More than one troubled department at Science

The longtime feud between Bronx High School of Science faculty and Principal Valerie Reidy is in the spotlight once again. 

The New York Times recently reported that eight of the school’s 20 social studies teachers chose not to return this year

Altogether, 22 teachers left at the end of last year, according to Principal Valerie Reidy. 

Six of the eight social studies teachers transferred out of the school, according to the principal. Three of the transfers left because they were denied tenure, she said. Of the other three, one went to Stuyvesant High School, another left to work at a middle school and the third headed to a different high school. The last two went on sabbatical or retired. 

That leaves 14 non-social studies teachers who left. Ms. Reidy said three of them transferred to other schools and the rest went on health care leave, went back to school or left the state.

This is in stark contrast to the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, another specialized high school in the area, where, since the school opened in 2002, only one teacher — a guidance counselor — has left to work elsewhere in the city, according to Jonathan Halabi, the school’s United Federation of Teachers chapter chair. 

Ms. Reidy and her administration have garnered a wealth of criticism in recent years in the form of legal complaints, rallies and negative media attention. Many former teachers allege that the principal was overly critical, verbally abusive, retributive and arbitrary in how she graded them on routine observations. 

The New York Times reported that one of the untenured social studies teachers filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that Ms. Reidy and Assistant Principal Colchamiro discriminated against her on the basis of race but The Press could not confirm the complaint’s existence.