Kimani Brown (pictured above at left) speaks to parents at MS 393
Middle School 393 in Brooklyn removed chapter leader Kimani Brown from the school after he questioned the Principal on her practices in the school of not following IDEA 2004, Special Education Law. This looks like a clear case of whistleblower retaliation, and the UFT has filed a lawsuit on Mr. Brown's behalf to get him re-instated. I spoke with Kimani in the "rubber room" and he is a very caring person who wants to get back to the kids at 393 as soon as possible.
Here is the UFT press release about the lawsuit:
Ron Davis 212-598-9201 July 9, 2008
917-796-1305
Teachers Union Sues Brooklyn Middle School Principal
For Reassigning and Defaming Teacher
Who Insisted on Mandated Services for Special Education Students
The United Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit charging that principal Marian Bowden of Middle School 393 in Brooklyn violated a state whistleblower law by removing special education teacher Kimani Brown from his classroom and sending him to a temporary reassignment center in retaliation for his insistence that his students receive required services.
The lawsuit – which also alleges that Bowden subsequently made false and defamatory statements about Brown’s professional conduct to his colleagues, students and at least one parent – was filed on July 3 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan by the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan at the behest of the UFT, the union representing New York City’s 100,000 public school educators.
Bowden reassigned Brown to a temporary reassignment center on May 21, 2008, which prompted Brown’s colleagues and parents to stage two large demonstrations outside the school on May 27 and June 10. The school, located at 1014 Lafayette Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, serves general and special education students in grades 6-11.
Brown, a veteran teacher who is the union’s representative – also known as chapter leader – in the school, had maintained a good working relationship with Bowden for a while. In April of 2006, before Brown was elected chapter leader by his colleagues, Bowden wrote in a letter to Brown’s personnel file that he “is a dedicated and productive member” of the school’s staff.
But starting last fall, Bowden began to criticize Brown when they began to disagree on intervention services for special education students, alleged violations of group size regulations and the amount of time students were allowed to spend in the classroom and school budget priorities, among other issues. Bowden relieved Brown of his academic intervention service duties and the two subsequently clashed several times over issues ranging from services to students to respecting the contractual rights of the school’s educators and school safety.
“This is a clear case of a principal retaliating against an educator who had the nerve to stand up for his students,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “This principal needs to understand her role should be that of a leader, not a bully or tyrant.”
Weingarten said the union will continue to fight to have Brown reinstated at the school and have his personnel file at the school expunged of any disputed disciplinary charges or letters.
Principal's out to get me, charges teacher in 'Rubber Room' suit
BY RACHEL MONAHAN, NY DAILY NEWS,Monday, July 14th 2008, 7:36 PM
A Brooklyn teacher claims he was banished to a "Rubber Room" after blowing the whistle on his principal for preventing special education students from getting services, the teachers union charges.
Kimani Brown, a teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy IV for three years, is suing Principal Marian Bowden for punishing him in retaliation.
"I'm a special education teacher. I'm supposed to make sure my students are getting their services provided," Brown said. "So I spoke up."
Brown charged Bowden hadn't hired a resource room teacher until months into the 2007-08 school year and that special education students were denied counseling and weren't given mandated extra time on tests.
The allegations mark another controversy swirling about the school, which reported a mom to child welfare services over her daughter's supposed absences, even though she wasn't enrolled, the Daily News reported last month. Brown has been idling at full pay in a detention room since May 21, a lawsuit the union filed July 3 in Manhattan Supreme Court charges.
The suit refers to a letter of commendation Bowden wrote in 2006, praising Brown for his "commitment" to "the special needs population."
After Brown's complaint last fall, the suit charges, city and state education officials visited and gave the school until yesterday to file a plan to correct problems, including the lack of individualized education plans for some students.
The officials said they are reviewing the document and will monitor the academy to ensure compliance.
Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg declined to comment.
The school is also, it seems, 'padding' the roster with shadow students, an action that many principals do to obtain extra money for the school (or themselves).
School sics ACS on 'absent' teen
BY RACHEL MONAHAN, DAILY NEWS WRITER, Sunday, June 29th 2008,
Lisa Wilson and daughter Nailah, 14, pictured at right
A child-welfare worker searched a Brooklyn ninth-grader for bruises and peered in her refrigerator for food to see if she was being abused, her mom says - all because blundering school officials marked her absent from a school she never attended.
The Administration for Children's Services probe came after Frederick Douglass Academy IV incorrectly listed 14-year-old Nailah Wilson as a student, looked for her at the wrong address and never called her phone number, the Bedford-Stuyvesant school's principal conceded.
"Due to a lazy employee with the Department of Education, my family was subjected to an investigation by ACS," said Nailah's mother, Lisa Wilson, whose daughter attends Catholic school.
Wilson said a city child-welfare worker performed a "body inspection" on her children while looking for bruises and looked inside the refrigerator. "She [made] sure we [had] running water," Wilson said. "My daughter was crying."
Wilson also questioned why it took school officials until May 21 to look into her daughter's supposed absences that began in September.
"This is a prime example of someone falling between the cracks," she wrote to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein last month.
"Thankfully, this is not an abuse/neglect situation."
School officials have ramped up their attendance policies since the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown.
She was killed by her stepfather in January 2006 after her chronic absences - she had missed 16 days of school within a few months and 46 days the previous school year - failed to trigger any investigation.
Now, when a child misses too many classes, an alert flashes on the computers of school administrators and attendance teachers, who are required to promptly investigate.
But Nailah wasn't even in the public school system.
She has been at Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Windsor Terrace since the fall, according to a letter from her principal, Frank Brancato.
In an apology letter to Wilson, academy Principal Marian Bowden admitted an attendance teacher had gone to Wilson's street, but to house number 912 instead of 913.
"We were informed by our attendance teacher, after attempts from October through March, that Nailah did not reside at the address," wrote Bowden.
She also conceded, "The telephone numbers that we had in the roster were not utilized, and the guidance counselor called ACS."
"Our investigation process should have been more thorough, and going forward we will make sure that this error will not occur again," she added.
Bowden, who noted disciplinary actions had been taken against staff members who made the errors, did not return calls asking for comment.
The chancellor's special investigations office is probing the incident.
City Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said she couldn't comment on disciplinary actions until "the investigation has concluded.
It is not clear if the school even received funding for this student."
UNION HITS 'RUBBER ROOM' PRINCIPAL
By YOAV GONEN, NY Daily News,
July 15, 2008
The teachers union has filed a lawsuit charging that a Brooklyn principal violated state whistleblower laws by punishing a teacher who had made complaints about her.
MS 393 Principal Marian Bowden assigned teacher Kimani Brown to the so-called "rubber room" in retaliation for Brown's insistence his students receive mandated special-education services, says the suit filed July 3 in Manhattan.
Teachers-union head Randi Weingarten called it "a clear case of a principal retaliating against an educator."
A city Law Department spokeswoman said the suit was being reviewed.
Principal's out to get me, charges teacher in 'Rubber Room' suit
BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Monday, July 14th 2008, 7:36 PM
A Brooklyn teacher claims he was banished to a "Rubber Room" after blowing the whistle on his principal for preventing special education students from getting services, the teachers union charges.
Kimani Brown, a teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy IV for three years, is suing Principal Marian Bowden for punishing him in retaliation.
"I'm a special education teacher. I'm supposed to make sure my students are getting their services provided," Brown said. "So I spoke up."
Brown charged Bowden hadn't hired a resource room teacher until months into the 2007-08 school year and that special education students were denied counseling and weren't given mandated extra time on tests.
The allegations mark another controversy swirling about the school, which reported a mom to child welfare services over her daughter's supposed absences, even though she wasn't enrolled, the Daily News reported last month. Brown has been idling at full pay in a detention room since May 21, a lawsuit the union filed July 3 in Manhattan Supreme Court charges.
The suit refers to a letter of commendation Bowden wrote in 2006, praising Brown for his "commitment" to "the special needs population."
After Brown's complaint last fall, the suit charges, city and state education officials visited and gave the school until yesterday to file a plan to correct problems, including the lack of individualized education plans for some students.
The officials said they are reviewing the document and will monitor the academy to ensure compliance.
Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg declined to comment.
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