday, Jan. 27 between 4:30 and 6:30.

Please spread the word to bloggers, parents, teachers, students, and all New Yorkers who value Public Education.

james boutin said...

Anon at 128: Can you tell me where your stat comes from? Where can I find DOE's budget?

Anonymous said...

To reflective teacher:

I do not remember where I saw the breakdown of DOE's budget, I believe I read it somewhere related to the pension expenses.
total budget is about 21 billions for about $20,000 per student per year.
Teachers total salary is less than 28 percent, pension expenses are somewhere around 26 percent, administration about 7, support services about 10, building maintainence about 6, busing about 6 or 7, those are the big items I remembered. It all comes down to the fact that 27% teachers salary carries at least 60-70 of the total load, and many (about 50% of the budget) get a free or light ride on the back of the teachers.

Chaz said...

I have it in a graphic in my November 21, 2010 post.

http://chaz11.blogspot.com/2010/11/now-that-fix-is-in-and-cathie-black.html

GESSENIA said...

THIS PRINCIPAL IRIS BLIGE HARASSED MY DAUGHTER...A 9TH GRADER WHO LOVES TO SING ...GREAT STUDENT WHOM RESPECTS AND FOLLOWS ALL RULES MY DAUGHTER WHO HAS GOALS AND WANTS TO PROSPER ..MY DAUGHTER WHO HAS TO DEAL WITH OTHER CHILDREN BULLY...MY DAUGHTER WHO ALREADY STRUGGLES WITH THE COMMUNITY WE LIVE IN!.. SHE DEGRADED MY DAUGHTER.HARASSED HER HUMILIATED HER AND A FEW OTHER STUDENTS AND AFTER SHE DEGRADED THEM SHE FORCED THEM TO TAKE A REGENTS TEST SHE FOLLOWED MY DAUGHTER AND HARASSED HER THE SAME DAY ...I TRIED TO SET A MEETING WITH HER FOR HER TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY SHE HUMILIATED MY DAUGHTER AND THEN FORCE HER TO TAKE A TEST A REGENTS TEST TO TOP IT OFF...AND SHE KICKED ME OUT THE SCHOOL...SHE IS VERY UNPROFESSIONAL AND DESERVES TO GET FIRED... WE NEED GOOD PRINCIPALS IN OUR SCHOOLS NOT BULLY'S.... SHE IS A BULLY AND SHE WANTS TO DESTROY WHO EVER SHE DOES NOT LIKE...WHO EVER SHE FEELS THE NEED TO PUT ON HER LIST... I WISH I HAD POWER TO PUT HER OUT OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM... KIDS DEAL WITH A LOT AND HAVE A LOT ON THEIR PLATES WITH DAY TO DAY LIFE STRUGGLES.... NOW THEY HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PRINCIPALS WHO ARE GOING TO BULLY THEM!!!!! ITS NOT FARE AND I'M GOING TO FIGHT THIS WITH ALL MY MIGHT...

Anonymous said...

Honestly when I was in Art back in the day she literally destroyed our artwork. She was horrible! She was a scum honestly. Once I graduated I went back cause I to go pick up my transcript paper and I found out the school had NO ART TEACHER FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. An art school with no art teacher really? She fired so many good teachers too in my time she pissed off a lot people...i even heard she did horrible things to one teacher..but I won't go into details since I'm not sure how accurate it is and I don't want to even imagine..