Tuscan School principal and BOE

Does anyone know what's going on?  She's speaking at the next meeting (I think). 


Here's my guess reading between the lines:

Ficarra and Majeed don't see eye to eye but she has tenure so there's not much he can do.  He suspends her one day for something relatively minor and she calls his bluff and exercises her right for a public hearing.

I'm not a big fan of Majeed but Ficarra can't leave soon enough.


Thanks to both of you for your input! 


Whatever happened to the principal who was making fun of the assistant teacher?


I think she's now the principal of the Montrose school.


GreenEyedChick said:
I think she's now the principal of the Montrose school.

 I would have liked to see her in another, more suitable, line of work.  I guess we will just have to hope that she has, at long last, learned a lesson that she should have learned when she was her students age.


From what I understand, the principal ignored and refused to take part in a phone call regarding early dismissal due to the snow storm, she went on to say she had her own procedures and didnt take the call.


Sounds like a hit job. Procedures should have been established long ago  so no need for on the spot last minute phone calls for each passing snow storm. Super acting like a  prick.


One thing that has always been consistent for my over 30 years in South Orange.  A majority of parents always seem to hate the super, but the BOE usually seems satisfied with the person.  

Just the names change.  


annielou said:
Sounds like a hit job. Procedures should have been established long ago  so no need for on the spot last minute phone calls for each passing snow storm. Super acting like a  prick.

 This is a truly sad reply.  After everything we go through with every school closing call, every one, you would dump on someone for wanting to discuss the issue in a conference call?  If that is what really happened perhaps she should have taken the call.  Maybe it wasn't the super acting like a prick.  Maybe she was.  I don't know. I wasn't there.  Were you there?


FilmCarp said:


annielou said:
Sounds like a hit job. Procedures should have been established long ago  so no need for on the spot last minute phone calls for each passing snow storm. Super acting like a  prick.
 This is a truly sad reply.  After everything we go through with every school closing call, every one, you would dump on someone for wanting to discuss the issue in a conference call?  If that is what really happened perhaps she should have taken the call.  Maybe it wasn't the super acting like a prick.  Maybe she was.  I don't know. I wasn't there.  Were you there?

 After reading the script of the meeting and comments from the attendees I came to this conclusion. After the first snow fiasco, the superintendent should have held a meeting with administrators and laid out a detailed procedure for weather events. Then everyone would know what to do without having to take last minute conference calls. Super is power tripping. This is why good principals are hard to find. 


annielou said:


FilmCarp said:

annielou said:
Sounds like a hit job. Procedures should have been established long ago  so no need for on the spot last minute phone calls for each passing snow storm. Super acting like a  prick.
 This is a truly sad reply.  After everything we go through with every school closing call, every one, you would dump on someone for wanting to discuss the issue in a conference call?  If that is what really happened perhaps she should have taken the call.  Maybe it wasn't the super acting like a prick.  Maybe she was.  I don't know. I wasn't there.  Were you there?
 After reading the script of the meeting and comments from the attendees I came to this conclusion. After the first snow fiasco, the superintendent should have held a meeting with administrators and laid out a detailed procedure for weather events. Then everyone would know what to do without having to take last minute conference calls. Super is power tripping. This is why good principals are hard to find. 

 I think there are a lot of reasons why good principals and supers are hard to find, but I don't think it is  because an interim super is on a power trip. 



Snow calls have to be uniform district wide.  Getting input from key personnel sounds like good management.


The pool of really good principals is small. I don’t know if this specific principal is effective or not apart from this one event. If she is, then this is a glaring case of overreaction. Stories like this are shared among potential hirees and it’s one reason good principals won’t come here. On the other hand, if this specific principal is ineffective, then this is an excuse to get rid of her by making her less than comfortable.


FilmCarp said:
Snow calls have to be uniform district wide.  Getting input from key personnel sounds like good management.

Good management is developing a protocol BEFORE it is needed.  Not while an event is happening.  The super blew it.


I’m thinking this principal was scapegoated


yahooyahoo said:


FilmCarp said:
Snow calls have to be uniform district wide.  Getting input from key personnel sounds like good management.
Good management is developing a protocol BEFORE it is needed.  Not while an event is happening.  The super blew it.

 Based on what info?  What was posted here was that the principal refused a call from the Super about the issue.  What if part of the protocol is to have a conference call to see how many teachers from each school are calling in unable to come to work?  What if the old protocol was for the Super to make the call, and after the November storm the protocol was changed to give principals some input?  Do you have any facts at all to support the position that the suspension with pay was uncalled for, or are you just filling in the blanks based on your own bias?  I honestly don't know what the protocol is, or why she was suspended, or if it was warranted.  So I am not going to jump online and draw conclusions.  


annielou said:
Sounds like a hit job. Procedures should have been established long ago  so no need for on the spot last minute phone calls for each passing snow storm. Super acting like a  prick.

I disagreed with just about everything in this post but I read it again and I now disagree with everything.   grin  



You have to wonder which job is hardest - public school administration, public school teaching, coaching youth sports, refereeing youth sports.  These are jobs where so many of the people you serve think your job is easy and know how to do it better than you can.


Sorry guys. Reread the Village Green’s version of what was described as insubordination. There’s not one thing in the superintendent’s phone call that could not have been established with administration in advance. According to the article, the call was made to convey “new protocols for dismissal” Huh? New? On the same day as a new snow event? Not going for it. Period.


FilmCarp said:


yahooyahoo said:


FilmCarp said:
Snow calls have to be uniform district wide.  Getting input from key personnel sounds like good management.
Good management is developing a protocol BEFORE it is needed.  Not while an event is happening.  The super blew it.
 Based on what info?  What was posted here was that the principal refused a call from the Super about the issue.  What if part of the protocol is to have a conference call to see how many teachers from each school are calling in unable to come to work?  What if the old protocol was for the Super to make the call, and after the November storm the protocol was changed to give principals some input?  Do you have any facts at all to support the position that the suspension with pay was uncalled for, or are you just filling in the blanks based on your own bias?  I honestly don't know what the protocol is, or why she was suspended, or if it was warranted.  So I am not going to jump online and draw conclusions.  

Did you watch the meeting last night?  The Super stated that a new protocol was developed that day.


annielou said:
Sorry guys. Reread the Village Green’s version of what was described as insubordination. There’s not one thing in the superintendent’s phone call that could not have been established with administration in advance. According to the article, the call was made to convey “new protocols for dismissal” Huh? New? On the same day as a new snow event? Not going for it. Period.

 

If her boss wanted to review something and she refused to even listen that would have been  insubordination in any job I ever held...


Not sure you can compare a principals responsibilities to “any job”. In any case I think withholding a years salary increment based on one incident is over the top. If there was a shred of evidence in the superintendent’s mind that Tuscan kids were in some kind of imminent danger, why not suspend the principal for longer? I call BS


I believe I shared this story before on MOL. When my children were in Tuscan, there came a morning drop-off when it was teeming rain with thunder and lightning. We were all huddled by the front door, jockeying for position with our metal-tipped umbrellas, waiting for the doors to open. Miss Majeed was standing inside the door at the top of the stairs smiling down at us with coffee in hand. She waited until exactly 8:45 to open those doors. 


My earlier question was about her effectiveness as a principal. If there were several prior reasons as to why she was not, then she should have been called out for that. Not this ridiculous claim about a phone call. Leaving kids outside in s lightning storm is far more dangerous than choosing not to take a phone call about last minute protocols.


annielou said:
I’m thinking this principal was scapegoated

Insubordination is one thing, putting the children at risk is another. I talk to my boss like she did, I'm out the door.


Before this discussion deteriorates into a tenure debate, I’ll reiterate that the punishment in this case seems excessive, and is not a logical reaction one would have to children at actual risk. It seems more like a knee jerk response to the rudeness of a subordinate. It’s also worth noting that the principal wanted the facts of this case aired publicly at the BOE meeting, facts which very well could have remained a private personnel matter.


Maybe her refusal to take the call was the straw that broke the camel's back.


I can't imagine any Super or any BOE member discussing the performance of a principal or a teacher in public or giving all the reasons why a decision was made.  If you don't agree with the super's decisions, it also means you do not agree with a majority of the BOE.   And in that case your best course of action is to vote for new BOE members.  However, as I said before, for those of us on the outside, the decisions made by the BOE and prior supers as well as this one are often baffling to many and that is because they can not share all the information.  

Sometimes you just have to read between the lines and trust that most of the BOE members have the best interest of the schools and kids in mind when making those decisions.  



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