By Jonann Brady
The letter from Superintendent Kathy Weiss informed McBeth that the Board of Education was moving to terminate her. According to McBeth, the charges against her focus on her not being a team player and a lack of communication with her colleagues.
Weiss said that legally she and the board are unable to comment on personnel matters.
In an interview last week, McBeth, who has been principal at the school for two years and was a principal in the South Bronx before that, said she was shocked and distraught by her firing. Although she acknowledged there were certain "tensions" between herself and some Brookside teachers, McBeth said that she felt her administration was moving forward in a positive way.
"I don't know what to say," said McBeth, who was particularly galled at receiving the letter so close to the end of the school year. "It's unconscionable. I have a family to support."
If McBeth is surprised, so, too, are a large number of parents at the school, who feel that McBeth has done an outstanding job of keeping test scores high and involving parents in the school.
Sandra Mahoney's son Justin is a third-grader at Brookside and her daughter, who is now in high school, also attended the school.
"I saw a difference in the school when Ms. McBeth came, there was a new energy," said Mahoney. "I feel very involved as a parent and feel more welcome."
Mahoney was among the dozens of Brookside parents who turned out voice their support for McBeth at a June 12 school board meeting and at a candlelight vigil outside the school on Monday, June 24.
Several parents who attended the school board meeting said they were frustrated by the lack of clear answers from the board.
Board president Mary Jo O'Hagan said she and other board members were frustrated by not being able to publicly address parents concerns, but were "absolutely constrained" from commenting on personnel issues. "Employees have an expectation of privacy," she said.
The lack of answers has left parents to speculate that McBeth's problems were based more on personality conflicts than her skills as an educator and administrator.
"It has nothing to do with the educational process," said Mahoney. "It has to do with really silly arguments. She hasn't played nice in the sandbox with the administration."
Though McBeth said that she has not experienced major conflict with the administration, she feels that ever since several parents from the school challenged a reading program at a school board meeting last year, her relationship with Weiss and others had chilled.
Adding fuel to the fire, McBeth is the first ever African-American principal at Brookside, where 91 percent of the student body is black or Latino. While parents at the school say this makes them feel more comfortable and involved, they say that some of the teachers at the school, a majority of whom are white, may not feel the same.
Eddison Bramble, the chairperson of Concerned Parents for Brookside, believes there are a "core group of teachers against Ms. McBeth." Bramble said that McBeth may have taken some teachers to task for "racial insensitivity."
Elaine Dallari, the president of the Baldwin teacher's union, has been a reading resource teacher at Brookside over the past year and said that there were teachers who had concerns that they discussed with both the union and McBeth, but Dallari could not comment on the nature of those concerns.
"The teachers' concern is that they can continue to provide the best education for the students," said Dallari.
Bramble, a magazine publisher who lives in Freeport, agrees that there are many good teachers at Brookside, but he doesn't want to see the school thrown into chaos by McBeth's departure.
"This revolving door can bring a school down," he said. "Our primary objective is to keep the principal."
To that end, Bramble said he is organizing a large group of parents to rally in favor of McBeth at the July 10 school board meeting, where it is expected that the final vote on McBeth's fate will take place.
Bramble, Mahoney and other parents say they willing to work with board members, teachers and administrators to keep the school at top form, but also said they are ready to do what it takes to keep McBeth at Brookside.
"Let's make this the best district in Nassau County and show the cultural diversity of our community and schools," said Bramble.
