MIDDLETOWN – When word leaked out that members of the community were going to turn out in large numbers to voice their concerns about issues in the Middletown Enlarged City School District, the board of education meeting scheduled for Thursday night was abruptly canceled two hours before it was to start.
Parents, mid-level administrators, teachers, and city residents turned out nevertheless to express their concerns.
Omar Perez, one of two male mid-level administrators of color, said his positions have been shifted more than once in recent days to keep him quiet.
“The truth is they are trying to move me around and make shifts because I have brought about investigations to protect students and adults, but they are not happy about that and they wanted to cover up a lot of those truths,” he told Mid-Hudson News.
Perez alleged excessive force by security, misconduct in treatment of students, some teachers not following procedures, and women being sexually harassed by security members.
Bishop James Rollins, an outspoken critic of the district, said the ranks of the teaching staff do not come close to representing the overwhelming minority makeup of the student population.
“Now we actually have some teachers coming into the district, but we actually have educators and professionals at the administrative level and now there seems to be an all-out effort to undermine the successful efforts that they have employed to ensure that the Middletown school district has not only the best quality of people, but increasing and improving the level of diversity that certainly is beneficial to not just black and brown students, but to the entire student body,” he said.
Yaa Yaa Whaley-Williams, the coordinator of mathematics for the school district, said there appears to be a lack of transparency about concerns. Because she has spoken out, she said she has been excluded from meetings that fall under her purview and has faced other “micro-and macro-aggressions” from school officials.
School administrators could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
