FIRED HEMPSTEAD PRINCIPAL APPEALING TO GET HER JOB BACK

  

Fired Hempstead Middle School Principal Amy Lacey is appealing her dismissal by the school board last week.

The board voted not to renew her contract after she reportedly made an announcement that students were not to speak Spanish on the campus.  She was put on administrative leave after  Supt. Delma Flores Smith said the administration received complaints about the announcement.  Some of those calls came from the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Lacey is hiring lawyer Mark Robinett to represent her in a hearing before the board.

Robinett has disputed reports that Lacey banned Spanish everywhere on the campus.  Robinett says there were no consequences for speaking Spanish on the campus in class.  He says the she was simply encouraging her students to speak English as much as possible, especially in class.

 Flores-Smith said her recommendation not to renew Lacey’s contract was based on more than the intercom announcement.

Flores-Smith released a statement saying the administration in Hempstead 0received numerous calls asking why the students were not allowed to speak Spanish.  Flores-Smith said Lacey failed to fulfill her duties, showed incompetence, inefficiency and an inability to maintain discipline in the school.  She did not cite specific examples of the characteristics.

 

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13 Comments

  1. I agree with KA and Concerned Person! I wonder how many countries in the world cater to people that do no speak the native language of the country that they choose to move to. I believe if you want to be a part of whatever country you live in it is YOUR obligation to learn the language! In the US we are so afraid of offending and lawsuits handed down by the liberal court systems that we have to print warning labels and instructions in several different languages so the people live in the US that refuse to learn English don’t have to. This cost millions of dollars that has to be passed along to the consumer. I love the USA because it the best country in the world but sometimes the people that run it need a good shaking! Children of this country are supposed to go to school to learn how to read and write to they can better themselves and someday be self supportive and productive but it now seems if we ask non English speaking people to learn the language we are somehow infringing on their rights! I hope that I live long enough to see the USA snap out of this and once again become the Greatest Country In the World before the liberals took over.

  2. ka and conserned person are wrong I agree with yall on the language of the country but what if we came from mexico and we know how to English its just that were comfratable speaking Spanish to people she has no right to run those kids she can only tell them from wrong to rights now please reply and think about my comment love gabby the fourth grader<3

  3. This is the United States and our national language is english! Learn it or get left behind it’s just bad that you would force your child into a society that speaks english.

  4. Personally I think that the decision that was made was the right thing to do. Why is it that in this country Americans only want you to speak Spanish when it is for their OWN American convenience? Is it because of their own ignorance in not knowing the language? If a student or employee is fluent in both languages and is around other students and employees that are also fluent in both languages than they should have a right to decide what language to communicate in, REGARDLESS of where they are at. Be it at school, church, work , the clinic, the library, city hall, well you get my point. I speak both languages and I had a previous employer who made that statement to other employees at the place of employment. She never said it to me but if she had I would have reminded her that it is against my fifth amendment right to ask me to do that. Further more if I was hired because I am an asset which is being bilingual, then does that mean that I can only speak it when you tell me to? I don’t think so because if comes down to that than I will demand way more money. Being a United States Citizen gives me that right. Communicating in a different language doesn’t deserve a disciplinary action, it isn’t even worth wasting time on making an announcement over the intercom. That principal was completely out of line, therefore deserves the consequences. She put her own professional, educational career on the line by making such an outrageous, ridiculous statement and request.

    1. The reason Americans want you to speak English to us not Spanish is because this is not Mexico ! This is America where English is the national language ! Why is that so hard to understand ?

      1. ka I disagree because I want to speak whatever I want we won the texas declaration of independence for freedom of our religen and our language and anything we choose our self now quit saying the wrong answer and think of the right one I think it dosent matter as long as you know how to speak both so when someone says something you can reply in any language

        1. gabby, your missing the point. If they don’t learn English very well, they will not be able to understand what teachers in collage teach. If they can not understand those teachers they will not get a degree and provide a better living for their family. Most Mexicans work low paying jobs and do the hard common labor jobs. If they learn to speak English very well (as well as Spanish) and go to collage they can break out of the current system. I’m sorry, but that is just the way it is.

  5. First there is nothing wrong with encouraging children to speak English. This is America and people have rights, but the simple fact is that English is the predominant language. For these children to be able to succeed in jobs in this country good English skills are important.

    After reading this article which states ” Flores-Smith said Lacey failed to fulfill her duties, showed incompetence, inefficiency and an inability to maintain discipline in the school.” I question what this is really about. Is it about an announcement or is it about Ms. Lacey’s competence. If it is about the list in the above quoted statement I am sure there is documented proof in the form of warnings, reviews, emails, etc. showing a progressive discipline/communication to try to improve these things. If there is no written progressive discipline then the above quoted statement is libel that is damaging to Ms. Lacey’s career as a professional educator. An announcement alone hardly seems sufficient to terminate someone.

  6. I believe that the principal did wrong by telling the spanish speaking students to only speak English, when in fact there’s other thing to worry more, than those students speaking spanish. and yeah I’m proud that the latin and Mexican American legal defense got involved in this matter, other ethnics groups would done the same thing!

    1. The majority of children that do not speak English very well, and are taught that they don’t have to, Will continue to be those that never can seem to rise above the lower paying jobs. They will be more likely to drop out of school join gangs find ways to make money dishonestly, or try to live off of social programs burdening every one else who speak English’s tax dollars. I say Amy Lacey is a hero for having the courage and insight !

  7. This whole thing stinks ! It appears that Mrs. Smith and the school board felt pressure to do something by the LUAC and MALD. I’m disappointed that school boards here in Texas can be intimidated by these types of groups that have nothing to do in helping create unity but rather the opposite. It seems every minority has a group or organization for them to vilify and exaggerate their situation, in a dishonest manner. There is nothing wrong with asking Spanish speaking children to speak English as much as they can on campus. After all the school is were they are supposed to sharpen their skills to prepare them for the hard future of making a living in the future. Or has the Hempstead school board and Mrs. Smith forgotten this. Probably so, seems that the public school system has lost their way even in our own back yard.

    1. I agree with KA, these organzations go in and defeat the one thing they are fighting for-equal rights. I know as a mother of a school aged child, my English speaking child had to learn slowly and at a snails pace because over half his class could not speak English. The best way to learn is to speak it everyday-they are taught FREE OF CHARGE to speak English and then throw a fit when asked to speak it?? This is AMERICA. My grandfather was tarred and feathered and left to walk home by the KKK because he spoke only German. He learned to speak English because that is the laguage of this country. They were even forbidden to speak German at church!! What makes the Spanish speaking people so special that we have to change everything for them?? If the Mexicans (people from Mexico) would fight as hard to fix their country as they do to change ours, maybe Mexico would be a better place to live!!

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