Letter from MCSM PTA to Chancellor Klein

In protest against the deceptive manner in which Jolanta Rohloff was presented as a candidate for MCSM Principal at the C-30 meeting on June 11, the PTA Executive Board sent the following letter to Chancellor Klein on June 28.


Chancellor Joel I. Klein
NYC Department of Education
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007


Dear Chancellor Klein,

It is with deep concern that we, the Executive Board of the Parent Teacher Association at Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics (MCSM), write this letter to state our very strong opposition to the candidacy of Ms. Jolanta Rohloff as a replacement for our outgoing Principal, Ms. Corinne Vinal.

Ms. Rohloff was presented on June 11 to a C30 Committee convened at MCSM for the purpose of conducting the Level 1 review of five principal candidates. The process was administered in such a way that no one present was allowed to ask any direct questions of any of the candidates – no questions specific to each individual, no follow-up questions, and no opportunity to explore each candidate’s background and resume in more detail. Only six pre-written, generic questions, prepared so as to be equally applicable to each of the five candidates, were permitted. Those on the Committee barely had time to read the candidates’ resumes before the interviews began. They were also never permitted to see the applications of the 21 other candidates who had already been screened out of this process. Having subsequently spoken with parents at other schools who have participated in a C30 process, we believe our committee members were guided through an improperly and unnecessarily restrictive candidate review that appears, in hindsight, designed to prevent Ms. Rohloff’s background from being brought to light.

As no one present at the meeting (seven parents, two students, and school representatives of the UFT, DC37, and CSA) knew Ms. Rohloff or her recent background at Lafayette High School, they were all effectively misled about that individual’s qualifications. Had this readily known information been disclosed, a far different discussion would doubtless have ensued. Failure to disclose this information, coupled with Regional Superintendent Heaney’s failure to engage in further discussion with parents or school staff has only served further to inflame the situation and give it an even greater appearance of a secretive, “back room” deal.

Please understand that we hold nothing against Ms. Rohloff personally. Had she been presented as the candidate she is and given the chance to tell her story and answer questions, parent representatives on the C30 would certainly have given her fair and responsible consideration. Instead, the DOE pursued a process that hid her true background and apparently sought to co-opt parents’ legitimate role in the selection process. Thus, instead of giving parents a responsible voice in choosing our children’s next principal, that voice was effectively silenced. This is not, in our judgment, the right way to go about forging the partnership with parents that the DOE regularly asserts it seeks to do. Nor is it an appropriate way in which to introduce a principal candidate known by the DOE to be controversial into a school community.

We recognize that as of the time of this writing, no formal decision has been announced regarding the Principal position at MCSM. As elected representatives of that school’s parent community, however, we strongly urge you not to appoint Ms. Rohloff to that position. In our view, such a decision will be self-defeating from virtually the moment it is announced. At this juncture, we would prefer that an Acting Principal be named and a new and more open C30 process be convened in September.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Respectfully submitted,


The PTA Executive Board of Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics

Stephen Koss, President
Deirdre Rose, Co-Vice President
Donald Redish, Co-Vice President
Yara Rodriguez, Secretary
Nevis Almeida, Treasurer


cc: Randi Weingarten, President, United Federation of Teachers
Robert Jackson, New York City Council, Chairperson, Education Committee
Melissa Mark Viverito, New York City Council, District 8