Hudson Reporter Archive

Aftermath of alleged grade-fixing

The Jersey City school district is still investigating allegations that the grades of some Lincoln High School athletes were fixed to allow them to remain eligible to play, allegations that resulted in the removal of the school’s principal and three staff members a week ago Friday.
Members of the public at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting questioned whether it was appropriate to remove the four faculty members on Jan. 14 before the investigation was completed.

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“We don’t want them to take her away from us.” – Chaniyah Swann
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As first reported by the Hudson Reporter, Lincoln Principal Jeannette McRae Braswell, Athletic Director Artie Williams, Vice Principal Peggy Critelli, and the school’s former vice principal, John Gonzalez (who was serving as vice principal at Snyder High School) were removed from their posts while school was still in session. They were then placed in the school district office until further notice. The current interim principal at the school is Cheryle Richardson-Evans, who was the other vice-principal at Lincoln.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Epps said after the board meeting that the investigation will continue until an “indeterminate” time and would not answer any further questions about the investigation.
However, earlier in the week, he told the local daily newspaper that he expected the investigation to end by Friday.
Board members were also mum about the investigation after the meeting.
The lack of answers was not sufficient for those who attended the meeting to support Braswell and the other administrators. They asked for the district to reinstate the staffers until the investigation concluded.
More questions have been raised about the magnitude of the alleged grade-fixing and whether it should have led to the removal of the faculty members. See longtime Hudson Reporter sports columnist Jim Hague’s column inside this issue.

Bring them back

Lincoln girl’s basketball players Chaniyah Swann and Tynaisa Benthall were holding signs during the school board meeting saying, “REINSTATE THEN INVESTIGATE” and “HUNG OUT TO DRY.” In particular, they wanted their principal back.
“She doesn’t let things get out of hand. She looks out for us,” said 15-year-old Swann. “We don’t want them to take her away from us.”
Benthall, 17, said she didn’t understand the big deal over the allegations of grade fixing, or grade changing.
“What school doesn’t change a grade as far as athletics are concerned?” Benthall said. “Colleges do it; private schools do it, and now people want to make a big deal.”
Adults asked the school board how removal of the administrators was carried out.
Local pastor Rev. Ronnie Calvin Clark, a former school board member, organized protests Thursday afternoon in front of the school district central office on Claremont Avenue, and later that evening in front of Public School 11 on Bergen Avenue, where the meeting was held.
Clark was disturbed by not only the removals but also other aspects of this situation. He claimed that it came about as the result of an anonymous letter, and that the names were leaked to the press before the investigation.
He also argued that the punishment didn’t fit the alleged crime.
“There have been no allegations that children have been harmed, money has been misappropriated, and that property was taken,” Clark said
Lorenzo Richardson of the Jersey City branch of the NAACP posed a series of questions including, “What is the process of handling investigations?” and “What was the basis of this investigation?”
Tearethea Sims, a Lincoln High graduate who was taught by Braswell many years ago, said all the removed administrators should be returned to their positions to continue stability among the student body.
“Our children are not happy, and when they’re not happy, they are not happy campers,” Sims said. “You are going to have neighbors calling the police because [the children] are fighting.”
The high school is located on Crescent Avenue in the city’s Bergen-Lafayette section.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.

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