PS-20-Brooklyn-0409.jpgIn an article about how the Community Roots Charter School in Fort Greene is now harder to get into than Harvard today (play-by-play of the lottery is here), The Brooklyn Paper points to the unpopular principal at PS 20 (where a new gifted school is scheduled to open next year) as one of the reasons why so many parents signed up for the charter school lottery. The sentiment echoes numerous comments on the schools thread we had on Brownstoner earlier this week, where even the school’s critics and defenders seemed to agree that the principal was a big problem. A commenter on Inside Schools says something similar: “The principal is a disaster. He is authoritarian, defensive, and almost incapable of taking input seriously.” And speaking of PS 20 in a recent thread on the Times’ Local blog, one commenter said, “The DOE needs to clean house.” So the anecdotal evidence against this principal is sounding pretty compelling. Let’s see if a poll backs that up—and then maybe someone who has a connection to Joel Klein can forward the feedback. At the very least, perhaps he can be persuaded to change his ways. If you live in Fort Greene or Clinton Hill, please vote below.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Ramona, I’m also wary of vilifying someone online which is why I was careful to make clear that everything I was posting was hearsay. However I think that when it comes to schools it’s important for parents to gather and share as much information as possible (while noting that some information comes from iffy sources) so that’s why I posted. I think brownstoner is a perfectly fine place to discuss Brooklyn schools. I agree that the poll is tacky and I also think your firsthand observation is more valuable than my collected hearsay. That being said, the overall picture that’s developing seems consistent with much that I’ve heard: that he’s an effective principal who simply does not click with parents who are seeking a more progressive educational style.

    Heather – maybe I don’t frequent the same playgrounds that you do (we go all over Bed-Stuy/Clinton Hill/Ft. Greene) or maybe I do at different times, but I usually see tons of parents. I hear you about the “helicopter parenting” that plagues our generation. But parent involvement over the course of many years is probably the #1 reason that a lot of formerly struggling Brooklyn public schools have gradually turned into places you’d want to send your kid. Organized and committed parents also fixed up Underwood Park years ago and organized the Halloween Walk, just to name a few neighborhood amenities.

  2. you don’t discuss a man’s career or academics on a blog that trades in real estate gossip and catching up with hot resturants.
    my child went to 20 .he received a fantastic education and yes, it is a more traditional approach.

    i’ve met the current principal. i do volunteer work there and the teachers are really steady and good. the kids are happy, class size is relatively small and the school only has 400 or so students- this compared to 1, 100 when my son attended.
    it’s not the school’s fault that they’re prepping for tests- that’s no child left behind and joel klein’s hard on for “results”.
    keaton is not perfect but he isn’t a monster and deserves more respect than a random poll .

    from my observation the school is doing very well and is gathering steam. but if anyone doesn’t think that race plays a hand in this discussion they are nuts and naive and i’m white . welcome to the new ft greene.

  3. As a parent whose child actually spent a year at PS20 pre-k, I feel qualified to comment. The school is academically focused, with a three R’s style of teaching and plenty of homework. It is not a play-oriented or project-focused type of learning, such as you see at a Montessori or a more progressive school like Brooklyn New School or 321.

    That said, the pre-k teachers are dedicated and loving, the pre-k classroom is gorgeous and the children are mostly happy and well-behaved. I got the impression that the parents of PS 20 kids mostly wanted the approach they got, with uniforms, strong discipline and teaching that stresses fundamentals from a very early age.

    In that sense, the principal is perfectly suited to the philosophy of the school. I didn’t find him to be frosty at all–rather, he is formal and a very top-down manager. But he feels that his approach is what works for the children at the school, and doesn’t see much need to adjust.

    Firing him won’t necessarily alter the approach to learning at the school, and indeed may bring up someone a great deal worse. But clearly he needs to reach out more to parents or his school will not be attracting the kind of involvement and money that ultimately result in a great (as opposed to adequate) public school.

    My child is no longer at PS 20 — ultimately we wanted a less stringent and more hands-on approach to learning for our kid. But that doesn’t mean the PS 20 approach doesn’t have value.

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