Principal focus of heated meeting in Huntington -

[joe]

Well I am not at all surprised. We can only hope that she has learned a little about being on the other side of persecution. And.....of course we were hiding. Maybe if the union decides to be a stronger force, we won't have to hide. If they want us to come out and show our voices, we need to know we will be protected. New union person .....I hope you are listening.

[anonymous]

After attending last nights Board of Education Meeting I can only say one thing with certainty: The Board Members should be ashamed of themselves. They have let everyone down - teachers, students,parents, administrators, and taxpayers. After listening to Margaret Evers read the e-mail sent to her by a Board Member, the subject of which was translating material for spanish speaking parents,I was disgusted, but sadly, not surprised. I have been aware of the callous and mean-spirited attitude of some members of the board towards educating disabled students for years. I am not surprised that that attitude now includes minority students. The alternative high school is just a mechanism to remove all "undesirable" students from the general school population.

[Robbie]

The superintendent made an executive personnel decision to remove the principal after watching what was happening in the HS, and recognizing that she had lost all support from her staff. This is what he is PAID to do. A group of volunteer parents, aka "the school board", 1/2 of which are neophytes in over their heads, get to toss that decision aside. They are a DISGRACE, and I will not trust ANY ONE of those 7 to make a sound decision for this district in the future

[Farel]

Anonymous wrote:

Newsday should be embarrassed giving this one sided story as usual. This principal has been a tyrant, bully and dictator towards students, teachers and fellow administrators. It is amazing that with a school of 1200 students she only could dig up 100 parents for support. When teachers and students work in an environment of fear and terror, no education takes place. The teachers helped these students, not the prinicpal. She hardly comes out of her office. Many of the students do not even know who she is or what she looks like. Huntington deserves better!!

The principle is a "tyrant and bully", "she only could dig up 100 parents for support." ? I'm familiar with some of the folks who publicly opposed the hasty decision of the school board. They were not recruited by anyone, they are citizens who follow local politics.

There were allegations that Ms. Leonardi was less than supportive of teachers and intruded into a chummy atmosphere. Perhaps a cozy workplace is not what we need in a high school. As a parent I've encountered a variety of teachers; some are intelligent and effective, a few are not. They are paid well to do a difficult job. It's an administrator’s job to assess who is up to the work. Like the Principle they are entitled to fair evaluation and due process. To anyone who was paying attention during the public meeting it was apparent that the school board had not made a thoughtful decision in transferring Ms. Leonardi. The Board reconsidered and agreed with the majority of public speakers. Any criticism of this Principle would be most effective if done in a temperate, specific manner. We may need a different Principle, but this last writer would not be a convincing advocate or alternative news source.

[huntingon village dweller]

Schmolies wrote:

What a bunch of whiners! Any idea but a principal's job entails? Do you know the hours one has to put in and the B.S. you deal with from parents and burnt out, negative teachers? If there are teachers not supporting her it's because they are afraid of retribution from the controlling board and/or admnistrators that also want her out and perhaps her job? By the way, their children are mostly in honor classes, no "alternative (spanish/black/special ed/students) school" for them. If you see other administrators running the show it's because the principal is delegating, that's what a leader does. You are hearing comments mostly from people that have left and there have been reasons. This is a sham. I hope she sues and gets plenty of the tax payers money for her trouble. She happens to be a hard working woman that cares for the students. And maybe her "student come first attitude" came off unfriendly to those needy negative teachers who shouldn't be in a classroom anyway.

Maybe your tax dollars should pay for this very unliked principal to sue the school for no good reason. A lot of teachers, parents and students are making a very believable case against her. So go ahead and call everyone whiners...you are, in fact, the one that needs to open your eyes.

[huntingon village dweller]

Ben dover wrote:

Dr.leonardi is a horrible person.. She dislikes the whites...dislikes the blacks...and dislikes the chineese..she called me a coon

Exactly. But let's turn a blind eye to her form of racism and tremble with fear when she threatens to sue? It's a horrible shame that she has been reinstated.

[anonymous]

Dad of 2 wrote:

It was a sad and telling day, indeed, for Dr. Leonardi when the ONLY administrator who spoke on her behalf was the equally difficult principal from Huntington Intermediate. Oh, and a former school board member's extremely personal rant at Mr. Finello made many people uncomfortable. She should be embarrassed by her behavior. I was embarrassed for her.

finally some one else recognizes that mary stokkers is " equally difficult" Her way or no way unless of course you are one of the minority staff, or a good looking male 4th grade teacher.

[Average Joe]

This is directed to the (alleged) reporters of this sad story,(who are making a bad situation worse), as well as to many of you, the readers, who allow yourselves to become willing pawns ...
Your most recent "journalism" makes it plainly apparent what your favorite color is--yellow and more yellow. Why don't you earn your salary, as well as the name of reporter, and ask those who are closest to the issue? If you are not speaking to the former and current students and parents of HHS, and equally importantly, the teachers, then you are sadly incompetent, and not doing justice to fair and unbiased reporting (which you are currently demonstrating in unimportant to you)
This is NOT an issue about race, it is an issue about competency (rather, INCOMPETENCE) on the part of Leonardi. Don't you get it? The teachers are reluctant to speak the truth publicly, since they will suffer reprisals at the hands of Leonardi. Leonardi is most assuredly NOT a leader, has absolutely no interpersonal skills, definitely does not treat ALL children fairly, and is woefully unequipped to handle a high school principal ship---we have known that for years.
However, those few "in her camp" have been getting desperate, so they pull the race card, knowing that EVERYONE would be outraged about race... and you play right into it!! I repeat, THIS IS NOT A RACE ISSUE... THIS IS ABOUT INCOMPETENCY. Believe me when I tell you, "race" is being used as a smokescreen for the real issue, which is Leonardi's abject incompetence for this position. Check it out, ask those who truly know, and stop your sensationalism. Practice responsible journalism, and readers, reserve judgment until you get a fair and unbiased report (which, for Newsday, would be upon the 12th of Never.) Leonardi, Evers, Collyer, and others you have been quoting are completely out of touch with reality; and they are scrambling to cloud the REAL ISSUE...which is LEONARDI's FAILURE TO SUCCEED ON MANY FRONTS IN HUNTINGTON HIGH SCHOOL. I tell you, she has been a terrible blight on our school, and our proud history of diversity is being used as a false platform ...Again I plead, ASK PEOPLE WHO HAVE FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE OF LEONARDI'S INCOMPETENCE, rather than relying on quoting her fan club. You are fanning flames that should not be there (only put there by Leonardi), and you are irresponsibly contributing to the implosion of a once proud and most excellent school community.

[Absolutely]

anonymous wrote:

<quoted text>finally some one else recognizes that mary stokkers is " equally difficult" Her way or no way unless of course you are one of the minority staff, or a good looking male 4th grade teacher.

Since it seems like the thing to do here, why not bash all the principals? Mary Stokkers couldn't lead herself out of a paper bag. Huntington Intermediate has their own lawsuit. Maybe the board should remove everyone and start over, outside of the "ol' boys' club".

[A Proud Huntingtonian]

Being a 30 year resident of Huntington and having sent three now very sucessful adult children through the district's schools, it is very depressing to read the bashing that is occuring here, most of it by those outside the district who are responding to partial information and/or misinformation they have heard through the grapevine.

It is very disheartening to see what havoc one individual can wreak upon a district. It is a travesty that this individual has been reinstated given that the incompetence of this individaul was known long before she was "bumped upstairs." The administration, as is its responsibility, finally took the bull by the horns and reassiged this individaul. The board caved in to the pressure of a lawsuit; the president persisted, but for the wrong reasons, and should be impeached for his intolerance. The rest of the board should resign on the basis of weakness and incompetence. What recourse do we taxpayers have to clear the slate and restore Huntington's tarnished reputation?

[anonymous]

Absolutely wrote:

<quoted text>
Since it seems like the thing to do here, why not bash all the principals? Mary Stokkers couldn't lead herself out of a paper bag. Huntington Intermediate has their own lawsuit. Maybe the board should remove everyone and start over, outside of the "ol' boys' club".

THANK YOU, TRUER WORDS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN SPOKEN!!!!!!

[huntington fan]

i think newsday needs to take all the huntington turmoil forums off before everyone in huntington goes crazy and starts killing eachother

[Steve]

A Proud Huntingtonian wrote:

Being a 30 year resident of Huntington and having sent three now very sucessful adult children through the district's schools, it is very depressing to read the bashing that is occuring here, most of it by those outside the district who are responding to partial information and/or misinformation they have heard through the grapevine.
It is very disheartening to see what havoc one individual can wreak upon a district. It is a travesty that this individual has been reinstated given that the incompetence of this individaul was known long before she was "bumped upstairs." The administration, as is its responsibility, finally took the bull by the horns and reassiged this individaul. The board caved in to the pressure of a lawsuit; the president persisted, but for the wrong reasons, and should be impeached for his intolerance. The rest of the board should resign on the basis of weakness and incompetence. What recourse do we taxpayers have to clear the slate and restore Huntington's tarnished reputation?

Run for a Board Seat. Get involved. It is the way of an active citizen!

[A retired employee]

All this news about carmela firing people in the high school is not surprising. I worked for Carmela when she was principal of Huntington Intermediate . I personally witnessed the undeserved firing of a teacher by Carmela in October, two months after school had started. This teacher was hired by a committee in June, not by Carmela herself. The teacher's class had serious behavior problems and Carmela offered no help except to say to this teacher that she'd better get this class under control. When the gal was finally fired, Carmela hired a teacher of her own choosing and offered the new teacher a full time aide and all kinds of pull-out problems for those severe discipline problems in the class. The new teacher never had to deal with those difficult students and received all kinds of accolades from Carmela for her wonderful class management. The fired teacher was able to get a job in another district and was thrilled to be out of Hun tington.
Although I never had a problem personally with Carmela,(except maybe on one occasion when I was observed and she criticized my spelling program - after much discussion I realized she didn't know a thing about spelling instruction in the elementary schools. I also realized she didn't know a thing about teaching) I witnessed her persecution of several tenured teachers. I was also present at a meeting where one very brave teacher said to Carmela that morale in the school was not good. This teacher had taught for 20 years in Huntington schools, got along well with C armela but stated an obvious fact. Carmela got very defensive, almost ot the point of being nasty. This teacher chose to retire at the end of that year even though she had not originally planned to because she felt like there was a dragon breathing down her back, the dragon being Carmela.
Having taught and subbed in many school districts in several states over the course of m y career, I can tell you that my perception of Carmela is that she is one scary lady. She may take that as a compliment thinking that it indicates that she has her faculty controlled because they're afraid of her . But all it really means is that she's not a nice person.

[Huntington Parent]

Eric From Massapequa wrote:

Teachers should teach in English only!!! This is America where we are all from immigrants who came here and learned to speak English!

I came here from Europe when I was in elementary school. I don't recall any translators in my class to help me learn English. We seem to cater too much to special groups and their needs. What about the other students? The so called "normal" students who simply go along and never get the opportunity to excel because there aren’t any special resources due to the fact the extra funds available are spent on ESL students or other special needs students. The no student left behind mentally breeds mediocrity and hinders the development of some students. I’m all for giving everyone an opportunity but not at the expense of others.

[Sandy]

a teacher wrote:

<quoted text>
Your example of Dr. Leonardi's being vindictive is that after a dispute with the former social studies chaiperson (whom I as a parent in the district had a very unfortunate experience with)eight social studies teachers were OBSERVED???? So what? That is your notion of retaliation? Teachers should be prepared to be observed at any time, without any warning. Were there terrible repercussions based on these observations? Was Dr. Leonardi the one doing the observations? If so, how can you claim that she never leaves her office?

I am a teacher who left the high school to go to a better school with a fair and effective Principal.
I know from experience (I was present during the conversation) to which this person called "An unfortunate experience". This parent wanted the Chair to give a passing grade to her child that was failing miserably. To do so would be a violation of educational and school policy. The Chair in question has always been a fair, honest and conscience individual. Asking her to violate policy is indicative of the low moral character of that parent.
Regarding the question of Leonardi observing 8 teachers in a row- yes, teachers should always be prepared to be observed, but, observing 8 Social Studies teachers in a row, the day after the Chair had the audacity to disagree is a strong indication of the heavy handedness of Leonardi. She prefers to surround herself with YES men (such As Joe Leavy) who are dumber than she (which is hard to do!)If the School board has any guts at all they will still get rid of Carmella.

[Sandy]

After nine years at Huntington, I left to where I could teach without looking over my shoulder all the time- Leonardi is a vindictive bitch.
Regarding the teacher who claims as a parent of a Huntington student she had an "unfortunate experience" with the fomer Social Studies Chairwoman. The student was my student whose final grade was 57. The mother wanted the Chair to change the grade to a passing 65. The Chair explained that it would not only violate shool policy but would violate her own sense of morality as well. The fact that the mother would still demand that the grade be changed is indictitive of the low level of morality of the parent.
The writer further stated that 8 teachers were observed in a row- "so what?"
True, teachers should always be prepared to be observed, But Observing 8 (only Social Studies) in a row the day after the Chair had the audacity to disagree is indicative of the heavy handedness and dictorial thinking of Carmella.
Leonardi will not tolerate dissent- no matter how correct- she prefeers to surround herself with YES men who are dumber than she.
If the School Board cares anything for education- they will get rid of her.

[Unhappy Parent]

Dr Leonardi abuses her power. I can only imagine how miserable everyone who has to answer to her must be. I'm very happy my child graduated last year and that we will no longer be subjected to her abuse. I feel bad for all the teachers and students who have to exist under her reign of mistreatment and neglect. Unfortuantely the town was black-mailed by her bogus lawsuit. The fact that she played the race card to keep her job is beneath contempt.

[anonymous]

Craig Springer was also a big loser.

[E Dantes]

Leonardi is not the only incompetent; what about the fact that Joe Leavy, Director of Humanities was granted tenure when the scores for the eighth grade english exam were at 65 percent; the lowest score in its history!!! We are now a third rate school This is a disgrace; the inept board rewards administrators who are both bullies and who dont do their job becuse of the old boys club. Dont worry change is coming; no one's job is secure