A couple of students have come forward with addition comments about Bronx Science and its principal, Valerie Reidy:
[http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/bronx-science-complaints/?apage=3#comments]
“The alumni association at Bronx Science will do nothing about Ms. Reidy. They hate bad publicity because it harms fund-raising efforts.”
Then maybe we just have to show the alumni association how Reidy harms fund-raising efforts…
— BxSci AlumDuring the past four years I’ve watched this school transform into an Orwellian police state. As a result of heightened security measures, the individual freedom of a Bronx Science student has ceased to exist. With that put aside, I agree that problems within the administration have created an environment that is hostile and counter-productive. Although I wouldn’t take sides on this matter publicly, I’d like to say that Mr. Lynn is incredibly bright and skilled, he has no place in the affairs of the math department.
- John Galt
— Another Senior
My own participation in BxScience alumni forums was curtailed when old forums were abandoned and new ones created in which the moderator(s) refused to post my contributions.
The alums want to bask in the glow of the fabled Bronx High School of Science with its many Nobel Prize winners from the past. They certainly do not want to have their statement "I went to Bronx Science" followed by a question, "Yeah, what's all this I hear about Korean parents up in arms, faculty abuse, student bomb-making, suicides and drug overdoses? And what about that nasty principal?"
When I got to Bronx Science I felt the same as an English teacher who wrote in his letter of resignation several years ago that he could not believe in his good fortune to teach there, but left reluctantly. It should be a perfect place to teach. The facilities are reasonably modern and in good repair, and the students are excellent, though there was evidence in my final year that the level of disrespect in the general population was finding its way there. But the problem is the micro-managing administration.
Martha Szporn, my AP at the time, recommended me as a college mentor after my first semester at the school, and I wrote around 100 letters for students over two years. There were some complaints, usually because students don't always follow the rules.
One high-strung young lady wanted a reference letter from a research director included with my mentor letter, which was against the rules, and she started crying when I refused her request. (I was later told by the Guidance AP to include the letter, so I did.) Ms. Reidy seized upon such complaints even though the girl got into MIT, Caltech, and the University of Chicago, among other schools.
Another girl left separate parts of her materials on my desk at different times when I wasn't there, which was against the rules, including a personal check for an application, and then was upset—as were her parents—when I missed a deadline. The rule was that you bring only completed application packets to me, with check inside, and hand them to me during my mentoring hours. Nothing was to be left on my desk when I was not there. She missed the deadline because she was irresponsible, but Ms. Reidy blamed me.
Another student complained that he had given me his materials early but that his letter and transcript were not sent out until much later. The truth is that I could not write his letter until his "rave" forms were returned to me from family, friends, teachers, employers, etc. Without the data I needed I could not write his letter. It was, by the rules, his responsibility to check on the return of rave forms, and to make second and third rave requests of his references, if necessary. But Ms. Reidy blamed me.
Bronx Science teenagers, like other teenagers, can be scatterbrained, even when it affects their future. And for many parents it is their first time having kids applying to college. All the more reason to pay attention to the rules!
My teaching ratings at Bronx Science are still posted on RateMyTeachers.com:
http://www.ratemyteachers.com/bob-drake/217150-t
There are no current chemistry teachers that exceed them. And there is at least one current chemistry teacher with half my ratings. Of course Ms. Reidy had the RateMyTeachers.com website blocked from Bronx Science. Only she gets to rate teachers under UFT and DOE contract rules. And she did not, I am sure, enjoy her own low ratings.
66.May 17, 201011:58 pmLink