PHOTO: Concerned MS 210 stakeholders flooded Forum inboxes over the past seven days with their accounts of the Ozone Park School’s interim acting principal. Photo Courtesy of yelp.com/Tina C.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A Forum report regarding several stakeholders of an Ozone Park middle school and their concerns with the behavior of its interim acting principal seems to have galvanized “the MS 210 family,” as the newspaper was inundated with dozens of phone calls and emails over the past seven days from parents and staff who sought to corroborate the claims made in the initial piece, and share their own “horror” stories.
Again, sources who reached out to The Forum this week wished to divulge details on the condition of anonymity. However, each source was vetted for veracity and credibility.
And said sources—members of the 210 community that serve the school in a variety of capacities—supported the allegations made in last week’s piece, including the characterization of Interim-Acting Principal Bonnie Butcher, who was described as a “bully,” “liar,” “manipulator,” and “incredibly aggressive…uncompromising…unyielding.”
On Monday, one source said that Butcher “has been nothing short of tyrannical as a principal. She is completely unprofessional and unapproachable.”
The source depicted this school year—the first with Butcher at the helm—as “extremely trying…thus far.”
Another source this week, an experienced educator who signed their correspondence “Concerned and Desperate Teacher,” told The Forum about Butcher, “Enough is enough, and the community needs to know what is happening to their children. I foresee that if this issue is not addressed appropriately, then next year many veteran and model teachers will not return to the school.”
The source who described the principal as “tyrannical,” painted a bleak vision of a future 210.
“The bottom line is this: Ms. Butcher has completely decimated a once strong morale amongst the 210 family. We as teachers very much enjoy working with one another and love helping children. This principal has single handedly turned a passion into a job for many.”
Additionally, The Forum was informed by several sources Wednesday evening that earlier that afternoon, as teachers and staff were trying to corral a group of students loitering in an upper-floor hallway of the 101st Avenue school, Butcher allegedly arrived on scene and intervened. The incensed administrator vehemently chastised the group.
The students waited, then allegedly responded, in unison: “Bul-ly!! Bul-ly!! Bul-ly!!”
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
