New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
School honcho in
Haitian flap reassigned
Friday, April 15th, 2005
The assistant principal who allegedly punished a group of Haitian fourth-graders by forcing them to sit on the floor and eat with their hands has been yanked from the Queens school - after she said she feared for her safety.
School officials said yesterday that assistant principal Nancy Miller of Public School 34 in Queens Village was transferred earlier this week to a desk job in the district's regional office.
But news of the move did little yesterday to placate Haitians outraged by Miller's alleged actions.
"Nobody threatened that woman's life," said Elsie Saint-Louis Accilien of Haitian Americans United for Progress.
According to parents and students, Miller, who is white, punished 13 Haitian pupils in the school's only fourth-grade bilingual class after two were involved in a scuffle March 16. The case is under investigation.
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that counseling would be made available to any child that requested it.
"What apparently happened, if it's true, is despicable and disgraceful and an outrage," Bloomberg told reporters.
Joe Williams and David Saltonstall
