Free Republic

The Dept. of Education said Tuesday it will fire notorious “School of No” Principal Marcella Sills, quickly responding to a probe that found she blatantly lied about her attendance at Far Rockaway’s PS 106 — all the while collecting a full paycheck for the no-show work.... The swift DOE action came as Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon issued a 13-page report recommending Sills get the ax and that she and an assistant principal who has since resigned, never be allowed to work for the Education Dept. again. Condon’s investigation was spurred by The Post’s exclusive Jan. 12 report that...

**SNIP** “It is the recommendation of this office that Marcella Sills’ employment be terminated,” Condon wrote in his 13-page report, adding that his finding have been turned over to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown for further investigation and “whatever action he deems appropriate.” Condon said in his report that the probe of Sills and her assistant-principal, Tonya West, was sparked by The Post’s reporting. The investigation found that Sills flat-out lied about her attendance at the school, didn’t keep a timecard – and then tried to get underlings to fudge or produce fake timecards to cover her tracks.

**SNIP** Sills, 48, was a graduate of the DOE’s “Leadership Academy,” which trains principals, and had little teaching experience. Insiders said she lacked literacy skills, noting her invitation to a Nov. 23, 2005, holiday buffet “in honor of my gradutitude” to employees, including “security personel” and “custodially staff members.” Sills ruled by threats and intimidation, ex-staffers complained. She “yells at a volume that resounds throughout the building, slams doors and uses foul language,” a 2006 letter to Condon claims. That letter also accuses Sills of racism: “She has hired only black teachers and has targeted white teachers and a secretary.”...

**SNIP** Hardworking parents of kids at the notorious Queens “School of No” — many of whom live below the poverty line — are compelled to pay $150 to rent tuxes at Men’s Wearhouse and buy gowns at David’s Bridal, plus kick in $110 for the prom-like charade. Video from last June’s function shows Principal Marcella Sills, on a dais, in a shoulderless white dress that could pass for a wedding gown, smiling as she surveys the boys and girls parading across a ballroom floor. “She acted like it was more about her,” said one dad, Robert Oyola. “I thought it...

MCCANDLESS, Pa. — A Pittsburgh Public Schools principal has been placed on leave after police charged him with exposing himself to a 17-year-old boy in a health club sauna, and asking if he could perform a sex act on the youth. The teenage boy told police on Monday that he was in the sauna of the L.A. Fitness on Duncan Avenue Aug. 12 when a man, later identified as Alfonzo DeIuliis, came into the sauna and removed his towel. The boy said the man began to touch himself inappropriately, then touched the boy on the leg and asked if he...

A Fluvanna County Middle School principal’s effort to instill discipline on the first day of classes has sparked a social media outcry among parents and an Internet effort to get her removed. An online petition says Yardley Farquharson “yelled and screamed” at students, barred them from talking in hallways and suspended their bathroom privileges for the first and last 10 minutes of classes. Some 200 county residents had signed the petition by Wednesday afternoon, asking the Fluvanna County School Board to remove Farquharson from her job. Parents referred to her behavior as bullying. Others, including some parent volunteers and school...

YUCAIPA (CBSLA.com) — School district officials in San Bernardino County say they will discontinue a policy that required elementary school students to kneel down before being dismissed to class. Principal Dana Carter at Calimesa Elementary School had reportedly instituted the policy, which called for students at various times of the school day to kneel down on one knee and wait for the principal or another administrator to dismiss them, as a safety measure.

Three members of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins decided not to attend an event Tuesday honoring the team at the White House due to political differences with the president. The Sun-Sentinel reported that Hall of Fame center Jim Langer, defensive tackle Manny Fernandez and guard Bob Kuechenberg skipped the event, which made up for the time the team did not get the chance to go to the White House because, in part, President Richard Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate scandal. The three players spoke with the paper and kept their comments brief, but direct.

<p>MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Students at Tippecanoe School have participated in several different theme days during School Spirit Week, but Friday, May 23rd’s theme of Gender Bender Day caused some controversy.</p> <p>Members of the Student Council decided on day’s theme. It called for boys to dress like girls and girls to dress like boys.</p>

She had been arrested for missing a court appearance that merely concerned a speeding ticket. So she called him into her office. Did she berate him for finding her picture? Did she plead that she was just a good person who made a mistake? Let Varner take up his story: "And she was like, 'You said I got arrested for DUI.' And I was like, 'I think you got arrested for DUI'." Miller was undeterred. She knew the law. So she reportedly asked a policeman to arrest Varner. You might be wondering what she asked the policeman to arrest him...

Boys and girls at an Alabama elementary school will still get to hunt for eggs – but they can’t call them ‘Easter Eggs’ have the principal banished the word for the sake of religious diversity. “We had in the past a parent to question us about some of the things we do here at school,” said Heritage Elementary School principal Lydia Davenport. “So we’re just trying to make sure we respect and honor everybody’s differences.”

There is a scene in the movie “A Bronx tale” where the father of a young man counsels his son not to attack another young man over a $20.00 debt which has gone unpaid for too long. The father explains this is a small price to discover that someone is not trustworthy. He tells his son to be glad he has been shown how untrustworthy the other man is in this minor matter. “Now you know not to trust him in the future in bigger things,” he says. This small lesson begs the question: Why would we trust school administrators...

A 9-year-old boy’s birthday cupcakes sparked a school controversy that just keeps growing, with scores of people lining up against a school principal who found the cupcake’s topping “inappropriate.” The boy was chided, and so were his parents, for cupcakes featuring little green Army men on the top.

Many high school students enjoyed free lunch given to them by a local rabbi and while they were eating they listened to a lecture from the rabbi. Students at Great Neck North High School can hang out at fast food restaurants, go to the houses without supervision or do almost anything they want for lunch. But listening to a Torah lecture in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue should require parental consent, according to the school.

A group of students at a California high school basketball game were told to remove patriotic bandanas and stop chanting “USA, USA” because school administrators wanted to be sensitive to other spectators. The incident occurred during a basketball last week between Camarillo High School and Rio Mesa High School in Ventura County. A school administrator pulled aside four boys and told them to either remove their American flag bandanas or leave the game. The boys complied but returned to lead the crowd in a chant of “USA, USA.” Camarillo High School principal Glenn Lipman told the Ventura County Star that...

Fury is brewing at Rocky Mountain High School, in Colorado, after a multicultural student group were encouraged to recite the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker in Arabic - replacing ´one nation under God´ with ´one nation under Allah´. Following Monday´s pledge, Principal Tom Lopez has been inundated with complaints from outraged parents concerned that saying the Pledge in any language other than English is unpatriotic. Standing by his controversial decision, Principal Lopez has said that despite the irate telephone calls and emails, he is not in any way or form trying to push an

It is amazing that the Presidential debate was devoid of a housing discussion. Since we are experiencing the worst economic recovery since 1882, I thought housing and the economy would have been a ripe topic for discussion. There was good news for housing starts this morning. Privately-owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000. This is 15.0 percent above the revised August estimate of 758,000 and is 34.8 percent above the September 2011 rate of 647,000. WE ARE FINALLY BACK TO MID RECESSION LEVELS OF HOUSING STARTS! So, we are over three years beyond...

Rather than spend two days in in-school suspension for allegedly letting another student copy her classwork, Taylor Santos, a well-regarded student and athlete at Springtown High School, near Fort Worth, Texas, chose to get paddled.

A Texas schoolgirl is nursing a bruised and 'blistered' behind after she was spanked by her male vice principal. Springtown High School sophomore Taylor Santos was walloped by the teacher after allegedly letting another student copy her work. But her mother, Anna Jorgensen, has complained to the school, furious that they allowed her daughter to be brutally paddled by a man. >snip< The day after her daughter's spanking, Jorgensen called the vice principal to complain but he defended his actions. 'He told me this was normal for her bottom to look like this after receiving swats, and that he was...

Staff at a Coney Island school where the principal barred kids from belting out “God Bless the USA” are singing a new tune: “Take This Job and Shove It.” In a mass exodus, 25 employees — or 40 percent of the staff, including 11 of 28 classroom teachers, aides, secretaries and custodians — have fled PS 90, the Edna Cohen School, over the year, insiders tallied. Most found jobs in other schools; some retired. Others are trying to escape a “toxic building,” they said. Principal Greta Hawkins caused an uproar in June when she axed the rousing Lee Greenwood anthem...