The Department of Education is handling the principal at Maspeth High School differently than their usual use of their large broom to sweep incidents involving administrators under the carpet. Instead of just reassigning the principal to a district or central office after the Office of Special Investigations substantiated numerous academic misconduct allegations, the DOE is actually trying to fire Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir. He has been principal since 2011 so he is no rookie.
From Selim Algar in the NY Post:
The DOE said it will seek to terminate deposed Maspeth High School principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir after investigators substantiated a raft of academic misconduct charges against him.
A group of teachers told The Post in August 2019 that administrators pressured them to pass failing students and that staffers gave out Regents exam answers during the test.
The whistleblowers also reported that kids who did little to no work were graduated via phantom classes and credits.
The DOE's statement to the Queens Chronicle:
“Following DOE’s investigation into Principal Abdul-Mutakabbir’s unacceptable behavior, DOE served him with disciplinary charges and removed him from payroll while we seek to terminate his employment pursuant to state law,” said DOE spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon in an email to the Chronicle on Thursday. “Our schools must have the highest standards of academic integrity, and we are working quickly to bring in new, qualified leadership to Maspeth High School.”
Some specifics from the Chronicle article:
The substantiated allegations claimed by the OSI include:
• that “incomplete” grades were improperly changed to passing grades;
• that students were improperly awarded one English/Language Arts credit, and one economics credit for a humanities course that did not meet requirements for the credits;
• that students were improperly awarded one credit per semester for a Spanish course that did not exist, and that the students were improperly discharged with advanced Regents Diplomas, without earning six Language Other Than English credits in a single language;
• the awarding of student credit for writing courses that did not meet requirements; and
• testing misconduct where staff members assisted students on Regents exams.
It took two years but the system is actually working here. All of you who contstantly say you are experiencing similar situations have to step forward if you want to restore integrity to the school system. Anonymous comments and allegations won't cut it.
You have to identify the school and be specific. If anything happens where you are disciplined after blowing the whistle on fraud, scream retaliation.
Very unusual on face value. In cases like these the principal almost always resigns or retired. I guess he wouldn’t. I know there is no tolerance when there is flagrant incompetence and/or cheating involving Regent exams. I’ve known several principals that were forced out because of it. In one disgrace of a high school I was in, old Social Studies Regent exams got mixed in with new exams, and it invalidated everything. Two weeks later the principal was gone. If you are in a school and there are improprieties involving Regent exams, rest assured something major will be done.
ReplyDeleteScreaming retaliation will not protect you. Pursuant to NYC Administrative Code 12-113, the report of misconduct must be made to the Special Commissioner of Investigation, a Council Member, the Public Advocate, the Comptroller, or the Mayor in order to receive whistleblower protection. (The law also says the report may be made to a "superior officer," but the DOE determines who is a "superior officer.") By filing a FOIL request, Francesco Portelos found out that SCI opened 207 cases from 2007 to 2014 involving the Whistleblower Law. SCI found zero violations. From my experience, whistleblower protection was frequently denied because the reporting criteria of the law was not met. I suggest filing reports of misconduct with the Special Commissioner of Investigation and letting Susan Edelman of the NY Post know of the misconduct. Michael Thomas
ReplyDeleteAlso, what defines retaliation? They can do it indirectly by giving you bad ratings. I know the principal of Flushing High School is involved in giving free credits to students. He gave the APs of each department the failing students and students were required to complete only the bare minimum of an assignment to pass. Magically the graduation rate is 82%. I hope Selim reads this blog.
ReplyDeleteIn order to address all the corruption in the DOE and the diploma mills, you would have to clean out the doe swamp. The initial pressure comes from Tweed. (Or perhaps the mayor). Pressure then is placed on superintendents, then principals, then teachers to pass everyone. I think the teachers are the only ones caught by surprise. Teachers new to the doe have no idea of the e tent of the corruption. Anyone who became an administrator under Bloomberg or Deblasio already knew that the fix was in. They chose to become corrupt administrators in a corrupt system and to propagate the corruption.
ReplyDeleteI have no faith in the DOE or the UFT to actually address all the corruption.
Principals are under pressure from the Superintendent and then teachers are subjected to their wrath. Some cases are blatant, and others more subtle, or so they think. In our district teaches have to have three years of 75% passing in order to receive tenure. They don't care if they've filled your classes with long-term absentee students.
ReplyDeleteFor those with tenure you have to sit for a meeting with the AP and Principal where they browbeat you and make threats if your fail rate is too high. How is this not coercion? Rhetorical question, of course it's coercion.
I wonder how many kids who are given diplomas they did not earn go on to civil service jobs or other jobs only requiring a high school diploma? What if all those kids did not receive a diploma, maybe they would’ve dropped out and been put on the welfare system or worst got into crime. I am not saying to make diplomas worthless but at the end of the day it’s a piece of paper. Those who want to learn will learn, those who do not will not. There needs to be a better system in place. Maybe employers shouldn’t go only on diplomas but aptitude exams to really see if the person can do the job or not.
ReplyDeleteMaybe after 8th grade there should be two distinct routes. One for kids who want to go to traditional high school and one for kids who need or want an alternative schooling with a different schedule or curriculum, a trade school system but with way more schools and options.
ReplyDeleteThe principal of my high school received a letter from an official of the NYS Education Department questioning potential inaccuracies in Regents grading. The main issue was “excessive numbers” of 65 and 66 grades having resulted from original grades of 60 to 64 having been regraded. The principal, in turn, passed the letter along to my AP and asked that a reply letter be drafted to NYSED. The AP made copies of NYSED’s letter, distributed it to the entire department, and asked that we work together to come up with a logical explanation.
ReplyDeleteTo make a long story short, the principal sent the reply to NYSED, and we were later told that the State was satisfied.
Years later, I learned the practice was called “scrubbing” and that it had originally been instituted by NYSED:
www.ibtimes.com/new-york-ends-practice-scrubbing-regents-644349
I now heard Principals don't want teachers just giving an inordinate number of 65s. They also want teachers giving 70s and 75s so as not to look like grade inflation even though it is still grade inflation just inflating to higher scores.
ReplyDelete1019 is right. Diploma is just a piece of paper. If a “graduate” can’t read, write and sounds like a moron when he opens his mouth, he’s not getting or holding the job. I follow the DOE policies and pass kids. If anyone has a problem with it, take it up with Meisha and Adams come January and the voters and parents of NYC who keep allowing fools to be in charge of the school system.
ReplyDeleteIn unity...
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2021/07/10/washington-heights-school-staffers-have-no-confidence-in-principal-paula-lev-after-race-flap/
N Dwarka and M Morales.....you're going to be bunk mates very soon!
ReplyDeleteSaturday, July 10, 2021 6:17:00 PM
ReplyDeleteYes, teachers my HS in Flushing NY, had the same conversations with our Administrators. "We need to be careful how many 65's we are giving this semester, get them to at least a 70.' Giving out too many 65's can be problematic." Our graduation rate for this year is 82%. It has not been this high in decades. I wonder how many graduation waivers were granted this year.
I had a student email me at the end of the semester asking me why I failed him when some of his other teachers passed him for doing nothing.
6:12: Yes, it's turned into a piece of paper, but it demeans and disrespects the teachers who spend hours and hours lesson planning and grading and being criticized for not doing rigorous lessons. I've seen this time and time again, just answer a few questions and you graduate and are ready for college. You show me a college course where all you do is watch a movie and answer questions or answer a few questions on a worksheet and you get 3 college credits. Its disrespectful to us and the kids.
ReplyDeleteHey Moises Morales., Bryant HS...just remember, your signature is on a bunch of false things.....she's going to dump it all on you!
ReplyDeleteI get your point 2:25. But I don’t need the respect of nyc or their doe. I couldn’t care less about it. It’s a job. Just pay me. The DOE can shove any respect they may have in reserve. I don’t need or want it from them because they’re basically a giant bag of rabid moronic weasels.
ReplyDeleteDiblasio has barely did anything about bad principals in the past. He knows all about the cheating. If anyone accuses him for allowing rampant cheating he will say I did something about it and fired this particular principal. I think Diblaso did this because it’s very close to the end of his term.
ReplyDelete