A group of community protesters seek to remove Mamaroneck Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Shaps, who has served 10 years, and oust members of the school board, before a scheduled Board meeting at 9:00 am Tuesday at Mamaroneck High School.
The District faces lawsuits, numerous civil rights complaints and students’ claims of systemic failure to address racism and discrimination in the district’s schools.
Newly appointed School Board President Rina Beder responded by saying,”We’ve clearly stated that we support Dr. Shaps 100%.” She also said that the board and Dr. Shaps plan to hold small group meetings with parents, students and former students to discuss and address concerns of racism.
The Larchmont-Mamaroneck school system is the lowest rated per capita dollar school system in all of Westchester. Scarsdale, Edgemont, Bronxville, etc etc. are ALL more highly rated and better. This is due to two things: incompetence of the School Board, and the pernicious stench that is the teachers union. Both of these evils must be removed for Larchmont-Maroneck to have a quality school system.
Clearly the Board is out of touch with the Community sentiments. The Board rewarding Dr Shaps with an extended year, is a slap in the face to our community dealing with lawsuit legal fees for his actions.
They are taxpayer funded legal fees and judgements. Priore who was the principal of Central Elementary School during the US Dept of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation in 2011-12 that cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees was promoted to deputy superintendent. Any other school district would have given her the boot….unless of course she was just following orders from the Superintendent’s office at the behest of the School Board. The School Board are the ‘guardians’ of the community and rely on indifference to their policies and decision making in meting out the unwritten rule within Larchmont-Mamaroneck
This would be a great opportunity for our schools to start anew, address systemic racism, and change the culture of our schools. Great to see these brave young people camping out to advocate for change. Our community and school administration needs to stop trying to suppress the stories of racism that’s happening right here. Check out instagram @sheddinglightmamk for some of the experiences of students in our schools.