Students, staff united in support for Independence HS chapter leader

Pat Arnow

Teachers rally in support of Chapter Leader Michael McPherrin.

Pat Arnow

Students, led by student leader Jasmine Ortiz (with infant daughter Jazlyn), razz Principal Ron Smolkin for hiding from demonstrators.

More than 100 students, alumni and teachers demonstrated on April 28 in front of Independence HS on Manhattan’s West Side demanding that the principal drop 3020a dismissal charges against the chapter leader and that the Department of Education investigate chronic leadership failure at the school.

Principal Ron Smolkin brought Michael McPherrin up on dismissal charges in April for “unprofessional conduct” after the chapter leader accused him of sending an anonymous letter to his co-op board charging him with sex and drug crimes [see “Manhattan principal under investigation for smearing chapter leader,” New York Teacher, April 14]. The letter was sent after the school’s faculty leadership team, including McPherrin, made a series of ambitious recommendations on safety, teaching, guidance, consensus and collegiality that McPherrin said Smolkin took “as a personal affront.”

At the rally, students past and present wore T-shirts and wristbands reading “Team Mike.” Others held signs declaring “I support Mike,” “This is what democracy looks like” and “Mr. Chancellor, false charges hurt families and ruin lives.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the fired-up crowd that the school’s staff “cares about the school, but are instead attacked for trying to put together a plan and a new direction.”

District 79 Representative Marc Korashan said he blamed the DOE as much as he did the principal for “letting the school fall into a netherworld of failure” despite “an excellent and highly motivated teaching staff, including Mike McPherrin.”

Staff reported that the principal was conveniently absent that day from work. “Will Smolkin need to produce a doctor’s note?” one teacher wondered aloud.