Submitted by Former Student from 1983, Jan 17, 2008 13:05

"Dr." Reidy...HA! In 1983, I had her for bio. Because of a shift in some class and schedules for others, I went from having a really really cool teacher (think Otto from the Simpsons and Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong), who has been in Bronx Science for (at the time) over 20 years, to Valerie Reidy. "DR." Reidy (the Doctor part...ok...she was a Pharmacy major, I think, in college. Well, you know what they say about pharmacist, in respect to the students who ACTUALLY was able to go to Medical/Dental/Chiropractic schools, right? Right?) even then instilled a high level of fear and ruled the class tyrannically. The year I had her, I was a graduating senior...Eighteen years old. Old enough to smoke. Old enough to enlist in the military and die for my country. Old enough to vote. And at the time, in the state of NY, old enough to drink alcohol. One day we were going to do urine analysis in lab. She wanted volunteers to come in "ready to go." So, I volunteered and brought in a beer. I was being a bit of a smart ass. Yet, it wasn't a gun. It wasn't illegal narcotics. It wasn't a knife. Or anything that would have harmed anyone. It was just a can of Budweiser. THIS LADY FREAKED OUT!!!!! It was as if, I set off a pipe-bomb in the school ala Columbine or just got up and slapped her. Naturally, she confiscated the beer and dumped it down the drain. But then she left the room and called in Mr. Galasso, the Assistant Principal for the Biology Department, at the time. He knew I was a senior and, in reality, there was nothing he could REALLY do. So, he just told me that I had to watch my step. If I did anything out of line, he would, "Crucify my *** to the wall." (Oh, yes, keep in mind, that 3 years earlier, Science at a monthly humor magazine (forgot the name of it) and saluted a faculty member monthly with a "Six-Pack Award." This faculty member would get a six-pack of beer courtesy of the students. Mr. Galasso was a recipient of this award at that time. As I recall, his picture was taken with him smiling, holding up a can of beer and drinking a toast to his well-deserved award. So, I guess, really if he made a bigger stink of it (i.e. not allowing me to graduate), I could at the very least show that HE himself encouraged this action.) So, I was on my best behavior. As for Valerie, well, keep in mind. We are all "adults" As I said, I was 18 and she was a teacher who was supposed to be a model of what the students should be. So instead of letting it go and moving on, as most real adults would do. She took the opportunity of every class to bring up this episode at every class and about the dangers and evils of alcohol, with snide and side glances to me. She would mention how alcohol did this or did that. Even on subjects unrelated to how alcohol would be affected, she would just bring it up for the shear fact of bringing it up. Nevertheless, she made biology hell for the last three weeks of school. I wouldn't doubt that if I was to look the wrong way, she would go directly to Mr. Galasso and Mr. Koppelman (the principal of the Bronx Science, at the time) and move heaven and earth to either get me suspended, expelled or be denied graduation. She was that vindictive and nasty. But reading this article, I like what Marge Feinberg at the Department of Education said, "No tenured teacher is being fired." Reidy is NOT a teacher anymore, she's a principal. She's in a different union and under a different civil service code. So who knows. But it's a shame that this is happening to Bronx Science.

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