Principal Eileen Blagden at Stowers Elementary School here in the ABC Unified School District has been placed on "indefinite leave" this week over an incident that occurred between two teachers last week.
Jerry Bernstein, Editor of the Los Cerritos Community News is reporting all the details in today's issue of the LCCN.
I want all of you to read this account that has outraged many parents, students and community members.
Here is a brief look at Mr. Bernstein's article (see the link below for the entire article):
This is what happened at Stowers Elementary School last week. The principal is Eileen Blagden. When District officials were questioned about the administrative leave and if the principal was actually fired, the answer was she is on indefinite leave. Asked why a fifth grade teacher who showed signs of being unstable was transferred from Leal Middle School to a kindergarten class at Stowers, District officials said they couldn’t comment because it was a personnel matter.
However, LCCN has learned the teacher, who is tenured and has been with ABC for 16 years had problems at Leal and substitute teachers often taught his 5th grade class.
The events that led up to Blagden’s leave occurred on this timeline: According to the sheriff incident report the teacher, Kevin Kirby, arrived at Stowers on Jan. 25 at approximately 9 a.m. He had bloodstains on his clothes and told a secretary he had been in an accident on the freeway while on his motorcycle. Blagden, justifiably so, decided Kirby should not report to his classroom due to his appearance and possible injuries.
Click here for the entire story:
LOS CERRITOS COMMUNITY NEWS ON STOWERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Drop me a note to RREconomy@aol.com, or click the headline from this Post and tell me what you think!
8 comments:
I am a parent of a Kindergaten student at Stowers, not in Mr Kirby's class. I for one appreciate the principals concern for her staff and for the students at the school. The school district should re-instate Ms. Blagden. Who knows what Mr Kirby was capable of doing.
concerned parent
This is a timely topic, with the recent "Columbine" type attack by an Ohio teacher, killing 3 people.
Principal Blagden evaluated an exigent situation, with an unstable teacher, covered in blood, who appears to be making statements of imminent harm to himself and/or other teachers.
She has him leave, and tells the other teachers of the potential danger.
So........ the brain trust at the school district decide she should be put on "indefinite leave" for failing to follow their instructions to ignore it or cover it up.
She should come back, and they should be put on permanent "leave".
What is the current situation at Stowers? Where is the unstable teacher now?
I'm really shocked at the mismanagement of this situation by the school district. The district clearly has their priorities screwed up when they are more concerned about the needs of the unstable teacher over the safety of the other teachers and THE CHILDREN!
Please bring back Ms. Blagden.
A Very Concerned Parent
My child attends Stowers. When my family read this in the paper, we contacted Dr. Gary Smuts. We told him that we were outraged that Mrs. Blagden was put on indefinite administrative leave. Mrs. Blagden acted appropriately, and did nothing to warrant being fired. Dr. Smuts went on to tell us that the story in the paper was inaccurate and the time line was all wrong. We immediately called the paper and spoke directly to Mr. Bernstein who explained that he got his information directly from the Sheriff’s report. My family is filing a complaint against the ABC School District.
We miss Mrs. Bladgen and will do whatever we need to get her back to Stowers.
More importantly, we as parents need to take the necessary measures to ensure that Kevin Kirby is never allowed to teach again.
Sincerely,
Stowersmom
As a parent of a child who just got promoted from Stowers and the uncle of a 2nd grader now attending there My self and my family are shocked and outraged at the handling of this situation at Stowers by the school district! Principle Eileen Blagden is the best principle any of my children have ever had. We feel that she handled the situation the way any intelligent person should have unlike the people at ABC Unified School District who were more more interested in covering there on rear ends than the safety of our children and teachers! I spoke directly with Mr Smuts and got a lot of double talk. I was told that the time line in the article was wrong and that he could not comment on any thing that happened because of confidentiality reasons. I told him that we were going to file a complaint with the district. Bring Mr Blagden back and put the SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN FIRST !!!
By the way I made the mistake of voting for Mr Smuts a promise that won't happen again!
A concerned Parent
Concerned parents! This has been an issue ready to explode...parents, we need to unite and file a complaint with the school board...at the next board meeting, we need to speak up during open session and make it a point that our children's safety and learning will not come second to the inappropriateness of a teacher's actions. We elected these school board members and they need to know that if they are more concerned with teacher unions rather than the care and safety of our children, then we can easily elect new board members come election time! If they do not listen then, then we file a united Uniform Complaint that will go up to the state!
There are always two sides to every story. I find it very hard to believe that the district would put the principal on leave for this matter. There must have been other issues.
Isaiah 14:4How the oppressor has come to an end!
I see that this is the deed of Lord God. From my acknowledgement, Mrs. Blagden is an evildoer for she has done many things of wickedness. From this incident, I hope that Mrs. Bladgen can learn: Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. If she can repent and sanctify herself then this incident is not only a punishment of God but also a blessing.
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