Posted on 02/23/2007 2:17:35 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
TAMPA - Undercover police officers were in place around the lobby of Van Buren Middle School just before school got out Thursday, They posed as parents. Their target was inside the principal's office.
The officers were focused on the popular principal who, they say, arranged a meeting with a bogus drug dealer to buy crack cocaine in his office. The deal was made as students milled about in nearby hallways.
But in the principal's office, events unfolded that made it Principal Tony Giancola's worst day. When he bought the crack cocaine, police said, he dropped another bomb. He told the undercover officer that he was going to smoke the rock right then and there.
"He said that he wanted to hit it," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
The officer responded by saying he was uncomfortable with that. Whatever the gray-haired, goateed, 40-year-old principal wanted to do after he left was up to him. When Giancola escorted the undercover officer into the lobby to say goodbye, the other officers swept in.
..."I can't believe they would humiliate him like that," said Shannon Bischel, a parent of a seventh-grader. "We all make mistakes, and to embarrass him like that is cruel considering all he's done for the school."
...Some students worried how the arrest will affect the school's reputation.
"People already think we're a bad school," 11-year-old Cassy Estera said. "Now, no one will want to come here."
The news of the arrest changed at least one parent's mind.
"I'm looking around the area and was going to send my children here, but that's not going to happen now," Ed Kimbrough said. "This man has made poor decisions that will affect these children. This principal was a mentor to the children, and he has disappointed them."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.tbo.com ...
I just can't get worked up about these outrages anymore. The needle bent on my Outrageometer years ago. It's never worked right since.
LOL::: And they found her, quoted her and ignored the rest! MSM.... on the spot! :-)
Wish my meter needle would bend, every time I think I have encountered the story to beat all, along comes another.
This parent is as bad as the principal!
If he was black, he could run for mayor.
No, you morons! This guy has intentionallyy broken the law. "Mistake" is not the proper word here.
Next we'll be hearing, "Well, officer, I did kill my wife and my kids. I know it was a bad decision, but we all make mistakes."
But I'm sure someone has already said that.
Well now we know why he was so popular.
"..."I can't believe they would humiliate him like that," said Shannon Bischel, a parent of a seventh-grader.
she was probably upset because the police ruined her own crack connection. Maybe Mayor Berry can apply for the job. Or Jesse Jackson. jesse could divert all money to drama (i.e. future Hollywood represenation) and basketball to expand minority opportunities.
No, she is worse!
The pricipal is gone...gone...gone!
She will be around "mentoring" her kid until he's 21.
What a fine example she is setting.
OMG, is she really that clueless?
Of course, that's a very broad brush. One of the most outstanding, honest, hardworking, and ethical men I know is our local middle school principal... who happens to be black. I know he is constantly frustrated by his charges, most but not all of whom are black.
Agree. It's just that I have a soft spot for Hizzoner, King of Anacostia, Tax Rebel and Mayor-For-Life Marion Barry.
Someone should give Bishel a drug test. She may have been doing crack "with" the principal
Good gad.
I suspect the cops took him down at the school rather than off-campus in order to get the sentence multipliers that a drug deal at or close to a school carries.
ping
Shannon Bischel....what a pathetic excuse for a parent.
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