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Monitoring the situation: Asst. Superintendent Redd-Hannans.
The assistant principal and three other employees at Barnard have been placed on administrative leave while an internal investigation is underway.
Already reeling from its principal’s unexpected resignation, Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet is now further short-staffed after four employees were sent home earlier this month. They include the assistant principal, a kindergarten teacher, a security guard and a behavioral specialist.
Superintendent Carol Birks said that she couldn’t talk about what happened at the Derby Avenue elementary school.
Allan Appel File Photo
Bake sale at Barnard.
“It’s a personnel matter,” she said. “It’s still being investigated.”
But Birks did say that Central Office will be stepping up to help Barnard through the transition.
“We’ve reassigned staff to support that school,” she said. “The assistant superintendent” — Keisha Redd-Hannans — “is there every other day.”
Birks also placed another retention specialist at the school, and she sent over Kermit Carolina, the supervisor of youth, family and community engagement, for extra help.
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Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School.
Birks said that she’s already identified a “veteran administrator” who will take over as Barnard’s interim principal.
Birks said that the search for a permanent replacement is also just starting up.
She added that it will be modeled on the process that Worthington Hooker recently used to pick its principal, which included interviews with the School Planning & Management Team and a forum with the entire school community.