NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Albert Leonard Middle School Principal Dr. Velma Whiteside has resigned, effective June 30, 2013.
Whiteside was hired on September 1st, 1986.
She became principal in 2011. Before the she was the long-time Assistant Principal at the school.
Whiteside is the fourth of 11 principals to resign from the New Rochelle Board of Education in the past two weeks.
Clips from board resolutions…
Apparently the Board of Ed is in on the conspiracy…
RESOLVED, that the resignation of Velma Whiteside….
RESOLVED, that the resignation of Bill Harrell…
RESOLVED, that the resignation of Patricia Lambert…
RESOLVED, that the resignation of Donald Conetta…
Leave the English lessons to the teachers!
Enough already,
The woman decided to leave ALMS for whatever reason and do something else rather than be the principle of ALMS. Bob is writing a headline to draw in readership and attention to an issue at the same time. He is doing nothing more than any other news agency out there does, reporting an event or action by a person in the community he reports in. That is part of the problem; it is too close to home and hits a nerve with many. But it creates conversation and debate of the issues. This is allowed on the site UN like other news methods. Leave Principle Whiteside out of this except for the fact she did what she freely chose to do. That was all that was stated.
The point you are all missing is that this was the third person/ school principle leaving The New Rochelle School District on the tails of the announcement of a DOJ investigation. Remember the original point; the U.S. Attorneys was investigating the failure of the New Rochelle school district to evacuate two 17-year old students during a fire condition at New Rochelle High School then three New Rochelle School Principles decide to leave the jobs they were in. Along with that and the many short comings of The New Rochelle Board of Education, The New Rochelle School District and several of its employees, there is plenty of substance for a review of the entire system. To rename a few:
-The Board and Administration’s decision to ignore the SAVE requirements for safety plans follows a pattern of disregard.
-The Administration had hired 9 people in late October and early November of 2011 without performing the background checks and fingerprinting required by SAVE.
-Teacher Taken Out of Ward School on a Stretcher after Hysterical Outburst at City Hall.
-High School Librarian Arrested in Sex Sting.
-Schools Employee charged with Assault 2nd Degree.
-Schools Employee Arrested, Vicious Assault Leaves Man and Woman Seriously Injured.
-Schools Electrician Pleads Guilty to Sex Charge.
-Worker fired from his position as a Motor Equipment Operator Replaced by another employee convicted of identical drunk driving charge fills his position.
-Who knows what else?
The system is broken and he has brought it to the attention of more people than some are comfortable with. He is reporting on facts through investigation and information gathered like any other news source. I still haven’t seen or heard anything on this site that has been proven wrong. It has actually helped draw in some much needed attention to some of the short comings in many areas at The Board of Education, The New Rochelle School District and The City of New Rochelle that were passed over or covered up in the past. Lately the major news agencies have run their own coverage following coverage on this site.
We don’t always agree with his manner of reporting, his methods or his motives but every person does something in life to fix or correct problems or issues that affect them. If they didn’t we would not be the country we are. Concentrate on what is most important, the facts as they come out, our children, our families and our lives. Too much time is wasted proving points and not enough time is spent fixing the problems.
I don’t have any issue with Bob’s heading…
and fully support any words he uses to draw more and more attention to this site, which is the only truth teller about the poor sewer that is New Rochelle. Just google Bramson and guess where it takes you? Happy days.
I take objection to the poster thinking he can tell me I don’t know the difference between ‘retire’ and ‘resign’. BIG difference.
Oh, and Bob? It’s ‘principal’.
:O)
I know you don’t.
Exactly my point though,
My comments were not directed at you or anyone specific. Just the fact that the regardless of topic, the story, point gets lost in the he said, she said, I am right, you are wrong back and forth. If people put the same time effort toward the problems at hand we may, would or could be in a better state in New Rochelle.
Sorry about the brain fart:):):),
They happen and spell check doesn’t always catch everything. I will write Principal 500 time on the blackboard. Let’s keep the wheels spinning in the right direction towards change for a cleaner and better New Rochelle. It can and will happen in time.
The purposeful negative implications of “resign” vs “retire”.
Actual definitions aside, you’re clearly allowing your bias against the system to affect your choice of words.
The word “resign” implies a negative conclusion to a professional relationship. It’s not an incorrect choice of words, I agree. She has not yet officially retired, so any other willing self-termination is, strictly speaking, a resignation. But it’s a poor choice of words and I think you probably know that.
the system?
Hmmm.
Let me see if I have this right…the word “resign” is “not incorrect” and that the action taken is a “resignation” but somehow the use of the term “resign” is a reflection of my “bias against the system”.
This appears to be based on your idea that “The word ‘resign’ implies a negative conclusion to a professional relationship.
It does? Since when?
I am looking at the dictionary (http://bit.ly/ZdPP8K).
resign = “to give up one’s office or position.”
There is no positive or negative involved. If you work for a company and decide to quit and go elsewhere you RESIGN by handing in a RESIGNATION letter. If you are an officer in the military you RESIGN your commission.
What on earth is the NEGATIVE here?
As I said, a person can do both. They can resign and they can retire and those are two distinction acts. And from a pension point of view, one might retire but not actually retire. A cop who retires after 20 years on the police force does not necessarily stop working and move to Florida.
I would say that the only bias showing here is your own, where you take a word with no particular positive or negative meaning and assert that it has negative meaning BECAUSE I used it and, according to you, I am biased and that makes my use of the word negative.
That is known as a circular argument and thus illogical and baseless.
All I have heard so far is about Dr. Whiteside is that she resigned her position as principal at ALMS. I do not know whether she intends to file for retirement in the NYS Teachers Pension System. I also do not know whether, if she does that, she intends to stop working altogether or that perhaps she will go work in the private sector or as a consultant or part-time for another state agency.
As it happens, I have often praised Dr. Whiteside. I believe she is a good person with real integrity. I think she has done a good job at ALMS. At the last board meeting at ALMS I praised her at length. If the idea is that I someone am seeking to disparage Dr. Whiteside, the facts are not your friend here.
Further, unless you are a mindreader you cannot know what my intention is on choosing to use a certain word. You can ask. And then I can tell you that I used the word resign because it is the extent of what I have been able to confirm. We will know more at the next BoE meeting.
take out your thesaurus
NRRooter, please give Bob an acceptable word that would represent a positive conclusion to a professional relationship. People have to understand the word even when the actual definition is cast aside. When strictly speaking, the reader should understand that she resigned. When not strictly speaking, they must also understand that she resigned, but not THAT kind of resigned. The reader needs to infer that she is not there anymore, but she wanted to not be there. It can’t be fired because that actually means she was fired. Resigned is off the list because the less intelligent will get the wrong impression. Quit is just too strong of a word. Ya know, the whole “I QUIT” thing we see in movies. We could use retire, but it wouldn’t be correct as you stated. How about departed? Kinda leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. On second thought, departed could imply she’s in that big school in the sky. I thought of “she left,” but that could mean she just left as in, “hey, where’s the principal?” “Oh, she just left.” They say the Pope resigned. That sounded really harsh. Did he resign or retire? If the principal goes for another job, did she resign or retire? Maybe she’s semi-retired. Can you semi-resign? Isn’t there a word right smack in the middle of the two? I’m confused. You’re the wordsmith, I’ll let you choose the right word.
Excellent post, willyrand…
let’s hope NRRooter understands it.
Whoa……you are hilarious……
I don’t see anything in the article that said she RESIGNED due to, well something like that which made Pope Benny RESIGN?
Man, NRRooter, you really are splitting hairs. I am an expert on the subject, so I will clarify for you:
–an employee RESIGNS when they DO NOT have enough years in service or age to RETIRE;
Simple, don’t you think?
An employee can be FIRED, can be allowed to RETIRE (usually a crooked New Rochelle executive who has committed a serious breach, cough the boss of the City Yard, and is ALLOWED to retire but never set foot in New Rochelle again ooooooh what a punishment, but is listed as having RETIRED), can RESIGN without a breach becoming public (I don’t see any breach in this article so where do you come up with a negative connotation in Bob’s piece?), or can be allowed to RESIGN in disgrace (like Pope Benny) with his or her breach known to all the world.
GOT IT NOW? Good.
“an employee RESIGNS when
“an employee RESIGNS when they DO NOT have enough years in service or age to RETIRE;”
Incorrect, sir.
There are a variety of reasons why one might resign. Dr. Whiteside has the requisite years to retire and has, in fact, retired.
No comments occur in a vacuum. When Mr. Cox uses the word “resign” to describe what he considers the disgraceful tenure of Mr. Conetta and then uses the same word to describe the conclusion of Dr. Whiteside’s time in NR and does so in the span of only a few days, it isn’t splitting hairs to say that his language was poorly selected.
Got it?
Then she retired, and didn’t resign…
and I was correct in my original declaration:
“an employee RESIGNS when they DO NOT have enough years in service or age to RETIRE;”
Since YOU yourself declare that Dr. Whiteside was able to retire and did retire, then she had enough years to retire and didn’t resign but retired.
So you are quite incorrect when you say I am incorrect.
And btw, I am not a sir.
Got all that? Good.
That’s hardly the point.
I said Mr. Cox used a poorly selected word to describe the incident and I stand by it.
But I’ll concede your point, even though I think it’s the contrapositive of your original declaration that is actually correct.
Now I got you.
Explain this…
This is a headline and article from the Journal News….
Resigned or retiring ..two
Resigned or retiring ..two totally different words! Clearly someone resigning probably wouldnt finish out the school year.
one or both
I am being told about principals who have resigned. Whether they have also filed for retirement with the state pension system is unknown at this time. It may be both but not necessarily.
With school positions, the district requires advance 90 days advance notice so anyone wishing to resign at the end of the year would give notice by March 1st to be effective June 30.