….Just whom I thought it should be…and a previous winner on Ethics Alarms.
Writes Rick Jones, announcing that his annual poll to pick the worst example of misconduct by education professionals that highlights the deep, deep problems in the field wisely selected Principal Greer Phillips of PS 79 (the Horan School) in East Harlem, who, you may recall, decided to terrify special needs students and her staff by running a surprise “a school massacre is happening right here at our school! ARGHHH!” drill shortly after the Newtown shooting…
“…it’s difficult to argue with the collective wisdom of Curmiphiles. Principal Phillips managed to do something not merely colossally stupid, but arrogant, cruel, smug, unethical, insensitive, reckless, boorish, and—oh, yeah—illegal, as well. Plus, in the kneejerk world of post-Newtown, it also succeeded in being an emblem of everything that makes me crazy about the world of public education and self-righteous liberal do-gooding.I may not have had preference among the finalists at the beginning of the voting, but you have convinced me that the right person won. I’ll send the Curmie along to her, but perhaps first I should call her up and tell her that there’s a serial killer waiting for her in her apartment and that he’s amusing himself by setting her cat on fire. She won’t really appreciate the Curmie until she gets out of therapy, anyway, right?”
Read his whole post here, and I urge you, again, to follow Rick’s blog.
Ethics Alarms 
It seems that the operative word for this principal is cruel rather than stupid. According to the horanwatch blog, she did another drill the year before where the children were sent out into the rain with no protective garments/umbrella, while she had this gear. In addition according to this blog she did not inform the parents formally post facto about the surprise drill, and changed the style of parents meeting with teachers so that everyone met in a big room with no privacy. I would say it is doubtful that she is technically stupid unless she cheated on all exams and interviews to become a principal; more likely she is cruel and morally deficient.
There were no students involved, so I can see Mr. Jones not giving this guy first place, but this could have turned into a casualty situation in seconds:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/04/gunfire_and_moments_of_fear_as.html
If a single teacher had fought back, with the level of force appropriate to the situation, there would have been life-threatening injuries.
Also, as Mr. Jones pointed out, blanks at short range are not safe.
Yes, I hate that one too. Miserable and dangerous, but not quite as bad.
I see your point. It wasn’t inflicting emotional distress on a vulnerable population. Influencing my reaction is that I’ve had enough training with firearms to be deeply horrified by their use for reckless endangerment.
She must have been quite something as a teacher. It’s amazing that she actually got an administrative credential. A good argument for school choice and vouchers.
De Blasio doesn’t like school choice and vouchers.