Friday, December 30, 2016

Marcella Sills' petition to get job back tossed by judge - NY Post

PS 106 was dubbed the “School of No” after the Post’s articles on its culture of student deprivation and administrative incompetence.
The campus had no Common Core textbooks, no physical-education or art classes, no proper nurse’s office and no special-education staffers. Instead of actual instruction, kids were herded into the school auditorium where they “watched more movies than Siskel and Ebert,” a whistleblower told The Post at the time... NY Post
Ed Notes did a number of pieces on Marcella Sills years before the Post ever touched the story. A few recent ones:

Ed Notes Online: PS 106 Update: Retired Teacher Writes to Farina
Jan 17, 2014 ... PS 106 Update: Retired Teacher Writes to Farina About Principal Marcella Sills' Leadership. When will Farina end the misery? If this were ...


Of course the Post doesn't mention that Sills treated her staff like crap -- a friend of mine after a decade at the school took early retirement rather than work one more day under Sills. It was she who sent out this article with the comment: Finally.

Did I say that the local UFT structure did nothing to support the teachers?

http://nypost.com/2016/12/29/fired-school-of-no-principal-has-petition-to-get-job-back-tossed-by-judge/

Fired ‘School of No’ principal has petition to get job back tossed by judge

A judge has tossed out the reinstatement petition of a former Queens principal axed for being chronically tardy — because she filed it late.

Marcella Sills was removed from PS 106 in Far Rockaway by Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña in 2014, after a series of Post exposés.

While Sills’ students went without basic supplies or instruction, the administrator was cited for being late 178 times between September 2012 and January 2014.

Despite that, Sills sought to reverse her sacking, arguing in court papers that there was no established start and end time for city principals.

Lateness, she contended, was in the eye of the beholder.
But a Manhattan judge reminded her this week that timeliness is not negotiable when it comes to the court system.

Sills, who earned $128,000 a year, was officially fired from the Department of Education on Jan. 22 of this year, after an administrative hearing, and had 10 days to submit her petition. But, true to form, she took her time. “Petitioner commenced this proceeding on April 19, 2016, over two months after the 10-day limitations period had expired, and this proceeding is time-barred,” wrote Manhattan Judge Manuel Mendez in junking her petition.
After a recitation of her offenses, Mendez slammed the door on her DOE career.
“This proceeding is dismissed,” he wrote.
Sills worked for the DOE for roughly 16 years and was appointed principal at PS 106 in 2005.

But she was ultimately buried under a total of 15 charges for offenses committed during the 2013 and 2014 school years.
In addition to her perennially busted alarm clock, Sills was cited for hindering the investigation against her and for having “subjected the NYCDOE to widespread negative publicity, ridicule and notoriety” and misusing her position “for personal benefit,” according to Mendez’s ruling.

After a 22-day hearing, an arbitrator found her conduct “too extreme to support any penalty other than discharge.”
PS 106 was dubbed the “School of No” after the Post’s articles on its culture of student deprivation and administrative incompetence.
The campus had no Common Core textbooks, no physical-education or art classes, no proper nurse’s office and no special-education staffers.

Instead of actual instruction, kids were herded into the school auditorium where they “watched more movies than Siskel and Ebert,” a whistleblower told The Post at the time.

No comments: