Where’s our new principal? PS 24 asks

The Department of Education (DOE) is delaying the hiring of a new principal at the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) pending an investigation into the process so far, according to a spokesperson.

A short Tuesday night statement from the spokesperson did not explain the cause of the investigation. The email said the delay would be temporary and that the “superintendent will communicate further updates to the school community going forward.”

But parents and educators are angry over the lack of a replacement for former Principal Donna Connelly since a series of controversies prompted her to retire in the fall.

Parents, a teacher and District 10’s Community Education Council (CEC) president were uncertain about the future of the principal vacancy as of Tuesday afternoon. 

That feeling had prompted P.S. 24’s Parents’ Association to issue an indignant letter on April 22 demanding the appointment of a new principal immediately after spring break, which ends on Friday, April 29.

“The teachers are pretty demoralized right now,” PA co-president Laura Moukas observed.

Jayne Wissner, a second-grade teacher and union representative at P.S. 24, said it is irresponsible of the DOE to leave administration of the school to one person.

“Teachers are very upset because one, we have a school of 1,000 students in two different locations and there’s only one person in charge and that person is an interim acting principal with limited power,” she said, referring to Andrea Feldman. “We all really support her. She’s a nice person and we feel that she’s been like the fall person. No one could do that job by themselves.”

Earlier this month, the DOE held a meeting for selected members of the PA and others to interview candidates for the principal opening. Ms. Moukas said during a subsequent phone call, District 10 Superintendent Melodie Mashel told her the hiring process was on hold, though she did not provide an explanation.

Ms. Mashel did not immediately answer press inquiries for this article.

During a Monday phone interview, District 10 CEC President Marvin Shelton said he had previously expected a principal to be named after spring break. But he noted possible irregularities with the process so far.

“I heard that there were some unusual questions posed to the candidates that probably shouldn’t have been,” he said of this month’s meeting, though he did not elaborate.

In the fall, two controversies prompted Ms. Connelly to retire from the DOE. First, there were reports that she had removed teachers’ desks and left them outside the 660 W. 236th St. school. Then, parents learned that the DOE had failed to renew a lease for an off-site annex for fifth-grade classrooms. The DOE is expected to turn its cold lunchroom and three adjacent areas into classrooms over the summer to accommodate the loss of the annex, at the Whitehall on Henry Hudson Parkway.

“The renovations that were previously announced will continue as planned,” the DOE spokesman said on Tuesday night.

Since November, Ms. Feldman, who was an assistant principal, has been leading the school. Sources interviewed for this article insisted that the administrative turmoil has not greatly affected students.

“I do think the teachers are doing a pretty good job of protecting kids in the classroom. But they hear things. They hear parents talking,” said Debra Weitz, a PA member and the mother of a first-grade student.

But Ms. Wissner noted how the lack of a permanent principal with the usual support staff is affecting teachers. At full strength, P.S. 24 has a principal and two assistant principals, but right now there is just Ms. Feldman and Assistant Principal Manny Verdi.

Ms. Wissner said the demands have left Ms. Feldman unable to conduct teacher observations — a key part of annual evaluations — in a timely way.

“If a teacher needs improvement, how would that teacher know if they haven’t been observed?” she said. “In that way, it could affect classroom instruction.”

Ms. Weitz said parents have been calling and emailing DOE officials to “let them know their feelings.”

In addition to the speedy appointment of a new principal, demands in the PA’s letter include “a full explanation of the source of the delay in the C30 process” — the DOE term for the selection of principals — and the designation of an extra assistant principal.

Ms. Moukas said she is expecting what she described as an emergency meeting for the School Leadership Team and the executive board of the PA to take place with Ms. Mashel on Monday, May 2.

“We just want the DOE to stop stalling us,” said Ms. Weitz. “We want our school to go forward and to be able to plan effectively for the next academic year.”