Parents, Teachers Unite to Protest Unwanted Principal

Everyone hates Claire. Or at least the parents and teachers do, according to NBC 4 New York.

The two groups came together earlier this week to protest Claire Lowenstein, the controversial principal of P.S. 333, the Manhattan School for Children, located at 154 West 93rd Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues).

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Attempting to oust the unwanted educator has been a years-long campaign. She has received two no confidence votes, the most recent vote coming at an 86% clip just last fall.

“Of a total 154 staffers and parents polled [last November], 132 — about 86 percent — voted no confidence in Lowenstein’s leadership of PS 333 on West 93rd Street, according to teachers who conducted the query. Ballots were cast by 85 parents, but some voted more than once — they were allowed one vote for each child they have in the school.”

The embattled Lowenstein has long faced allegations of racism, lack of diversity, and lack of attention to children with special needs as well as bullying of staff, teachers, and students, according to NBC 4. Droves of teachers and students have reportedly been driven away under her eight-year reign.

“Completely fed up. Completely fed up,” parent Jonathan Goldman told NBC. “We are sick of this. We have been doing this for years. This is the third superintendent we’ve met with.”

Kate Dominus told NBC that Lowenstein is “clearly not competent to do this role.” She, like Goldman, had already pulled one of her children from P.S. 333 and has one remaining there. “We need to make sure that the principal’s union understands that this a blemish on them.”

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That union is CSA, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, and has stood by Lowenstein throughout this process, according to the New York Post. CSA was not immediately  available for comment at the time of this publication.

NBC reported that the superintendent called the situation “urgent” but no decisions were made for Lowenstein’s future as of the October 26 meeting. Given that its immediate intention is to send a survey to parents in December, it appears that a lesson in the definition of the word “urgent” is in order.

It is unclear if Lowenstein attended the meeting. However, the NBC 4 video shows someone it identified as her literally ducking questions as she hurried under a scaffolding barrier with a jacket shielding her face from the camera.





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