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Assistant headmaster at BLS resigns as well
By adamg on Wed, 06/22/2016 - 9:08pm
Malcolm Flynn, an assistant headmaster at Boston Latin School, today submitted his resignation, one day after Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta resigned.
BLS has, or had, five assistant headmasters.
Flynn wrote to students and other members of the BLS community on Facebook:
A few minutes ago, I submitted my resignation from the Boston Public Schools after 52 years. I am sorry to be leaving Boston Latin School and the superior staff and the outstanding students. Every day has been rewarding in countless ways.
I hope that under new leadership Boston Latin School will continue to thrive as a high-powered, demanding academic institution where students of all backgrounds, advantaged or disadvantage, can start on the road to successful college studies, responsible and engaged citizenship, and a rewarding life.
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Comments
After 52 years, he deserved to go out with celebration
And feting, not as a casualty to a witch hunt. Ridiculous. Thank you, Mr. Flynn.
He's not a Tommy Chang fan
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/herald_bulldog/2016/06/2...
In his letter to Chang yesterday, Flynn said "recent false representations of the school, in which politicians and others outside the school have partnered with a vocal group of dissatisfied parents, your office, and the Boston Public Schools Office of Equity to portray Boston Latin School untruthfully, have made continuing impossible for me."
"Particularly hurtful," Flynn wrote to Chang, "has been your failure to speak out, to recognize publicly that the characterization of Boston Latin School recently in the media has been utterly false."
"She recalled the incident seven months after it happened"
If accurate, this does seem to muddy the picture considerably. I imagine it's tougher to work with an allegation like that, from a disciplinary standpoint.
Is this a quote...
... from the Herald article? If so, it is no longer there. I just clicked on the link at 7:15 this morning, read the article, and can't find it.
It was in a Globe piece last night
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/22/boston-latin-students-divide...
But the quote was removed.
Article was moved
Looks to be a bit shorter than the original posted last night
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/06/assistant_bls_he...
Thanks for the clarifications, but
I'm baffled why both articles were edited overnight & why, as usually happens, there's no note at the bottom saying , "This article was edited after its original posting. etc". Very odd....
Whoa, Shameful!
This is a shakedown, pure and simple. It's really upsetting to see the careers of quality BLS people and administrators end this way.
As soon as LMT announced her "resignation", I wondered what Mr. Flynn would do. His institutional knowledge and memory will be hugely missed by faculty, students and parents.
This is a very sad day for BLS.
#WeareBLS
https://twitter.com/hashtag/wearebls?f=tweets&vertical=default
Finally, and too late, this man moves on.
So much of the BLS discourse this year has focused on race (well deserved, shining a light on a big topic). The lost opportunity--broader discussion of the merits of an institution that gathers so many excellent minds, yet forces bright students to fit such a small space of academic achievement.
The legacy of Mr. Flynn is one of bullying and isolation. Too much power over the behavior of gifted students who, sometimes, rightfully challenge a space promised to broaden their horizons. A throwback to the days when people got their kids into Latin School and felt entitled. Just because they landed a seat. His departure is long overdue.
When you get an endless
When you get an endless stream of attacks from the media attacking at one aspect or another. The NAACP calling for a headmaster's head. A federal level investigation being made. The discussions is not going be a calm reflection of best practices.
And that's assuming "broader discussion of the merits of an institution..." is meant about how one develop students better when bring some of best together. Really, the word choices "the merits" and calling academic achievement a "small space" indicates indicates an entirely different meaning.
I cannot agree and while futilely to say this in my dissention. Your ultimate implementation would not make BLS better. Instead it would undermine BLS and the foundations that made BLS so notable to being with.
Do you have any specifics as to Flynn's alleged misconduct?
Beyond not liking the idea of discipline generally, and maybe being skeptical of "classical education"? Correct me if I've mischaracterized your concerns, but it sounds like you're saying he was strict and rigid. Is this a federal crime?
I believe his picture above in Adam's masthead
establishes a visual misconduct to many of the aggrieved. A crusty old white guy that refused to coddle the self centered spawn of the self centered.
Beyond strict and rigid
I have no problem with discipline. Nor am I skeptical of a classical education. During the decade I was a BLS parent, I observed Mr. Flynn deliver an arbitrary, often personal, and frequently overly severe brand of discipline. People like to romanticize the BLS experience. It is a school that is hand delivered bright kids who are already achieving, provides a very strong curriculum that most certainly prepares students for college, and creates a life long network of wonderful relationships. All good things. But I believe it will be a better school for being forced into the light. And without this man in a leadership position.
[citation needed]
You're doling out a lot of vague accusations. How is anyone to know whether these are legitimate, or just the work of a crazy person, sharp-elbowed aspirant to the position, or whomever is behind the larger circus that's going on right now.
Hurt feelings.
My child is special.....
As an alum, I'm sad to see
As an alum, I'm sad to see Lynne Mooney Teta go though I understand it. But I am not sad to see Mr. Flynn go. He was one of those old-time administrators that ruled through intimidation. I personally saw him get into a shoving match with a teacher. He's trying to piggyback on Mooney Teta's resignation to make himself look good but the truth is he should have retired years ago.
Someone has hurt feelings.
Thankfully the US Attorney is looking into hurt feelings and shall soon bring an end to crimes of debate and critical thinking. Hopefully she will address the crime of British literature as well. Now where's my trophy?
It seems as if a lot of people disagree.
This was a pretty amazing tribute.
https://twitter.com/teenagehotdog/status/746049508539260929
Goodbye Mr Chips
Thank you for your fifty years of dedicated service to the young men and women of Boston Latin. For your retirement gift you will receive a bus ticket to Salem Massachusetts where your name will be placed alongside others who were falsely accused of racism during the witchcraft trials.
And the witch hunt continues
How many more staff and faculty will our city's best school lose to this witch hunt?
Don't worry
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/22/black-community-leaders-seek...
I'm sure these guys will pick a great new headmaster.
Vague allegations are a powerful straw man's tool.
Next up is the elimination of the exam requirement and the ultimate destruction of opportunity because success and hard work are hurtful to others.
No, that won't happen and is
No, that won't happen and is a straw man.
Micro
aggression..
Saving Latin
1.Come up with a constitutional point system for admissions that facillitates letting in more black and Latino kids and/or kids from public grammar schools. This should have been done years ago
2. Hire someone to exclusively handle allegations of racism, homophobia, sexism, etc.
3. Hire a headmaster who still believes in high standards and classical education (Latin, history, Shakespeare, etc), so the curriculum doesn't radically change
4. Now would be a good time for alumni to donate, however you felt about Teta and Flynn
Why?
If a family pays property taxes for 10-12 years while sending their kids to Catholic school b/c they lost a lottery, they shouldn't have equal access to Latin? That's absurd.
Not just "absurd"....
... almost certainly unconstitutional and illegal.
Not necessarily
based on the Supreme Court's decision today regarding UT admissions.
That decision....
... cannot be stretched to allow children of taxpaying citizens to be barred (or seriously disadvantaged) from admission to a public elementary or secondary school in the city in which they pay taxes.
Are you sure? Texas was a zero-sum game too, right?
Every school has a finite number of spaces.
Regardless, I think it's more likely that the "exam school" itself gets struck down as unconstitutional than the public elementary schools sufficiently improve to level the playing field for rich and poor, etc. Terribly pessimistic and cynical, I suppose.
BLS made an adjustment already...
... by basing decisions on school performance as well as ISEE scores.
That was the plaintiff's argument.
Please try again.
I read the whole decision...
... did you?
Then your ability to channel Oliver Wendell Holmes
should tell you that governmental established advantages meet constitutional muster.
You are babbling....
... nonsense. I'd rather read thezak's off-topic rantings than your "snark".
You dislike a opposing views
while I enjoy them. Snark is in the eye of the reader. "I read it did you" fits that bill.
I have no problem with opposing views...
... but you act like a smart-ass who thinks he's really really funny -- but isn't usually the least bit funny.
In fact, I did read the entire majority opinion in Fisher (albeit not the entire 51 page dissent). Did you? Not snark. I'm too much a stuffed shirt to be able to do snark.
Then you read that the governments thumb on the
scale for the purpose of social engineering is okay. Now un-stuff your shirt and stick to decaf.
I read no such thing...
... and neither did you - because the decision said nothing of the sort. The majority pointed out how review here was peculiarly limited by the way the case was handled by plaintiff -- who failed to challenge a key part of the plan that was adopted (which was required by the Texas legislature and not a matter of choice by UT).
I don't think he's saying that
Making sure Black and Hispanic students attending the Boston Public Schools are given a true opportunity to compete for seats at Latin with Catholic or charter school kids doesn't mean that the latter kids will be frozen out.
Heck, if bolstering the chances of kids whose families don't think they can get in or, as Adam has noted, don't want to go to Latin due to perceived racism there makes the talent pool deeper, the whole city benefits. And if that means a kid from St. Theresa's can't get in, perhaps he or she should have studied harder.
Did you go to Latin or have
Did you go to Latin or have kids go there? If so, you'd know that it's not an equal playing field for admission right now. Tutoring specifically for the Latin exam is a cottage industry in places like West Roxbury. In no way do I fault a parent for putting their kid into such a program at all, and I benefited from it myself and would do the same for my child because I'm fortunate to have the resources to afford it. But recognize that few kids in BPS schools in Roxbury are getting that opportunity. That's reflected in the admissions, it's reality. How we deal with that can be a matter of respectful discourse but acknowledge the playing field is what it is.
Latin had a free prep program ....
... but I believe it got got wiped out by funding cuts.
Latin is brutal if you are at the bottom of the class
Selectively reducing academic admissions criteria would create more failure among the lesser qualified who get a free pass. Tying the admission of more kids with marginal scores and grades to race would exacerbate differing success rates, which would then be interpreted (in loud voices) as evidence of racism. The special pass would then, inevitably, be flowed up.
The real problem can only be fixed in BPS elementary schools, through making more minority children able to compete on an equal basis. Reinstituting some form of tokenism would be disastrous not only for the school but for the kids it was foisted on.
How about free full time summer school? Parents who can't afford camps would jump at that. Perhaps that could help fill the gap in more ways than one. Have the best teachers in the city compete for the extra pay, and call it Advanced Prep or something,
You and your damn
logic!
Free summer school?
Walsh is cutting, remember?
Yes to the billion bone.
Devastating.
Ok, that's five votes for "pretty much the status quo"
Good luck. Honestly- I hope your approach works. I'd love to see the public elementary schools get up to the level of the private schools. I guess that would spell the end of an industry, though.
Sounds like Mayor Mahhhty has things under control
https://twitter.com/Kadzis
Peter Kadzis @Kadzis 19m
BREAKING: On going meeting between @marty_walsh and BLS faculty described as "extremely" confrontational.
Peter Kadzis @Kadzis 17m
BREAKING: Reports from inside the BLS faculty meeting with @marty_walsh say the Mayor has lost his temper.
Peter Kadzis @Kadzis 4m
BREAKING: As BLS faculty and @marty_walsh prepare to meet the press, the mayor instructs teachers on behavior. More 2 come from @wgbhnews
I assume this means....
... if teachers publicly comment on what is happening, Marty and Chang will see they "resign" from BLS too.