Great News: City Council is Looking at Legislation That Will Provide City-wide Tutoring For the Specialized High Schools Test (SHSAT)

Richard Parsons

 Great news for New York public school students interested in getting into a Specialized High School -Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and five other excellent educational institutions: a group of City Council members, Justin Brannan, Keith Powers and Oswald Feliz, have submitted legislation that offers educational opportunities such a test prep to more than 90% of NYC middle schools that do not currently have access to publicly funded test prep.

Ronald S. Lauder

We agree with Mr. Lauder and Mr. Parsons that "By making tutoring more widely accessible, this package has the potential to revolutionize the education public students receive."

We also firmly support giving all students access to excellence rather than lowering educational standards to fit everyone. Kids of all ages need challenges and higher-level problems that require creativity and ingenuity. 

Let's hope that the City Council passes this legislation quickly so that all those interested can apply in the fall.

But I think we should all stop worshipping the Specialized High Schools and instead seek to raise the level of ALL schools in NYC. Two of my daughters got into Stuyvesant, and it is a terrific place for many reasons, but certainly not the right place for many students who could not, or didn't want to, handle the intense workload and competition.

One of my other daughters got a spot in La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts. That was the right place for her, an artist and opera singer.

Parents, don't fit your child into a school. Find a school that fits your child's individual skills and needs.

 Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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How to build educational equity and excellence

By Ronald S. Lauder and Richard Parsons

New York Daily News

•

Jul 13, 2022 at 5:00 am

As New York City strives to build a more equitable public education system, beginning at our most vaunted educational institutions, one universal truth that educators, parents and students alike all know is that the key to ensuring that every New York student has access to the city’s specialized high schools is preparation.

Now, to our elation, it appears a group of City Council members understand this truth, too. A legislative package introduced in the Council last month marks a major step forward toward making education more accessible and equitable by improving preparation for and access to the SHSAT — the admissions test for Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and five other less famous but also outstanding public schools — for students across the five boroughs.

Councilmen Justin Brannan, Keith Powers and Oswald Feliz, who introduced the legislation, are working to ensure that every New York student receives a first-rate public education. We congratulate them on this critical step, stand with them in their campaign for improved education equity, and encourage the full Council to pass the package and Mayor Adams to sign it into law.

We have long fought to ensure that all students, especially students of color, have access to opportunities that will help them achieve their full potential.

Recent SHSAT data underscore the need for improved equity. In the past school year, Black and Latino students made up 21% and 26% of students who took the SHSAT, respectively, but received only 3% and 6% of offers to enroll in specialized high schools for this fall. In the same cycle, Asian-American students were 31% of test-takers and 53% of offers, while white students were 17% of test-takers and 28% of offers.

We know that test prep is one of the most effective ways to address the disparity. The Education Equity Campaign, which we co-founded, spent more than $1.2 million on free test prep for underserved communities in the academic year that just ended. Of 204 total students from underserved communities who received free tutoring from EEC in this past year, 54 of them, or 26.5%, were offered admission to one of the specialized high schools.

Since 2019, EEC has funded $4 million for free test preparation for the SHSAT, resulting in tutored students being four times more likely to gain admission than their peers.

This legislative package expands on EEC’s success by providing long-awaited resources for test-takers attending the more than 90% of New York City middle schools that do not currently have access to publicly funded test prep. By making tutoring more widely accessible, this package has the potential to revolutionize the education public-school students receive.

But the proposed legislation doesn’t stop at test prep. It will also broaden the pool of SHSAT takers. Black and Latino students currently make up almost 70% of all New York City public school children but only a third of all specialized high school applicants. By moving the test to a school day, we will have immediate and lasting effects on equity in the city’s schools.

In total, this legislative package is a historic step toward ensuring the historically disparate SHSAT outcomes are improved. Moreover, these bills build on the progress already underway in this new administration led by Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks.

Earlier this year, the pair announced a long-overdue expansion of the gifted and talented programs throughout the city, a move essential to addressing the inequalities afflicting the public schools. The disparities between the privileged districts, mainly in Manhattan, and communities of color in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are blaring, and this expansion addressed just that. We are incredibly thankful that Adams and now the Council continue to answer our call to take action against this injustice, but we must now turn our focus to the future, and where our most gifted students arrive in secondary education.

While some believe that the SHSAT should be eliminated or that the city should move toward a system that includes other admissions criteria, those critics overlook the true problem of education inequity, doing nothing to improve the education system or help prepare students for secondary education. Through the Council’s education package, students who have been neglected by the public school system because of their background or race will be afforded educational opportunities to achieve their true potential.

We know the future of public education in New York is brighter because of this legislation, and we look forward to its speedy enactment. And we hope this effort will serve as a model for continued partnership between city government and civic organizations in our fight toward advancing equity in education. By working together, we can make the New York public education system accessible, equitable, and the best in the country.

Lauder is a philanthropist, business leader and graduate of Bronx Science. Parsons is the former CEO of Time Warner and a graduate of John Adams High in Queens.

Diane Pagen: All New Yorkers Lose When Teachers Are Fired Because of the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

 When the City issued the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate without any mention of medical or religious exemptions, many lawsuits were filed. Our Constitution protects anyone from discrimination, but our government believes that there is a compelling government interest in trampling individual rights for the greater public good. Balancing those rights against individual liberties is a political act.

On or about mid-February almost 914 NYC Department of Education employees were fired for requesting and being denied religious or medical exemptions or accommodations from getting the vaccine, and the Department also denied unemployment and medical benefits, couching this  in absurd generalities such as an "undue burden.", and put a "problem code" on everyone's personnel file.  (see also Declaration of Betsy Combier and make sure you scroll to Exhibit A, the email sent by Eric Amato). Then the DOE pushed for the public to believe none of their actions were due to misconduct so that no one would get a fair due process hearing.

Their arguments are such baloney.

Almost no one is talking about the harm these terminations did to the kids who are the students in the classrooms where currently there are no teachers or no certified staff to teach them anything.

Additionally, after reducing the budget to accommodate the hundreds who have been fired, the Mayor and Chancellor have excessed teachers from many schools, shuffling many into classes not in their subject area. This makes no sense.

Brilliant writer Diane Pagen is talking about this, and I am posting her timeless and important Opinion piece published in the NY POST in February because she has spoken out about the abundance of seen and unseen harm the actions of a select few have caused.

Here is the video:

Diane asking Bernard Adams to tell his brother she was waiting outside his press conference in July to speak to the Mayor for 5 minutes about her being fired.

Adams would not stop to talk with her when he left his press conference.

Across America, not just in NYC, people are losing confidence in the public school system. 

The NYC Department of Education puts children last. Stay away.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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I lost my NYC school job to the vaccine mandate — and all New Yorkers are losing too

By Diane Pagen, NY POST, February 16, 2022

I’m one of the city employees who was fired this week when the vaccine mandate former Mayor Bill de Blasio instituted took full effect.

You’ve heard about us for months. While we’ve been on unpaid leave, we’ve been called “selfish” and “unsafe.” De Blasio suggested on TV that a few months without a paycheck would bring us to our senses, as if we had none. Gov. Kathy Hochul took a swipe at us when she told a Brooklyn congregation that vaccinated people are “the smart ones.”

We Department of Education workers have been particularly targeted by politicians and the press, who claim we “don’t care about the kids” — though they’ve been quieter since we unvaccinated educators were forced out of schools and COVID cases still went up 1,000% as Omicron hit.

You’ve been told that the firings — 1,430 this week, with 9,000 more city workers still seeking exemptions — only hurt those being sacked. That’s not true. I ask that rather than forget about us as quickly as politicians would like you to, you take some time to think about what you’re losing.

• You’ve lost tax revenue, and sooner or later you’ll see that loss in your community. I used to pay about $30,000 a year in taxes. When you see trash in the street, a dirty subway, reduced library hours or reduced summer jobs for our youth, you’ll see the decision to fire us affects others, too.
• You’re paying for additions to the food-stamp rolls. Now that I have no income, I get $250 a month. When employed and making around $90,000, I would regularly buy groceries for people who ran short. I can no longer dedicate resources to the needy.
• You’ve lost a public-school social worker. In August 2021, the former chancellor preened in the press when public schools hired 500 new sorely needed social workers to help our kids. Yet last year, schools lost many when the unvaccinated were forced onto unpaid leave. The Brooklyn school where I worked until October has been down one psychologist and one social worker — me — for months. The kids pay. The kids with special needs pay more. 
• You’ve got more harried staff who remain. The staff shortages are unfair to those still working. My social-media feeds are full of stories from overwhelmed school staff — especially the new and inexperienced, whose schools simply don’t have enough workers with the unvaccinated gone. These are the adults your children are counting on.
• You’ve lost a productive member of your city whose days used to be spent helping kids. My time looks a lot different since I was forced out of my job. During a typical recent week, I spent time appealing a rejected unemployment claim (three hours), filling out and faxing documents for my food-stamp application (five hours), waiting on hold for the state Department of Labor (one hour, 40 minutes), reading legal documents and making phone calls and writing letters to a host of politicians and “community leaders” who never respond. I am also prone to all the normal reactions to involuntary unemployment that you would expect — sadness, anxiety, frustration, all of which affect my neighbors and my family if they catch me on one of those days. 
• You’ve lost leverage as a worker, whether public or private. By destroying our economic lives in the public eye, city administrators are making an example of workers who object to an arbitrary demand and sending a message to the rest of the workforce. The city is showing it’s willing to break thousands of labor contracts, too.
• You’ve lost New Yorkers. Many of us, gobsmacked by the months of defamation of character and the financial coercion, have left or are making plans to leave shortly. I know a dozen dedicated teachers with 20 years of experience who will no longer be around to teach your children, spend their wages in our economy and generally help make New York the amazing place it was.

I was a tenured employee with six years dedicated to city schools. But I couldn’t keep my job simply by doing a good job. Instead, I faced a months-long intimidation campaign. And I finally lost my position because I wouldn’t get a medical treatment I don’t think is right for me. New Yorkers, think about what you’ve lost here, too.

Diane Pagen, LMSW, was a school social worker for the New York City Department of Education.

NY Supreme Court Rules That Teachers Accused of Submitting Fake Vaccination Cards Must Be Placed Back on Salary

 

re-posted from Advocatz.com:

Court Says “No” To NYC DOE Injunction That Keeps Teachers With Alleged “Fake” Vax Cards Off Salary

by Betsy Combier, Advocatz.com, July 8, 2022

Judge Arlene Bluth made an important precedent-setting decision today in the matter of the 82 teachers who were suddenly removed from salary on April 25, 2022  because the NYC Department of Education “believed” they had submitted fake vaccination cards when told to send proof of vaccination in September 2021 under the Citywide Vaccine Mandate. Why do I say precedent-setting? Because Judge Bluth said STOP to the Board of Education of the City of New York after they blatantly violated public policy, the UFT and CSA contracts, Constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, Education Law, as well as countless other state and City laws and rules, by placing 82 people off salary because of a “belief” in their guilt.

Imagine the angst of an employee being accused of committing a felony crime and suddenly placed on leave without pay without any proof or any other information, including when you will be able to tell someone you are innocent and get back on salary.

When I first heard about this I did not believe any of it. Also, Education Law 3020 is very clear on the Constitutional rights to due process:

” No person enjoying the benefits of tenure shall be disciplined or removed during a term of employment except for just cause and in accordance with the procedures specified in section three thousand twenty-a of this article or in accordance with alternate disciplinary procedures contained in a collective bargaining agreement.”

This tenure law was created to stop any principal from suddenly terminating anyone for some nonsensical petty reason.

When Mayoral control took over the NYC Department of Education, Mayor Bloomberg rented huge spaces in District offices around the City ( there were 8 in total, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx) where tenured educators were reassigned and suspended WITH pay sometimes for up to 15 years, while awaiting a 3020-a hearing or after being found guilty but not terminated at a hearing. These rooms became what is known as the “rubber rooms”. People sat in these rooms ON SALARY but suspended from their teaching duties.

On April 25, 2022 the NYC Department of Education went a step further and unilaterally placed 82 teachers on unpaid leave who had received one or two Pfizer vaccine shots at Wild Child in Amityville. Simply and astonishingly, these 82 people seemed to have been picked randomly and found guilty of the same allegation of wrong-doing as the people cited in a sting operation by the Suffolk County DA – see arrest in Suffolk County of Julie Devuono – because they went to the place of the crime.

This seems to me to be similar to someone going to a bank to withdraw money, and suddenly robbers arrive and try to rob the bank. The police see the innocent person and make a connection to the robbers, and arrest the person trying to get a withdrawal.

Beth Norton, UFT General Counsel

As soon as the April 19 notice of  pending leave without pay on April 25 was received, the UFT General Counsel Beth Norton (pictured above) wrote Liz Vladeck, General Counsel (pictured below) an email letter that basically said, “stop this ridiculousness immediately, and put all people back on salary until a due process hearing has been held.”

Liz Vladeck, NYC DOE General Counsel

On May 3 Beth Norton asked Arbitrator Martin Scheinman to intervene, and he agreed. He issued his Scheinman Award June 27 (see below) saying that the Department must put everyone back on salary until “guilt” is established:

“Leave without pay is an unusual outcome. Yet, I decided it was appropriate for employees whose requests for a medical or religious exemption were denied. This is because such employees intentionally decided to disregard the mandate they be vaccinated by September 27, 2021, the date established by Commissioner Chokshi and Mayor de Blasio.

Implicit in such a designation of leave without pay is the individual failed to comply with the vaccine mandate. Here, there is a dispute whether the employees did or did not comply. Without that being assessed, or at least submitting evidence to show a high likelihood of non-compliance, the predicate for placing an employee on leave without pay does not exist.”

The DOE immediately filed an Article 75 Appeal to keep all 82 teachers suspended without pay and without any due process, but on July 8, 2022 NY Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth decided the DOE was wrong. The DOE and UFT will have another chance to make their arguments to Judge Bluth on July 19, 2022.

Meanwhile, 30 of the 82 teachers could not wait for the UFT or DOE to give them the relief they desperately needed, to be placed back on salary. They sued the NYC DOE in Kings County Supreme on June 30, 2022. I helped them put the case into the very amazing hands of Attorney Chad Laveglia who I asked to comment on all of this and the Scheinman Award issued June 27. He said,

“These teachers followed every instruction they were given. They uploaded their vaccination cards as required. Seven months later, the DOE had the audacity to send them an email placing them on leave without pay.  Significantly, they did so in abrogation of the due process that these teachers are constitutionally and legally entitled to. Due process protects the innocent from determinations of guilt based on nothing more than the whims of the accuser. The DOE has no basis in fact or law to summarily discipline these teachers. The DOE’s arbitrary and unlawful actions will be rectified in court.”

Chad, I, and all the unfairly suspended teachers are awaiting the next Court date, and we are hopeful that the denial of Law by the DOE will be stopped, and everyone will placed back on salary with back pay and any other relief that is just. and proper – including their jobs back!

See the papers in the Article 75:

Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York et al v. United Federation of Teachers, Local 2, AFT, AFL-CIO, et al

Index No. 451995/2022

PETITION

Vaccine Mandate August 24

April 19 email

Scheinman Sept 10 Award

Declaration of Impasse

UFT April 21 letter

DOE April 22 letter

UFT May 3 letter

DOE May 4 letter

UFT MAY 6 letter

DOE May 10 letter

UFT May 11 letter

Teachers CBA

2018 Memorandum of Agreement

Scheinman Sept 15 Award

DOE-ORDER_TO_SHOW_CAUSE

DOE Affirmation of Good Faith

Proof of Notice to Respondents

UFT MEMORANDUM_OF_LAW

Bluth signed-ORDER_TO_SHOW_CAUSE

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Faculty at the High School for Law and Public Service File a Complaint Against Principal Paula Lev

Principal Paula Lev

After posting in 2021 the news about Paula Lev, Principal at the High School for Law and Public Service, and her alleged discriminatory actions against white teachers, it seems that the NYC Department of Education did nothing except 'probe' into the Complaints.

Now, a Complaint has been filed with the NY State Division of Human Rights.

Why does it take so long to replace a principal, at least put the person into a rubber room, when teachers are reassigned within a day or two after an allegation is made against him/her?

See:

Paula Lev, Principal of the High School for Law and Public Service, Tries To Divide Her School By Race

NY POST, July 18, 2021

and

NYC school's faculty rebels against principal who 'conspired to get rid of white teachers' and who 'definitely has something against white people'

Just askin'

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Principal accused of trying to fire white teachers because of their race created school of 'insanity' plagued with low-quality education and 'dangerous' fighting, say students

• High School for Law and Public Service students are angry at Principal Paula Lev
• The students allege her diversity crusade has fostered 'insanity' in the classroom
• A petition claims Lev replaced qualified staff with unknowledgeable employees
• It also alleges an increase in fighting, arguing and lack of discipline from admins 
• Students say their quality of education has declined, as well as their safety
• The DOE probed Lev last year after she allegedly tried to get rid of white staffers
• The complaint against her will now go before the NY Division of Human Rights 

By NATASHA ANDERSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM 

PUBLISHED: 09:26 EDT, 3 July 2022 | UPDATED: 09:29 EDT, 3 July 2022

A Washington Heights principal accused of wanting to oust white staffers reportedly created a learning environment plagued by 'utter disorganization and insanity.'

Students attending New York City's High School for Law and Public Service claim their lives have become 'miserable' under the leadership of Principal Paula Lev.

They also allege their quality of education has declined after Lev ousted 'fully experienced and qualified' staff as part of her alleged diversity crusade. 

A student-created petition claims a handful of Lev's new hires 'are super under-qualified' and that their 'lack of knowledge' has affected students' ability to learn.

The petition also cited fears of attending class due to a 'dangerous' environment fueled by an 'insane number of fights, constant arguing and improper administrative action.'

Lev was hit with a probe last year by the NYC Department of Education (DOE) after she allegedly told a teacher she was 'going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren't doing anything for the kids of our community.'

The complaint will now go before the New York State Division of Human Rights.

The probe was launched after faculty members at High School for Law and Public Service accused principal Paula Lev of discriminating against staff and conspiring to get a white colleague fired.

Faculty filed a complaint with the Education Department and also voted they had 'no confidence' in Lev's leadership.

The complaint alleged Lev 'flagrantly but unsuccessfully attempted to divide our school by race' and told an employee that she 'was going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren't doing anything for the kids of our community.'

In the last year, Lev has issued excess notices to four white staffers, insiders told The New York Post on Saturday. DailyMail.com has contacted the Division of Human Rights in attempt to confirm the allegation.

The DOE, however, contends that only two staffers had been excessed, alleging the decision was made by 'contractual rules regarding seniority.'

The department explained that the school had created a new position focused on 'conflict resolution.'

'The Department of Education is absolutely committed to providing a strong and supportive environment in all of our schools and for all of our students. We work with our principals every day to ensure that students and staff receive the support they need,' DOE spokesperson Jenna Lyle told The Post.

Insiders allege some of the excessed teachers have found new jobs so they weren't 'officially considered cut' from school staff. 

Other former school employees reportedly left on their own, with three additional teachers deciding to call it quits this month.

'There are many more teachers who have voiced that they plan to leave and they feel demoralized,' an unnamed staffer told the paper. 

Students have issued similar allegations in a Change.org petition started earlier this year by incoming senior and class valedictorian Angel Dilawar, 17.

'Many students at the High School for Law & Public Service would like to bring to your attention that we have had enough and cannot bear to witness the utter disorganization and insanity at our school, especially that we once proudly called home,' the petition states. 'While there have been tremendous efforts to be heard, the higher-ups have not taken any action.'

The petition alleges that students are not receiving the quality of education they're accustom and entitled to.  

'It is unfortunate that we have some new teachers that are super under-qualified, and staff members that were fully experienced and qualified were excessed,' the document reads. 'It has been our experience that the lack of knowledge of a few new staff members has affected our learning. 

'It is frightening to imagine more similar staff members being hired who require student assistance to accomplish simple tasks. What's even more scary is that those are some vital positions.'

Students further contend that Lev is more focused on appearances than learning.

The petition states that she has prioritized improving the school's appearance by purchasing new furniture, plants and TV screens for the hallways. 

Dilawar also told The Post that Lev purchased $50,000 worth of hooded sweatshirts to be worn with school uniforms, but the teen claims no one wears them.

Scholars allege they would 'much rather prefer to receive new laptops and textbooks' or see school funding invested into 'hiring more teachers to teach AP classes, core subjects and electives.'

The students also allege the school looks proper 'communication and transparency.' 

'From the outside it may appear that everything is going great, but in reality, none of the members of the school community are aware of what's going on. I compare it to a bad apple, gleaming and shining on the outside but once opened you see how rotten to the core it is,' the petition reads.

'Certain teachers are completely clueless and students can provide many examples that demonstrate there is no communication at all. There is always last-minute notice for students and they feel that they don't matter and are always silenced.

'We are deeply dismayed to see this unfold at a school that had been blossoming before this principal took over. Happiness, pleasure, and contentment have now become filled with tears of agony and sorrow. Many of 'our teachers and administrators' whom we truly valued, are now gone.'  

The petition has already received more than 400 signatures. 

Dilawar also told The Post that a lack of discipline has made the school a free-for-all environment. 

'Right now students can do anything they want and they're not going to get in trouble,' she said.

Additionally, she alleged that she was asked to write college recommendation letters for her peers while working the school's college office.

Dilawar claimed the current office staffer had a 'limited grasp of English' and needed assistance with the letters.

'These students would be shocked to find out that their recommendation letters would be written by a student, a junior,' she said.

Another incoming senior, 16-year-old Hannah Maldonado, alleged that Lev also created division during a Culture Day celebration, which was intended to promote diversity.

Maldonado claims she asked for 'greater musical variety' to be played during the event but was shut down by Lev who, speaking in Spanish, told the DJ to play one additional song before going 'back to Spanish music.'

'I was told that the student government curated a playlist to be inclusive to all of our cultures,' the teen said.

Dilawar says she has contacted Schools Chancellor David Banks multiple times about the ongoing issues at the High School for Law and Public Service and complaints from students, but has failed to receive a response. 

Investigation into the principal's leadership began last summer after faculty and staff complained that Lev, who is Dominican, was discriminating against employees.

According to the DEO complaint filed last year, a faculty member claims approached him with a plan to terminate an unidentified white, female employee. 

He alleged that Lev asked him to get a state education certification so he would have more qualifications than the white employee and Lev could fire her as 'excess' staff.

'Ms. Lev has asked me to conspire with her on a couple of occasions in getting rid of my colleague,' the faculty member wrote in the complaint. 

'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. 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. 

'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 reportedly laid off the faculty member who filed the complaint on the last day of the 2020-2021 school year, claiming he was no longer needed at the school and should look for work elsewhere in the DOE.

DOE Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer told DailyMail.com at the time, that the High School of Law and Public Service: ‘qualified to excess a small number of staff at the beginning of next school year. The designation of excess staff is determined by contractual rules regarding seniority. 

'Staff would have received a letter regarding potential excessing, which is not uncommon at this time of year as enrollment, budgets, and staffing needs change. All staff have the opportunity to take jobs on the open market, which the staff members at this school have done.’ 

Styer said the DOE was 'committed to providing a supportive, high-quality learning environment at all our schools, and the superintendent and executive superintendent are working closely with the principal and the whole community to address concerns.'

He added: 'We will work to ensure students and staff continue to receive the support they need.'

Tensions first flared between Lev and staff in February 2021, when she publicly accused Nick Bacon, the union chapter leader, of being racist after he filed a routine grievance about a scheduling issue affecting faculty members.

Lev confronted Bacon in front of a room of his colleagues and said, '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?'

Bacon wrote about the incident on March 2 in a letter signed other staff members and sent to Manny Ramirez, the superintendent of District 6. The grievance was solved in Bacon's favor and Ramirez acknowledged in a staff meeting that Lev's comment was 'inappropriate,' but that the two must work together and move past it.

Lev later apologized to Bacon for publicly calling him out, a course told the New York Post. However, she stood by her comment and said it represented how she felt. She also recommended that Bacon read Robin DiAngelo's 2018 book 'White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.'

She then encouraged Bacon to have 'courageous conversations' with her about the themes in the book, referencing a term used by the Department of Education during workshops on implicit bias.

Faculty members said that Bacon reached out to DoE Chancellor Meisha Porter earlier this month and asked for her to get involved.

He also met with dozens of staff members on June 24 to determine the conditions of their 'no confidence' vote. Their reasons, listed in the complaint, included that she had 'disrespected, slandered, and/or arbitrarily gone after respected educators, to the detriment of our entire school community.'

They also asserted that Lev violated their labor contract and left staff out of debates on important school decisions.

'With almost the entire 40+ membership voting, including both tenured and untenured teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service professionals, 83.3percent voted that they no longer have confidence in our principal to lead our school,' reads a statement about the vote, which was obtained by the New York Post.

It's not too common for staff to file votes of 'no-confidence' against school officials. 

In 2019, faculty at Forest Hills High School in Queens filed a no-confidence vote against Principal Ben Sherman because he allegedly took not action to stop students from smoking marijuana. The DOE eventually removed Sherman from his position.

Lev began her tenure at the High School for Law and Public Service, on the George Washington Educational Campus, in February 2020 and was promoted to principal after her predecessor Nicholas Politis retired.

Before that, she worked for the Department of Education for 13 years in various roles. Since 2015, she has also been an adjunct professor at New York Institute of Technology, specializing in graduate work with students with disabilities.

Lev, whose salary was $165,542 2020, is married to Benjamin Lev, who is an assistant principal with the DOE.