Bronx Principal Juked The Stats For Bonus

by Mike Smith · 2009-10-28 18:41:00 UTC
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A high-school principal in the Bronx who was given a $25,000 bonus to turn around a failing school changed students' grades and turned the school in a "diploma mill". Teachers have accused the principal of passing students who failed, and giving student two credits for a class that only deserved one. Changing grades wouldn't usually cause such outrage, when it's done for the right reason, but many students passed through the school without doing the extra work or getting high enough grades in other subjects to justify a passing grade.

Teachers initially passed the information through the official channels but when the Office of Special Investigations failed to get back to the teachers after a number of months, they approached independent news source Gotham Schools with the story. Out of four of the teaches who made the accusations, three have now moved to charters.

One teacher explained to Gotham Schools that this wasn't a case of a principal being helpful: "I would bend over backwards to help a kid or a teacher. But why would a person think it’s acceptable to take a 45 and make it a 65?" This of course raises similar problem involved in performance related pay — should earnings ever be geared towards students' academic sucess? Some would say in a way they two are already linked, but linking them even closer may be asking for trouble.

Photo credit: Eva Wisten

Mike Smith is associate editor at Change.org.
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