Coney Island, NY – A principal is under investigation for allegedly calling her school “a racist building” because so few teachers are minorities, the Daily News has learned.
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Principal Greta Hawkins of Public School 90 made several remarks about “white, Jewish” staffers, according to teachers.
Hawkins is a graduate of Mayor Bloomberg’s elite Leadership Academy, which trains new principals.
“We’re fearing for our jobs because we’re not black,” said a teacher who wouldn’t give her name because she fears retribution.
Hawkins, who is black, took the helm of the 80% minority school on W. 12th St. last September.
The school’s three previous principals were white and Jewish. Only three of the school’s 50 teachers are African-American or Hispanic.
Hawkins addressed the issue of race at a June 10 meeting in the school auditorium, and many of her staff didn’t like what she said.
“This is a racist building,” Hawkins said at the meeting, according to teachers who took notes.
“You’re all used to white, Jewish principals who only hired whites. The school culture is going to change.”
Hawkins then vowed to hire more black teachers, according to teachers who were at the meeting.
“Many more [black teachers] are coming, but I will hire one white person,” Hawkins said, according to the teachers.
“People’s mouths dropped open,” said one teacher. “Everyone looked shocked at what they just heard.”
Staffers said racial tensions at the school are minimal, and Hawkins never mentioned the issue of race in any previous meetings.
“Race doesn’t matter here,” said another teacher who wouldn’t give her name. “That’s the baffling thing about it.”
A dozen teachers and two paraprofessionals who were at the meeting filed complaints with the Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity in June.
Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg said an investigation is ongoing.
“I can tell you that race is not a factor in any DOE personnel decisions,” she said.
“It’s against the law, against our regulations, and against our policies.”
Hawkins declined comment.
Meanwhile every other PS is full off “minority`s” and the white staff let alone Jews are the real minority, this is true also for every Government job, can you count how many “minority`s” work for the Post office, The “Park`s” Department, MTA, NYPD Traffic Police, you name it tier there, and by all these jobs they are the MAJORITY and whites are the Minority {you won`t even find one white person in the Post Office} so what the heck is these Damn Shvatreze saying that we are taking away Government jobs, these specific people the article is talking about {not all African American`s are like this, there are plenty normal one`s but a lot are not} are leaches and a burden to Americaca only because we give in to them every time enough is enough! they don`t stop crying “wolf” and we the “majority” don`t stop giving in this is BS
Tell me now there is no racism amongs the blacks. Not all but there is a “klu klack klans among the blacks also. Sharpton is one of them, so is fariken and this principle.
America discrimated against the blacks however the corrections is not to do it not to discrimate against the white. obama believes in discrimation against the white since he believes in collective salavation meaning until everybody is equal, pay, housing etc it is discrimation. It is a communist manifesto
It is alright if you are black you are allowed to be racist. Welcome to America 2010, with a president that his main mentor is Jeremiah Wright, the biggest racist in recent times.
This ingrate, Greta Hawkins principal is the product of our ultra-Liberal, Jewish Mayor, Bloomberg who is stuck ideologically in the ’50s and early ’60s. With a part pitying part patronizing attitude toward “Minorities”. Did she forget the battles in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, where the “Minority” teachers literally pushed out the White, Jewish teachers?! In other neighborhoods, they got rid of the white teachers through attrition. The high crime rate made them retire early. The only reason there are a majority of white, Jewish teachers in that school is, because it used to be a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. The so-called “minorities” are relative newcomers, who brought along a high crime rate of drugs and shootings.
Exactly! Try and go to any city office and find the non-black people! Not representative of the population of our city at all! And who cares? Let him hire whoever he wants to for whatever reason, as long as he is accountable for test scores.
#1 ,
Cool it. I consult to FDNY and its uniformed officers are overwhelmingly white. The majority of the city population is nonwhite so you would expect to see a lot of minorities in city jobs.
#6 NYC is 44.7% white. Everyone else is a pecentage of the balance. Sorry your point is mute
The whole non-discrimination thing is and always has been discriminating against white people. The fact that companies & schools HAVE to include “minorities” is discriminating against those not from a minority! Thats the way it always has been. I want good teachers, firefighters, policemen – I don’t care about their color, race, creed or religion. If the only people who fit the job description are only white (or only black), that SHOULD not make any difference.
Sadly, the color of people is still influencing peoples choices, rather than the output of their work.
Minority children are entitled to see a professional teaching staff that reasonably reflects the racial composition of the school and their neighborhoods. For little black children to only have white and jewish teachers that are relics of the old, union-dominated NY school system is an extension of the “plantation mentality” where they view all authority figures as white. How many afro-american teachers will you find at yeshivot in BP or Willy…not many last time I checked.
I don’t understand any of it. Only the most qualified should be hired. If all the most qualified are white Jews, so be it. The rest can make french fries at McDonalds
PS 90 is a racist school….She is right sorry…..Hope she makes some changes (from the office to the teaching staff and this is coming from a white female….I work there I see it everyday…..What is really sad is reading all the racist comments…..
What baffles me, is that in a ‘post-racial’ age, where we have a black President, a black attorney general, a black governor, formelry a black comptroller, a black Supreme Court Justice, formerly two black secretaries of State, the highest paid athletes,and entertainers; people still whine and moan about racism.
It goes to the culture of dependance and entitlment that pervades our society today. People feel ‘entitled’ to have an artificialy created ratio of ‘minorities’ working in every field and proffesion attesting that only once that magic ratio is achieved have we as a society achieved the ever elusive ‘equality’. – Rubbish !
People go into certain professions bacuse of their culture, background, intelligence and their own drive and desire. The FDNY has for the most part (in the past) been made up of Irish Catholic and Italian catholics, as has the NYPD. Jews have often been attracted to medicine, law, and teaching. To coax or to affirmatively modify ratio’s of minorities in certain professions; by mollifying/softening admission requirements, not only dilutes the quality of that profession but is condescending and patronizing to that particular minority.
No one would ever contemplate requiring the NBA to higher an equal number of whites. Nor would they ask MLB to higher more whites and blacks so as to evenly match the hispanic component of the baseball league. Remember it only works one way!!
The point is; that if there is no perceived racism, there is no use for those politicians who keep beating the drum of racial, and gender equality. There is no use for policies and policymakers who aim to help the ‘disenfranchised’. It is mearly a ploy they use to stay in power and keep you dependent on them….
It is a bunch of crap-I am hispanic and my children have attended this school for the past ten yrs. I have meet the last 2 out of 3 principals who were wonderful. I have never came across anything racial up until now with the new BLACK principal talking trash. Did she forget that the school is in a Russian Jewish area! The teachers and principals who taught here also live here in the area. So duhhh… people like to work close to wear they live and fought to work in this school.
I am seriously looking to move my kids out of the school!
Ms. Hawkins if you really want a school with more black teachers go work in Harlem.