School Questionnaire Shocks Parents

MYFOXNY.COM EXCLUSIVE - UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF STORY - PRINCIPAL ISSUES APOLOGY

Some parents are demanding the resignation of the principal at an East Harlem school because of a form teachers were asked to fill out.

Dr. Claudia Moore-Hamilton took over a year ago after serving as the assistant principal at the elementary and middle school.

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Fox 5 obtained the form that parents say Moore-Hamilton gave to teachers last month to fill out. It asks teachers to break down behavioral problems with students based on their race.  Moore-Hamilton is black. The student body of the school, PS 96, is more than 60 percent Hispanic.

Some parents claim the principal has also taken pictures of students when she feels they're misbehaving and threatens to send the pictures to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein or Mayor Bloomberg.

Parents held an emergency meeting at PS 96 with Department of Education officials Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter. The DOE issued a statement saying in part, "The survey was inappropriate." The statement added that the matter was being investigated by the office of special investigations.

The DOE also says the principal issued a formal apology.

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The principal issued this letter after the publication of our story:

June 2, 2009

Dear Teachers & Parents of P.S./M.S. 96,

Although I believed that my intentions were honorable last month when I distributed a survey to teachers, on reflection I realize that my approach was inflammatory and for that I assume total responsibility. At the time, I imagined that the survey was in keeping with our school’s action research objectives and responded to our Quality Review concerns regarding ethnic and gender-specific disaggregated data. Now, I wish to acknowledge that my choice to use this particular tool to analyze behavior trends has created concerns and anxiety that were not intended and I sorely regret its impact on you.

Therefore, kindly accept this letter of apology for any insult to you individually and collectively. In the future I will endeavor to be more mindful of such matters and seek additional consultation for guidance through sensitive issues such as these. I hope that you will accept this letter as a gesture of good will and commit with me to working together to continue to move our school towards greatness.

Sincerely,

Claudia Moore-Hamilton, Ed.D
Principal