PS 24 head Feldman ousted, DOE teaching coach takes over

A former teacher development coach, Steven Schwartz, is taking the helm at beleaguered Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) as interim acting principal, while the former acting head of school has been demoted, officials said Tuesday. 

Mr. Schwartz was previously the District 10 teacher development and evaluation coach, a job he held since 2015. Before that, he was a teacher at Timothy Dwight School (P.S. 33) and assistant principal at Bronx Little School (P.S. 691), according to the Education Department. 

The school’s former acting principal, Andrea Feldman, was demoted on Sept. 30 to assistant principal, officials said. An investigation found her supervision of the student registration process was amiss, officials said. 

The issue of registration and enrollment at the severely overcrowded school is at the center of a bitter feud between the school’s deputy principal Manny Verdi and a group of city officials and politicians. 

The ouster of Ms. Feldman makes her the latest “scapegoat” in the dispute, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a leading opponent of Mr. Verdi, said Tuesday. 

Previously, the Education Department announced the resignation of another official accused of various wrongdoings by Mr. Verdi – Melodie Mashel. She stepped down as District 10 superintendent on Sept. 14 and was to retire on Oct. 1. A departmental investigation found that Ms. Mashel had allowed “non-school personnel” to be present during the student registration process at P.S. 24. 

Ms. Feldman, for her part, had invited Mr. Dinowitz’s chief-of-staff Randi Martos to observe the registration process, according to local politicians who attended a meeting at the school early this year and to a statement by P.S. 24 parents association.

Mr. Verdi claims that the presence of people who were not employed by the Education Department violated students’ privacy, is accusing city officials and Mr. Dinowitz of defamation and of interfering with his work, and claims that their involvement was intended to prevent minority children from enrolling. Mr. Dinowitz dismisses the allegations, saying he and his allies were trying to solve the severe overcrowding problems at the school. 

There was “not a single person who was prevented from enrolling in the school at any time based upon the reasons that Verdi has given,” Mr. Dinowitz told The Press. 

Following a flurry of lawsuits filed by Mr. Verdi, the Education Department appears to have turned Ms. Mashel and Ms. Feldman into “scapegoats,” instead of focusing on addressing the overcrowding problem, he said. 

The “DOE doesn’t want to talk about the overcrowding,” Mr. Dinowitz said, adding: “The DOE is afraid of doing anything controversial, even if it’s to help the children of New York.” 

Mr. Verdi is suing education authorities for $14.2 million. He also filed – and then withdrew – a lawsuit against Dinowitz, although Mr. Verdi’s lawyer said he intended to refile it again. 

The school has been without a permanent principal for nearly a year, ever since former principal Donna Connelly resigned amid a series of controversies. 

Mr. Dinowitz expressed hope that the new head of school would immediately address the “underlying problem” behind the school’s troubles – its severe overcrowding. 

“Just as you want to have an excellent teacher in a classroom, you want an excellent principal leading the school,” he said.