Principal hid disruptive students in trailer during review visits
This principal gets a “D” for deception.
During the last two visits by the district superintendent for a “quality review,” Rachelle Legions, the leader of PS 106 in Far Rockaway, Queens, rounded up six to eight of the most disruptive students and hid them in a trailer in the schoolyard, insiders told The Post.
Children in several grades who frequently scream, fight and throw things were allegedly stashed out of sight and earshot while District 27 Superintendent Mary Barton toured classrooms to evaluate the troubled school — now on a state watch list because of rock-bottom test scores.
Kids seen as troublemakers — including some with special needs — were removed from classrooms before Barton visited last May 11 and Nov. 30 to prevent an embarrassing ruckus, insiders said.
“You could walk by any time of day and there will be two kids beating each up,” a staffer said.
The ploy worked. “When the superintendent came through, it was calm and quiet,” a witness said.
Instead, The outcasts were allegedly kept occupied on laptops and even ate lunch in the mobile unit, normally used for offices.
But staffers are irate at the ruse, saying parents were apparently kept in the dark and would be shocked to learn their kids were isolated.
“I would be absolutely disgusted that you’re treating my child like a dirty little secret,” one fumed.
Legions refused to speak to a reporter. The city Department of Education said the school “routinely uses the [trailer] to provide student services,” but will look into the disturbing allegation.
Legions replaced Marcella Sills, whom the DOE removed as principal in February 2014 after The Post reported she routinely arrived late or not at all. City investigators confirmed that Sills did not document her absences while collecting her full $128,000-a-year salary.
The “School of No,” as The Post dubbed it under Sills, lacked many basics such as math and reading books for Common Core standards. Instead of gym or art classes, kids watched “more movies than Siskel and Ebert,” as a whistleblower put it. The fur-draped Sills was finally fired in January 2016, and last month lost a lawsuit seeking reinstatement.
While PS 106 kids now have books and don’t watch endless movies, other problems plague the 218-student school, now called “Lighthouse Elementary.” Legions rarely disciplines unruly kids — and bullies rule, some staffers and parents complain.
One mom said her son was assaulted by other kids multiple times. He even received written “death threats” — drawings of one stick figure pointing a gun at another with her son’s initials.
“I’m going to pull my son out of here when the year is over,” she said, adding that Legions is not welcoming to parents. “We’re not allowed to see or witness anything,”
In one instance, the school called her to pick up her son, but she had to wait 20 minutes outside and then was “escorted to the nurse’s office like a common criminal,” she said.
A second-grader’s mom said her daughter was bullied last school year, but Legions did nothing.
“I asked her to change classes. She refused,” she said.
Legions tells teachers to call the guidance counselor if a kid acts out, but last year cut the position to three days a week, staffers said.
“The bullies become empowered and the children who are self-conscious or weaker are belittled on a daily basis,” one said.
“The bullies become empowered and the children who are self-conscious or weaker are belittled on a daily basis,” one said.
The four-story brick building on Beach 36th Street and Edgemere Avenue is marooned in a sea of weed-strewn vacant plots near the beach. An annex ruined by Superstorm Sandy, slated for demolition, rots in the yard. A Dumpster overflowed with broken furniture and garbage.
State education officials said PS 106 was identified as a “priority school” last year because its combined 2014-15 English and math scores ranked among the bottom 3 percent in the state — and dropped significantly from 2013-14.
Last year, 16 percent of kids in grades three, four and five passed the state math exam — well below the 41 percent citywide average; 19 percent passed the English exam, compared to 40 percent citywide. The 2016 exams had fewer questions and gave students unlimited time to finish.
Legions paints a rosy picture. At a meeting before last school year ended, she told parents the school is doing “significantly better.”
DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye agreed: “Test scores have increased, parents support the principal, and the school will continue to make progress under this leadership,” she said.
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