Protesters call for Bronx principal’s ouster

Bruce Cotler

Columbus HS Chapter Leader Donald March blasts the Department of Education’s “double standard.”

Bruce Cotler

Members of the Columbus complex school community voice their displeasure over the decision to allow Bronxdale HS Principal John Chase Jr. to keep his job despite his inappropriate actions.

The Columbus complex school community rallied on Jan. 10 in support of embattled teachers at the campus’ Bronxdale HS to protest the Department of Education’s mild disciplining of Principal John Chase Jr., who is accused of a string of lewd remarks to female staff in his one semester on the job.

After the Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity in November found that Chase violated the Chancellor’s Regulations by “making inappropriate sexual comments,” the DOE let him off with what protestors call a slap on the wrist — a letter of reprimand in his personnel file and a requirement that he undergo sensitivity training. 

“If Chase were a teacher and not a principal, would he still be here?” UFT Bronx Borough Representative Jose Vargas asked some 200 teachers, students and community supporters. 

“No,” shouted the crowd in response. 

Bronxdale HS teachers who wanted to participate in the protest stayed away “for fear of retaliation from Chase,” Vargas explained.

Instead, Columbus HS Chapter Leader Donald March spoke on behalf of what he called “the campus family” in “challenging a double standard in which Chase remains while the victims get transferred. This is a human rights issue transcending everything.”

Columbus HS secretary Cathy Delucca said she thought sensitivity training in Chase’s case was a poor remedy. 

“Never in my 23 years in the schools have I encountered something so horrible,” she said. “What he was let off with is no solution.” 

Claudia Giordano, the chapter leader at the complex’s Global Enterprise Academy HS, said Chase abdicated his privilege of being a principal by his inappropriate behavior. As Giordano sees it, the DOE needs to pick a side. “Are they invested in the man or in the children?” she asked.   

Local politicians, including Bronx City Councilman James Vacca and State Sen. Jeffrey Klein, have called for Chase’s ouster.

At the rally, Vacca blasted the DOE for not taking stronger action. “If this school is to succeed, students need leaders they can look up to,” he said.

 “The decision to keep him on as principal is a slap in the face to all women in the workplace,” said Jane Manning, the president of the National Organization for Women’s New York City Chapter, at the protest.

“Respect for All,” a department publication, says the DOE prohibits “making sexual comments, remarks, insults and/or jokes” that “create a hostile, offensive, or intimidating school environment” for male or female students or staff.