Students Stage Walkout At Bronx Science
A student walkout yesterday at the Bronx High School of Science is airing long simmering discontent with the school's principal, Valerie Reidy.
Between 150 and 200 students walked out of the school at around 10:45 a.m. yesterday denouncing Ms. Reidy in chants and calling for her firing, people who attended the rally or had knowledge of it said.
The spectacle of the rally, which a source said lasted for more than an hour, attracted several television cameras.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education, Marge Feinberg, said Ms. Reidy told her that the protest was the result of a misunderstanding. Students believed they were protesting the ousting of a teacher, but that was not the case.
"No tenured teacher is being fired," Ms. Feinberg said.
The walkout came amid simmering discontent among students and some teachers with Ms. Reidy's leadership style.
Teachers and students have complained that she is dictatorial and creates a "culture of fear." They have also christened her with the nickname "Quack," a reference to a period in which she was referred to by the honorific "Dr." despite having no doctorate. Ms. Reidy told The New York Sun last year that she never called herself a doctor, though a secretary of hers did.
She said any discontent is a result of tough changes she has made, such as adding more tests and raising standards for teachers.
