Student Stands Up To A Bully, Who Happens To Be Her Principal

Valley Stream South High School (Source)

Student Stands Up to A Bully, Who Happens to Be Her Principal
Breffni Neary

Nelson Mandela once said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” School is meant to be a place of learning and empowerment, and many institutions do fulfill their responsibility of shaping future citizens.

Yet the ability of Valley Stream South High School to do so has been called into question, all because of the principal. Thanks to Maureen Henry, students in one AP United States History class are not allowed to actively exercise their First Amendment right to petition.

The petitioning is part of a project designed to teach students about grassroots organizing and collective action, which are important elements of US history. In an effort to nurture student activism, the teacher, Mr. Visone, required that the students try to create a positive change within the school community.

“It was a chance to actually have an impact, [it was] not just busy work,” said Junior Ariel Mangual, who emphasized that many students were excited to make a difference. The joy was short-lived, however, as Henry shut the project down and told the teacher that students were not allowed to organize petitions.

Henry’s idea of compromise was to allow the students to write essays about the change they wish to see. Nevertheless, they would still barred from starting any petitions or taking any action, which was the whole point of the assignment. The students were not impressed.

Mangual channeled the frustration of her fellow students into the very thing Henry wanted to prevent: a petition. Aimed at coercing Henry into reinstating the original project, the online petition has garnered over 600 signatures in the two weeks since its launch. In a disclaimer for the petition, Mangual wrote, “we are not here to get her fired. We are here to ask her for change.”

While the goal is not termination, this is not the first time Principal Henry has been at the center of controversy. Henry became notorious in 2011 when she refused three students’ requests to start a Gay Straight Alliance at the school. Joseph Kofler, who was 17 at the time, noted that Henry admitted to using the word “faggot” and expressed that it didn’t mean any harm, before going on to say that there was no need for a GSA at the school. While the interim Superintendent Richard Marsh eventually approved the club, both of the teachers who had assisted the GSA’s organization were mysteriously transferred to other schools that summer.

In 2015, Henry again butted heads with a student when Brian Morales, then Junior Class President, decided he did not want to take the New York State Field Test. He emailed 40 kids in his class to inform them of the option of opting out and from there, the word spread. Morales said that when Henry got wind of his plan, she called him at his house to pressure him to send another email endorsing the test.

On the day of, after he and other students refused to take the test, Morales was subsequently called into Henry’s office. For two class periods, Morales claimed that Henry was “very intense, childish, and unprofessional” as she berated him. Henry later prevented Morales from participating in a Field Day, pressured him not to run for Senior Class President, and apparently “made senior year awful.”

Morales stated that she also removed him from her “special club,” which involved a few teachers, one other student, and himself discussing how to improve the school. He chuckled at the irony in relation to the current situation.

Henry has since continued to stir up ill feelings. Earlier this school year, she shouted at multiple students to stand for the pledge of allegiance, despite the established right to opt out of doing so. Morales and Mangual both expressed the opinion that Henry is a “bully” to students and teachers alike, and both fully believe that she “does not like students.” A look at some reviews on the Principal on the site Rate My Teachers echo these ideas.

While one commenter noted, “I think it's easy to bash someone when you haven't walked in their shoes,” this is heavily outweighed by negative sentiments. Many believe Principal Maureen Henry has made Valley Stream South High School an unenjoyable environment, and according to Mangual, “it is time for change.”