This just in to the SBSB newsroom. A developing story, and one that will be followed up on in the future.
It seems that Ronald Newlon, principal at the Kingsbridge International High School in the Bronx is manipulating Regents exams.
The high school of 488 students is located in the former Walton High School. KIHS serves students that have been in the country for less than four years.
What is strange is that out of a school of almost five hundred students, only two have IEP's yet many, many more are receiving ELL services.
But if only two students have IEP's why is it that so many have extended time for their Regents exams, beyond the time and a half? SBSB has learned that students are seen leaving the building up to 9 PM on days of the exams. This obviously goes beyond the time and a half.
SBSB has also learned that Ronald Newlon is under investigation for this and other issues. Sty tuned to SBSB has more news about Ronald Newlong comes in.
It's Regents time again, and the same shenanigans are going on. This is the least of the problems at KIHS. Someone needs to start investigating the CR/NC grades being given out. In essence, the school has become Pass/Fail in almost all classes. Let me explain; if a student earns a grade that is less than 70 on their report card but are still passing, they receive a grade of CR (Credit Recieved). There is no longer a numerical grade of 65. If a student fails, oops, excuse me, earns a grade less than passing, they receive an NC, or NO CREDIT. These grades of CR and NC ARE NOT WEIGHTED IN THE STUDENTS' AVERAGES! Thus there are dozens of students in the upper grades that have been in the school for 3,4,5 and yes, 6 years with less than a dozen credits. Several I could name off the top of my head have less than 10 credits- and all of those are from GYM.
ReplyDeleteThere are also many instances of students' grades being changed without teachers' knowledge/authority. But the biggest problem has to be the lack of reporting of students' behavioral violations including harassment and assault of teachers and students, truancy, gang problems and more. The Bronx Regional Office must look into this quickly because the problem is spinning out of control.
Concerning these reports: as of today there are any number of outstanding irregularities, non-compliances, and outright illegalities taking place in a number of areas, including Regents’ Administration, Earning of Credits, Changing of Grades, Non-reporting of Dangerous Incidents, and Administrative Irregularities. Principal Newlon has fostered an unsafe work environment in which several teachers were threatened, cursed at, and assaulted (including a pregnant teacher) but none of which has been reported. His laissez-faire style includes ignoring truant students when walking through the hallway, and the out-sourcing of Formal Observations to non-administrative personnel in the school and administrators from other schools. I would have taken this up with our UFT Chapter Leader, had he not been so deeply in the pocket of the principal. In fact, he has been the Chapter Leader for too long without a new vote or even the position being posted.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the administration, or lack thereof, there are no Assistant or Vice Principals, and no Dean. Therefore there is no system of support for teachers or system in place to deal with behavioral or academic issues the students have. In fact, even the administration itself is under-supported; there is only one licensed secretary (the payroll secretary), all other staffers are School Aides, including all attendance personnel and the Principal’s Secretary.
The Credits/Grades/Academic Progress situation is beyond deplorable. There are an inordinate amount of students who have been in the school for many years and have acquired less that a dozen credits. These students continue to progress from grade to grade until they are seniors, when they just camp-out for years. On the other hand,
there are many students who receive credits out of thin air, justified by a “Project” or “Independent Study” that either never happened, or was by no means enough to offset a semester of truancy or lack of work. Grades have been changed without the sitting teachers’ knowledge or approval, including attempts to change some students’ grades from prior schools they attended.
There are students who have never taken the required LAB-R test, but take the NYSESLAT. There are students who are illiterate in English, but get 90’s in classes and pass Regents’ Exams. Although the whole school is ELL, there is no ESL service to speak of, and students get way more than the Time and ½ allowed in Regents’ testing, often allowed to stay for 5 or 6 hours, including meals and snacks given them during the tests. I will not even go into the ultra-lenient grading of Regents’.
I could go on about the lack of Health Education, or the out-of-control problems of STD’s and Pregnancy, suffice to say that there is one senior class group with seven pregnant students in it. I could go on about the students understanding of the lack of consequences for misbehavior of any kind but the worst fights, or how no matter what, everyone gets some type of award, but I will end in saying this: the culture of the school is one that makes it very hard for “Good Kids” to stay “Good”. There is an apathy and sense of entitlement amongst the student body that has been fostered by the Administration, its outlook for the school and the negative culture created. In all, we have enabled the students to the point of disability, and are producing “college-ready graduates” who are illiterate in English (and often their native language) and unprepared for success in any post-secondary academic environment and life in general.
Beware. This principal is extremely delusional. Everyone who does not see things exactly his way is treated as the enemy. He is satisfied getting his numbers up by any means necessary, but he ignores his biggest responsibility: to prepare students for the future. Choose anywhere else to work or send your students, where the lines of communication are at least open.
ReplyDeleteTeachers - DO NOT EVER work for this scumbag DOE-trained Principal! He is the deadliest career-destroying shape shifter and a pathololgical liar and slithering wuss who allows students to beat up teachers and sits back and does nothing -- even worse, he awards his illiterate thug ex-con students with I-Pads, all while COWERING in his office searching for online courses to fill college credits for the illiterate numbskulls he graduates who are prepared for nothing more than the unemployment line. Newlon is the most feeble sleezebag you will EVER encounter. Someone must have hurt him real bad in the past-hope he runs into a rotweiler in some dark alley soon so he gets a taste of himself.
ReplyDeleteGreat news though: Regents Time = Reckoning Time! Can't wait for Tweed to see the abysmal Kingsbridge Regent's scores -- hello Kingsbridge faculty unemployment line !!! Newlon's greasy days as Slimeball No. 1 will soon be over. Hello, future ATRs! Now you will ALL have a bitter taste of the evil you've inflicted on innocent bystanders.