SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: The Hypocrisy of Sock Puppet Dennis Walcott and the Daily News

Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Hypocrisy of Sock Puppet Dennis Walcott and the Daily News

The Daily News with seemingly nothing better to do, has taken a course over the last several days to do Uncle Mike's bidding and besmirch teachers who have been accused of inappropriate contact with students. The News whines that these teachers, when afforded their rights under the United States Constitution were either found not guilty, had statements and evidence thrown out, or given penalties other than being terminated by a impartial arbitrator.

Which brings me to the defense of my pal, Chaz the Blogger, henceforth known as Eric Chasanoff. Eric, has been raked over the coals by the Daily News. Not only for coming out as he has on his blog, but for The Daily News misrepresenting the truth. Thankfully, The New York Times at least gave Eric the chance to share his side of of the truth, and Eric gave his side as well.

Which brings me to wonder. Why would The Daily News editorialize this past Friday that "Pervy Teachers Must get the boot, whilst pervy administrators, or administrators that beat up children don't get the boot? Sock Puppet Walcott gave this information, not just regarding Eric, but 15 other teachers. The editorial says; 
"Chancellor Dennis Walcott had identified the 16 as having been worthy of dismissal when he reviewed disciplinary cases in the wake of the arrests of several school staff members"
The sock puppet decided to share this on his own, on did it come from someone much higher, like a deity in the form of Uncle Mike?

One can only read about Bronxdale High School's principal John Chase Jr and the proclivities he wishes upon his penis. Or even Dr Mychael Willon, formerly a LIS/Network Leader and had a plum position at Tweed recruiting principals. Did not the NYC DOE due its due diligence and was either aware or unaware of Dr Willon being caught masturbating or some other deviant sex act in a Wichita KS adult bookstore in 1990. Or did the NYC DOE ever investigate the diploma mill in which "Dr" Willon received his Phd, in which several other school districts saw through the charade and did not hire him? But, and this is a big but, perhaps the NYC DOE did come to its senses and decided to gently allow Willon to leave and land on his feet at Alternative Unlimited, a student tutoring and educational company, as chief academic officer in Houston TX?

Oh but there is more. As I mentioned when I "came out," we had an assistant principal at my school, affectionately known in these pages as "Numb Nuts," that had a hankering for beating the shit out of children. Numb Nuts is better known as Derrick Townsend. Derrick has landed nicely on his feet at Community for Special Education 2 in The Bronx.

What did Derrick Towsend do? Well we need to go back to January 2007 in which I notified by immediate superior at the time, principal Cynthia Ballard of Townsend's misdeeds. Read on;
On Monday, January 22nd, 2007 during the extended day program, I heard a commotion outside my office, Room 219, in the hallway. I stepped to the doorway of my office and saw that XXXXX was struggling with Mr Townsend. Mr Townsend appeared to be attempting to get XXXXX inside his office. Mr Townsend then took XXXXX’s right arm, and pulled it behind and up XXXXXX’s back as he was doing this; he slammed XXXXX into his closed office door with XXXXX’s face and chest bearing the brunt of the impact.

On Thursday, January 25, 2007 at approximately 12:20 PM the 3rd grade was in the auditorium to watch a movie before they ate lunch. XXXXXX had come down with his class, and was not cooperating. XXXXXX had decided to sit in the 2nd or 3rd row of the far right (if facing the stage) set of seats. I was standing at the back of the auditorium, and saw Mr Townsend approach XXXXXX. I do not know what was said at first, but Mr Townsend was soon getting very animated. Mr Townsend then grabbed XXXXXX by his upper left arm, and pulled him out of his seat violently. He dragged XXXXXX up the aisle to the last row of seats, and threw XXXXXX into the aisle seat.

   On Tuesday, January 30, 2007, at apprixomately 12:20 the 3rd grade was in the aditorium to watch a movie before they ate lunch. XXXXXXX was talking to XXXXXX in the last row
   Of seats on the right side of the auditorium. Mr Townsend asked XXXXXX several times come sit with his class. XXXXXX refused, and Mr Townsend walked up to the last row. Mr Townsend walked down the row, grabbed XXXXXX, by his upper arm, yanked him up, and dragged XXXXX into the aisle.
WOW! So did anything happen? Before you answer, think for a moment. What would have happened if pretend Townsend was a a teacher not an AP. Yep, you are right. This was reported to OSI. OSI kicked it back to the principal, the same principal that had just hired him one month earlier, to lead the investigation. The investigation was unfounded. Why? Because in Cynthia Ballard's reports to OSI she blamed the students. Described them as troublemakers and discredited them. There was no recourse.

Flash forward to February 13, 2009. Townsend in a fit of pique because a 3rd grade girl would not follow his directions after sharing with Townsend that she was touched inappropriately by a boy, yanks her out of her seat by the arm, drags her through the classroom, down the hall, all in front of 50 students and at least several adults and leaves bruises on her arm. 

To make a long story short, he is finally removed and sent to the Rubber Room and languished there until the Rubber Rooms are closed. At no time, and this is to the best of my knowledge, were any witnesses called to testify at his hearing. I believe that the case was settled and he went his way.

The funny thing is Townsend had about 6 open corporal punishment allegations against him that year. One for dragging a 3rd grade boy a good fifty yards from the playground into the school whilst tearing the boys shirt in the meantime, dragging a 1st grader down the hall, punishing another boy who misbehaved at lunch by having the boy clean the cafeteria.

Where is the outrage from Uncle Mike and Sock Puppet Dennis Walcott? Where is the outrage from The Daily News? It is time to stop the hypocrisy! It is time to stop the open season on teachers! As long as hypocrisy shines at the NYC DOE I, and others, will be there to expose and fight against the hypocrites.

Oh, and the above three administrators I had mentioned, I would never allow any of them within 100 miles of my son. Not only would I have no problem having Eric Chasanoff as my son's teacher, but I can only hope and pray that once my son enters high school he would have a science teachers as knowledgeable and caring as Eric. Eric is a mensch.

5 comments:

Pissedoffteacher said...

I concur 100% with everything you wrote. Eric is wonderful in every way. He didn't deserve teh publicity the News and the Times gave him.

UA said...

Just catching up on this reading...
I have seen 2 Assistant Principals physically abuse kids. One kicked them regulary in the shins with spike heels to get them to move faster in the halls. Same AP sometimes paddled them instead, hitting them full out in the thighs with a flat piece of wood. What would generally start as a kind of a rough joke usually ended with the kids saying "Ouch," "Ouch." The other AP picked a boy up and plastered him against a wall, threatening him the entire time and egging him on to fight. Both APs are now principals.

The question for the bystander is: should I have reported these things? I obviously chose not to. Such is the climate in which we've been living.

Anonymous said...

Hi, this is Ben Chapman, one of the reporters behind the Chasanoff pieces in the News. I want you to know that I phoned Chasanoff repeatedly and asked him to comment for our story. Your post suggests that we didn't reach out to him for a comment, but in fact we did. Unfortunately Chasanoff told me he was "not interested" in speaking with me. I would love to hear from you regarding the other matters you mention in this post, including Dillon and Townsend. If you have a moment to discuss please drop me a line at bchapman@nydailynews.com. Thank you very much, Ben

ed notes online said...

Hey Ben
The reason he didn't give you a comment and why I an now urging everyone to refuse to speak to you guys is because you will pick and choose which bite to use. Example: Arthur Goldstein who gave some comments that made Chaz look good but weren't used. So why bother? We all have blogs now to provide unedited comments. I can't think of one interview I gave where the important stuff was used.

Anonymous said...

Norm, It's true. All journalists must "pick and choose which bite to use." That's part of the job. But good journalists do not misrepresent their sources' statements. Goldstein's comments were left out the piece because the writer (I didn't write it) and editor ran out of space. There is no agenda here other than to tell the truth. People in the community respect you a lot. That's why it saddens and alarms me to hear that you are "urging everyone to refuse to speak" with us. By working to shut the media out of the conversation you're making that it much harder for us to give an accurate and complete report of the truth. And you know as well as I do that the press is essential to democracy. As far as blogs taking over that role from the major media, that's not happening any time soon. I urge you to reconsider your position. That's all, I've got to get back to work now. Ben