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Chapter leader banished to rubber room
Jun 5, 2008 3:29 PM
Kimani Brown speaks to supporters at a June 10 rally.
When Kimani Brown tried to persuade his principal to provide state-mandated services to special education kids she refused. So Brown, who is the chapter leader of IS 393 (Frederick Douglas Academy IV) in Bedford-Stuyvesant, notified the State Education Department and the Department of Education.
That was the final straw for the principal, Marian Bowden, and she made him pay. She trumped up charges against Brown, according to UFT officials, and on May 21 had him removed to a Temporary Reassignment Center (TRC) — commonly called a “rubber room.”
Brown’s history as an advocate for children — UFT President Randi Weingarten called him a “voice for the voiceless” — and as a fierce adherent of the contract was such a challenge to the principal’s unfettered authority that in retaliation she sought to damage the chapter leader’s reputation and career.
Two large demonstrations by Brown’s colleagues and parents were held on the steps of the school on May 27 and again on June 10. An angry Weingarten told the protesters and media, “a principal should be a leader, not a bully and a tyrant. If the DOE really believed in ‘Children First’ it would return Kimani Brown to his classroom immediately.”
Weingarten said the union will aggressively pursue all options to fight violations of laws that protect due process and whistle-blowers.
District 16 Representative Ronald Mailman, who has been a DR for 35 years, called Bowden’s action “shocking and unprecedented.” He called Brown a “strong and honest dedicated leader,” and charged that the principal doesn’t want him looking into her practices, some of which Mailman called ethically and legally questionable.
“Marian Bowden would not learn that you cannot violate the contract and always do what you want, regardless of rule or reason,” Mailman said. “There were many contractual violations at the school. The union offered to mediate all problems between Kimani and Bowden, but that peace offering was rejected outright.”
Mailman added that Bowden’s effort to destroy Brown is not only an attack on him but also on the union. “She wants no other voice in the building. She certainly does not want a viable union to exist in IS 393.”
Bowden and Brown clashed a number of times this year. In September, teachers said, the principal violated the group size regulations for the extended time period. For pointing out this violation, Kimani Brown was relieved of his Academic Intervention Services duties.
