The World James Waslawski Created At MS/PS 279 in The Bronx

MS/PS 279 Principal James Waslawski

Every so often we here at SBSB are lucky enough to get some information that shows what a sham the NYC DOE and it's foot soldiers, the principals and assistant principals, truly are.

Last week we were fortunate enough to have an expose on MS/PS 279, District 10, The Bronx come across our newsroom. The lies, manipulation, and intimidation current principal, Leadership Academy grad, and Cahn Fellow, James Waslawski uses has not saved the school from the incompetence of principal Pedro Santana who left, or was forced out in 2004, but rather has made things worse to the point where nothing might be salvageable.

Anyone and everyone at 279 who dares to disagree with Waslawski instantly becomes a target of his wrath. Yes, as previously mentioned, Waslawski  inherited a mess. But rather that was because of the ineptness of Pedro Santana and not the dedicated, talented staff of 279.

In April 2011, the Joint Intervention Team descended upon MS/PS 279. The report was so damning that everyone and their mother truly believed that Waslawski would be gone due to his erratic and confounding lack of management and leadership. But like a cockroach in the middle of a thermonuclear blast, Waslawski survived. Is he the best the Leadership Academy has to offer?

279

One would even think that a if Waslawski would want the brightest, the most talented, the most qualified assistant principals. But Waslawski follows the Leadership Academy playbook to a T in picking an AP. Someone that lives in his colon, someone who shares his ideology, and someone who has few qualifications for the job.

That person is Hallie Iannoli. Yes, that Hallie Iannoli who is the daughter of former Monkee, Peter Tork. While Peter Tork was and still is extremely talented, it appears that not only is Hallie an enigma wrapped in a riddle, she apparently is untalented and useless as well.

Hallie graduated from The New College of California (San Francisco) in 1996. This is a college that operated from 1971, to 2008 in which it lost its accreditation due to many failures including erratic bookkeeping. In fact, Hallie earned her BA in 3 years from such a failed institution should raise eyebrows.

But one cloud hangs low over Hallie. Why did she leave her previous school, Urban Action Academy, a school she helped found to go be an assistant principal at 279? The crack team is working on this at press time.

Troubling too is the fact that Hallie has been teaching for only 8 years. Back in the day, an AP and/or Principal was a veteran teacher with at least 15, sometimes 20 years, under their belt. In fact, even though the AP position was advertised as AP for ESL, Hallie has only a temporary TOESL certificate that expires today, January 31.

Allegedly, what Waslawski told the School Leadership Team was that the C-30 was irrelevant. That he would pick the candidate and too bad what the SLT wants. DOE rules call for the entire C-30 process to be completed in 3 months from date of advertisement. It now has been more than 3 months since the advertisement closed and the DOE has apparently sanctioned the alleged violation of its own rules.

The SLT has gone from delays to a rush in completing the process. At press time we do not know if Hallie's TOESL license has expired, been extended, or made permanent.

Hallie has never had a permanent teaching or leadership license. This should lead one to question the fairness and openness of the C-30 system and the entire system as well. The lack of transparency from the DOE and its principals is not only damaging the great history of the New York City Schools, but inevitably, and it is happening already, will damage education in NYC.

The injustices keep coming. Yesterday we had to read how Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris were parroting Uncle Mike and Sock Puppet Walcott in coming out against an independent arbitrator for teachers to appeal ineffective ratings in the new system. One would wonder what they would say knowing that Waslawski has given a U rating last year to anyone who stood up to him. Apparently, 279 is becoming more like Iran and North Korea. Threat and intimidation rule the day.

Our sources have told the crack team that former chancellor Klein revised C-30 and put in a clause that any irregularities must be reported within 15 days. At 279 it was more than 15 days since the highly qualified candidates found out that someone else was appointed.

Administration needs to learn that it is the kids that come first, not themselves and their little petty crap. With all this testing, data, VAA, crap after crap, the upper echelon cares nothing about the well being and education of the students. Rather, the upper crust, the elite, of the schools will do whatever self preserving acts out there to save only themselves.

But worse is the fact that the DOE not only enables this incompetency to influence our children, our students, but the DOE turns a blind eye to the inevitable, when these incompetents completely fuck up.