Education A National Roundup

N.Y.C. Educator Faces Dismissal Over Treatment of Haitian Students

By Catherine Gewertz — May 03, 2005 1 min read
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A New York City school administrator faces losing her job after an investigation concluded she had called a group of Haitian students animals and made them sit on the floor and eat lunch with their hands.

The March 16 incident at Public School 34 in Queens sparked outrage and led to a probe by the New York City education department’s office of special investigations. The report by the office, issued last week, confirmed much of what the 4th and 5th graders in a bilingual class at the school had been saying about Assistant Principal Nancy Miller.

In a statement, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein called Ms. Miller’s actions “wholly unacceptable” and apologized to the children and their families. He said steps would be taken to initiate termination proceedings against the administrator.

Ms. Miller told investigators that she did not use the word “animal,” and that she seated misbehaving children on the floor in an attempt to separate them from the others, according to The New York Times.

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