Park Slope School Principal Cleared of Communist Organizing

Jill Bloomberg, principal of Park Slope Collegiate high school has been absolved of accusations made against her contending that she was organizing and hosting on-campus Communist meetings. Officials of the Department of Education announced last week that after extensive investigation into the allegations, Ms. Bloomberg is completely clear of any wrongdoing related to the claims.

The Office of Special Investigations did find Bloomberg guilty of other, unrelated infractions of minor rules. Michael Aciman, department spokesman, said that “appropriate disciplinary action will be taken” for her failure to get permission from the parents of students to show a documentary at school; to hire a substitute teacher without the proper authorization; and to offer a history class to fulfill a required government credit without getting permission.

Bloomberg says the original accusations originated with an employee with something against her, stating that:

“The DOE has admitted that they initiated an investigation against me based on allegations from a completely unreliable source,” she said. “Nonetheless, while finding the allegations of Communist organizing to be patently false, they are still threatening disciplinary action based on minor bureaucratic complaints from the same discredited source. Any disciplinary action is simple retaliation for our defense of our students, their civil rights and our advocacy for integration.”

Jeanne Miller, Bloomberg’s lawyer, said that the claims the DOE brought against Bloomberg were wrong and are the equivalent of harassment.

“They felt like they had to find something because they had fought so hard to do this investigation,” Mirer said. “Her reputation as a professional has been hurt by what is clearly a retaliatory action.”

Some parents and employees at the school have supported Bloomberg. The New York Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to lawyers at the DOE asking them to drop the investigation.