Port Richmond HS Parents lobby Cuomo to block principal Oneatha Swinton appointment

UPDATE 1:30PM - http://www.silive.com/news/2018/05/parents_look_to_stop_port_rich.html

Six candidates were interviewed by parents and teachers in March. All but Swinton, who they ranked in the bottom half, have received rejection letters, sources confirmed. In their letter to Cuomo, parents cited The Post’s investigation. They also complained that Swinton had misused school funds by making unnecessary hires and refused to share the school budget... NY Post

Let's hope the new Chancellor makes a clean sweep of some of these characters.
 

The April 25 PEP brought out a contingent of Port Richmond HS parents, students and teachers protesting their principal, Oneatha Swinton, who also got bad reviews at the Secondary School for Journalism at the John Jay HS Campus in Brooklyn (Inside School, comments).

Here is a short video I made that night after meeting parent activist Annette Renaud, who was going to bring a contingent of teachers and parents to the UFT Ex Bd meeting to raise questions directly to the chancellor but that meeting was closed to outsiders. Maybe another visit to the PEP is in order.

Video: PEP April 25, 2018 - Port Richmond HS Protest

https://vimeo.com/267774737

Sue Edelman in the NY Post has a piece on the parents going directly above the heads of the DOE to Cuomo, thus giving him another chance to embarrass de Blasio again. The DOE has still been sheltering abusive principals. When de Blasio makes his weekly appearance on the Brian Lehrer show, people are beginning to call up and ask about specific cases.

Here is Sue's story

Parents lobby Cuomo to block  principal’s appointment

By Mary Kay Linge and Susan Edelman
https://nypost.com/2018/05/20/parents-lobby-cuomo-to-block-shady-principals-appointment/

Staten Island parents are begging Gov. Cuomo to stop the city from appointing Oneatha Swinton as principal of Port Richmond HS, citing “unprecedented corruption and criminal activity,” The Post has learned.

Under Department of Education regulations, a permanent principal should have been named at the school in January, but the rules require clearance of candidates by all agencies that investigate DOE employees.

Swinton, currently interim-acting principal, remains under scrutiny by the city Department of Investigation after The Post revealed in November that she registered her New York car at the Pennsylvania address of a DOE contractor she had previously hired. Doing so could have saved Swinton thousands of dollars in car-insurance costs.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Friday his office referred the parents’ letter to Cuomo to the state Education Department for investigation.

On Wednesday, parents and faculty expected Swinton’s appointment to be announced at a School Leadership Team meeting, but she and the district superintendent Anthony Lodico didn’t attend.

“He has made his decision. We know that,” PTA co-president Cindy Gerber told parents.

Six candidates were interviewed by parents and teachers in March. All but Swinton, who they ranked in the bottom half, have received rejection letters, sources confirmed.

In their letter to Cuomo, parents cited The Post’s investigation. They also complained that Swinton had misused school funds by making unnecessary hires and refused to share the school budget.

The city DOE said only that the appointment process “remains ongoing, and it will be concluded appropriately.”

Asked whether it had blocked Swinton’s appointment, the Department of Investigation declined to comment.