Special Note: The author would like to thank Keith Ball, Principal of Woodstock Middle School in Cherokee County, Georgia, for all the extra traffic he has been driving to this site.

If Mr. Ball referred you to this blog, please understand that his actions are the result of his personal vendetta against my fiancee’, Allison Burnes. For the record, Allison Burnes does not write, edit, approve, or support what is published here. I alone am responsible for this content.

Mr. Ball’s problem is with me, but he can’t seem to muster the courage to take me to task directly. Instead, he is referring all of Allison’s prospective employers here, hoping to sabotage her career by blaming my writings on her. It’s wrong, and you deserve to know his motives and the relevant facts. If you would like to read all of the articles related to Mr. Ball as of 2-15-2010, please use this link. The posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, so read from the bottom up. Thank you for visiting.

A press release from the United Federation of Teachers discusses a recent case that appears to bear a striking resemblance to Allison’s experience with Keith Ball at Woodstock Middle School:

Teachers Union Sues Brooklyn Middle School Principal
For Reassigning and Defaming Teacher
Who Insisted on Mandated Services for Special Education Students

The United Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit charging that principal Marian Bowden of Middle School 393 in Brooklyn violated a state whistleblower law by removing special education teacher Kimani Brown from his classroom and sending him to a temporary reassignment center in retaliation for his insistence that his students receive required services.

The lawsuit – which also alleges that Bowden subsequently made false and defamatory statements about Brown’s professional conduct to his colleagues, students and at least one parent – was filed on July 3 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan by the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan at the behest of the UFT, the union representing New York City’s 100,000 public school educators.

Bowden reassigned Brown to a temporary reassignment center on May 21, 2008, which prompted Brown’s colleagues and parents to stage two large demonstrations outside the school on May 27 and June 10. The school, located at 1014 Lafayette Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, serves general and special education students in grades 6-11.

Brown, a veteran teacher who is the union’s representative – also known as chapter leader – in the school, had maintained a good working relationship with Bowden for a while. In April of 2006, before Brown was elected chapter leader by his colleagues, Bowden wrote in a letter to Brown’s personnel file that he “is a dedicated and productive member” of the school’s staff.

But starting last fall, Bowden began to criticize Brown when they began to disagree on intervention services for special education students, alleged violations of group size regulations and the amount of time students were allowed to spend in the classroom and school budget priorities, among other issues. Bowden relieved Brown of his academic intervention service duties and the two subsequently clashed several times over issues ranging from services to students to respecting the contractual rights of the school’s educators and school safety.

“This is a clear case of a principal retaliating against an educator who had the nerve to stand up for his students,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “This principal needs to understand her role should be that of a leader, not a bully or tyrant.”

Weingarten said the union will continue to fight to have Brown reinstated at the school and have his personnel file at the school expunged of any disputed disciplinary charges or letters.

Other coverage of the story:

Principal’s out to get me, charges teacher in ‘Rubber Room’ suit
BY RACHEL MONAHAN, NY DAILY NEWS,Monday, July 14th 2008, 7:36 PM

A Brooklyn teacher claims he was banished to a “Rubber Room” after blowing the whistle on his principal for preventing special education students from getting services, the teachers union charges.

Kimani Brown, a teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy IV for three years, is suing Principal Marian Bowden for punishing him in retaliation.

“I’m a special education teacher. I’m supposed to make sure my students are getting their services provided,” Brown said. “So I spoke up.”

Brown charged Bowden hadn’t hired a resource room teacher until months into the 2007-08 school year and that special education students were denied counseling and weren’t given mandated extra time on tests.

The allegations mark another controversy swirling about the school, which reported a mom to child welfare services over her daughter’s supposed absences, even though she wasn’t enrolled, the Daily News reported last month. Brown has been idling at full pay in a detention room since May 21, a lawsuit the union filed July 3 in Manhattan Supreme Court charges.

The suit refers to a letter of commendation Bowden wrote in 2006, praising Brown for his “commitment” to “the special needs population.”

After Brown’s complaint last fall, the suit charges, city and state education officials visited and gave the school until yesterday to file a plan to correct problems, including the lack of individualized education plans for some students.

The officials said they are reviewing the document and will monitor the academy to ensure compliance.

Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg declined to comment.

The school is also, it seems, ‘padding’ the roster with shadow students, an action that many principals do to obtain extra money for the school (or themselves).