Principal Bullying in DC Public Schools: Our Hidden Little Secret
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| Principal Bullying in DC Public Schools |
By Candi Peterson, WTU General Vice President
A great deal of attention has been given to bullying in schools since the inception of Bullying Prevention month which was first initiated in 2006. According to the American Psychological Association, "40% to 80% of school-age children experience bullying at some point during their school careers."
Many say that bullying in our schools has reached epidemic proportions, but what many don’t under- stand is that bullying is not limited to just students.
Just last year at Largo Public High School former employees filed legal action against Principal Angelique Simpson-Marcus stating that she routinely belittled, berated teachers and staff and made inappropriate comments about white teachers.
A former Largo High School English teacher, Jon Everhart won a discrimination case and was awarded $350,000 by a US District Court jury. Other teachers filed similar claims citing they were fired for supporting Mr. Everhart.
Despite this court victory, Principal Simpson-Marcus remained the administrator at Largo High School and the Board of Education continued to defend this principal as an effective leader. No surprise there.
A 2014 National Survey on workplace bullying defined bullying as repeated mistreatment; and abusive conduct that is: threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, work sabotage, or verbal abuse. This is consistent with the definition used in the Healthy Workplace Bill.
Even with this high threshold, workplace bullying remains an American epidemic. Bullied individuals pay dearly with the loss of their economic livelihood to stop it. In the absence of legal prohibitions against it, employers are failing to take responsibility for its prevention and correction.
As the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) General Vice President, I hear countless stories of DC Public Schools teachers being bullied by their own local school principals. Like spousal abuse, this is our dirty little secret.
The extent to which our teachers suffer at the hands of cruel administrators is a hidden fact of school life. ATTES Connect, an education website based in the UK, reports that one out of three teachers says he or she has experienced bullying at work.
Some of the workplace bullying complaints that have been alleged right here on our doorsteps have occurred at Jefferson MS, Lafayette ES, Orr ES (2014), Truesdell EC, Watkins ES (2014), and West EC. Out of all of the complaints I have received on workplace bullying; only one teacher was willing to come forward.
Not unlike the School Board in Prince George's County Public Schools, our central office district administratorsThe Washington Teacher: Principal Bullying in DC Public Schools: Our Hidden Little Secret:
