Race, Class and P.S. 20's Controversial Principal
This weekend the Local’s Andy Newman followed up the extensive blog reporting on P.S. 20 he’s been doing with an article about Sean Keaton, the elementary school’s love-him-or-loathe-him principal. The story describes Keaton, who missed the Fort Greene school’s graduation last week—he was barred from attending by Dept. of Ed officials owing to assault charges…
This weekend the Local’s Andy Newman followed up the extensive blog reporting on P.S. 20 he’s been doing with an article about Sean Keaton, the elementary school’s love-him-or-loathe-him principal. The story describes Keaton, who missed the Fort Greene school’s graduation last week—he was barred from attending by Dept. of Ed officials owing to assault charges he’s facing for allegedly beating up a teacher’s union rep—as being at the center of a race-class divide: “In the resurgent brownstone bastions of Fort Greene, Boerum Hill and the fringes of Park Slope, affluent parents with one set of expectations for their children’s education — progressive, hands-on, emphasizing freedom — are clashing with longtime, working-class residents who prefer stricter, more structured educational models like the one Mr. Keaton favored, leaving principals caught in the crossfire…At P.S. 20, some of the conflict has been tinged with race: Mr. Keaton is black, as are three-quarters of the students, while many of the families who said they found him hard to work with are white. Much of it has to do with class. Some comes down to personal style: Even many of Mr. Keaton’s supporters say he can be abrasive and inclined to escalate rather than defuse tensions.” In a poll of Brownstoner readers a couple months ago that ran before the assault charges, 47 percent of you said Keaton should be removed from the school; 17 percent said he should stay; and 36 percent said you didn’t know enough about the issue to have an opinion one way or the other.
As Cultures Clash, Brooklyn Principal Faces Assault Charges [NY Times]
PS 20: It’s a Long Story [The Local]
Time for PS 20 Principal to Get The Boot? [Brownstoner]
Photo from the Bridge & Tunnel Club.
Putnam, is an educated parent better than a non-educated parent? Why the need for such a distinction?
Why is the What still not banned?
csa – i don’t think anyone who actually read the story assumed that this guy, segarra, is pure as the driven snow or even blameless in the situation (or the teacher he was representing). but it doesn’t matter. if segarra’s record, whatever is it, doesn’t excuse keaton, why should it change the “dynamic” of the conversation about keaton? and defense of keaton using this approach is actually scary to me – you want your kids taught that it’s okay to beat on someone because, what, you think he’s a bad person? what, exactly, do you think should happen here? because you’ve thrown a fair amount of mud, but you haven’t said what you think is the right result.
“the class was overwhelming made up of middle and upper middle class students (of all races).”
Upper Middle Class??? In Fort Greene and Clinton Hill????????!!!!!
“Keaton just didn’t seem that bright. He was tone-deaf as far as what was concerning me as a parent.”
No he did not Kiss your Ass Putnam, that’s the reason!
“He walked into a pre-k parents breakfast where we wanted to discuss reading curriculum and he handed out xeroxes of pictures of -sex offenders in the neighborhood.”
What wrong with that???????!!! GOD forbid something happen to your child!
” He yelled a lot in the courtyard before school.”
Discipline Bitch, Discipline!
“While there are some in this thread who take a lot of joy in being provocative to be cute or silly, they are doing so at the expense of children and their parents who are seeking quality public school education”
Hey Dumbass no one is forcing you to be here! Move to a better school district and you wont have these “problems” Race Baiter!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
I had my son at PS 20 for one year, in pre-k. Because of how pre-k was filled that year, the class was overwhelming made up of middle and upper middle class students (of all races). Many stayed on for the next year, kindergarten, but were so appalled by the power-struggles that they bailed during that year or at the end of the year. Keaton just didn’t seem that bright. He was tone-deaf as far as what was concerning me as a parent. He walked into a pre-k parents breakfast where we wanted to discuss reading curriculum and he handed out xeroxes of pictures of -sex offenders in the neighborhood. He yelled a lot in the courtyard before school.
While there are some in this thread who take a lot of joy in being provocative to be cute or silly, they are doing so at the expense of children and their parents who are seeking quality public school education. Keaton’s misleadership at PS 20 resulted in one year of interested and educated parents seeking that education elsewhere.
I can lend you the money for the medication if you can’t afford it.
Alternatively, you could pay me back in trade like when you were in lockup.
Kids lose.
At least the Principle kicked another RETARDS Ass and not a child!!!!
He stomped that RETARD in the face, the shoe print matched the wound in his face, ROTFLMMFAO!!!! Good for that RETARD!!!!
The What ( That how you kick a RETARDS Ass)
Someday this war is gonna end..
Extremely childish What. Extremely. Notice how fewer and fewer people even bother to respond to you.
LOSER