A high school principal has found herself under investigation for ‘flagrantly but unsuccessfully” attempting to divide a school.
Paula Lev, principal of the High School for Law and Public Service, is under investigation by the New York City Department of Education for targeting white faculty members. A complaint states she “was going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community.”
Lev, also tried to recruit other teachers to “conspire with her” to get rid of a white colleague.
“She was going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community,” the complaint read.
The school has a very diverse staff and they were furious over the principles behavior.
From the New York Post:
Dissatisfaction with Lev, 39, boiled up in February, when teacher Nick Bacon, the union chapter leader, filed a routine grievance about a scheduling issue that could have affected most of the faculty, staffers said.
In front of a half-dozen other staffers, Lev questioned Bacon’s motives.
“I wasn’t sure what your problem with me was, maybe it’s because I am a woman of color and you’re a white man?’ Lev asked Bacon, according to a March 2 letter to District 6 Superintendent Manny Ramirez and signed by most of the school’s tenured members.
Staffers were outraged that Lev had seemingly accused Bacon, who was raising their labor concerns, of being racist. The school has a diverse staff — about half white, some Jewish and Greek. A mix of black, Hispanic and some Asian make up the rest.
The grievance was resolved in favor of the union and Lev was forced to apologize however, that didn’t stop her behavior and she demanded that Bacon read “White Fragility.”
Four months later, another faculty member filed a discrimination complaint claiming that Lev pressured him to help her get rid of a white femal staffer.
“Ms. Lev has asked me to conspire with her on a couple of occasions in getting rid of my colleague,” the faculty member alleges in the OEO filing.
“She also stated to me in Spanish that she was ‘going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community,’” the complaint states.
“I believe Ms. Lev is not suited for the position of principal because of the comments she has made to me about white people and the malicious ways in which she thinks and speaks. She is not fit to be a leader of a school,” concluded the complaint.
“As a school staff, we have lost confidence, creditability, trust, and most importantly we have lost hope in Ms. Lev as a principal at the High School for Law & Public Service.”
Lev in currently under investigation.
