When Principals Should Rule

When Principals Should Rule

The dismissal of criminal charges against a Principal who intervened when School Safety Agents arrested one of his students last October appears to have been the right result. The judge who issued that ruling, however, emphasized that the Department of Education must clarify where the authority of Principals ends and that of NYPD employees like the safety agents begins.

Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd, who represents the school cops, was unhappy with the decision, saying it undermined their authority. But the Principal, Mark Federman, did not challenge their decision to arrest the student, Isamar Gonzalez, after she became embroiled in a dispute with the safety agents at East Side Community High School and allegedly assaulted them. Rather, Mr. Federman asked them not to take the handcuffed young woman out the front door where she would be seen by students who were gathering for the start of classes.

The safety agents claimed that a supervisor had advised them not to use the side door because the girl's mother was there and had become agitated. When they attempted to escort her out the front door, Mr. Federman physically blocked the exit, prompting the agents to try to push through him, and he was ultimately arrested.

Criminal Court Judge Tanya Kennedy noted in her decision that Mr. Federman was highly regarded and that his school has been rated as safer than average. She also concluded that his actions did not threaten safety inside the school.

Responding to the decision, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernie Logan said of the safety agents, "On matters of discipline, they should be taking direction from the Principal and on matters of crime, they should be taking direction from the Police Department."

The trouble, in this case, is that both elements were involved, making it a less clear-cut call. But based on the facts as we know them, because the student was already handcuffed, the situation was sufficiently under control that the safety agents should have deferred to the Principal's judgment and not tried to take her out the front door.

It's not clear to us whether he was concerned that other students might protest the arrest, or merely wanted to spare someone who was an honor student the humiliation of being paraded past her peers in handcuffs. But in either case, the Principal is better-qualified to make the call on that by virtue of his or her experience and training than a safety agent.

As we've said before, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has often described Principals as his school leaders, and he and Mayor Bloomberg are seeking to hold them fully accountable for how their schools perform. If that rhetoric and that mandate mean anything, it should be their decision - unless there is an ongoing threat of criminal behavior - as to how to deal with cases like these.

The way that DOE ultimately sets policy for such situations will tell us whether Mr. Klein is strong enough to assert the primacy of his school leaders in running their buildings.