Monday, August 20, 2012
Nearly Half The Staff Quits Coney Island School That Banned "God Bless The USA" Performance
Posted by Virginia K. Smith on Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 12:23 PM
- Don't tread on me, Coney Island.
So this is what the face of unbridled tyranny looks like in the 21st century.
The Post chronicles surprisingly bizarre reports from teachers who have either quit or arranged for transfer from the "toxic building" run by Principal Greta Hawkins, whose tenure the paper describes as filled with "turmoil, mistrust and racial tensions."
Aside from nixing plans to have kindergarten graduates sing "God Bless the USA," citing possible offense to other cultures, disgruntled teachers say Hawkins singled out "perceived enemies" with unnecessary threats and hints about finding other jobs for a "better professional match."
“She’s vindictive. She’s malicious. She’ll smile but do things behind your back,” said one teacher who left after a decade at the school.
Normally I could probably chalk a lot of this up to the Post being the Post, but given the insane bureaucracy that tends to be forced into the public school system (and, you know, the fact that half the staff quit), I actually believe most of this.
Anyway, what's important is that everyone's focus is clearly where it should be here: on the children.
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About The Author
Virginia K. Smith
Virginia K. Smith is the Assistant Editor at The L Magazine and a Bushwick resident. Her profile picture was taken at Summerscreen, because she is a real team player.
