The Question New Rochelle Superintendent Jonathan Raymond Refuses to Answer

After weeks of false information, stonewalling, and deliberately obtuse non-denial-denials from the City School District of New Rochelle related to the shooting death of a 16-year-old by another 16-year-old, it all boils down to one question: who is the captain of the ship?

Where was Jonathan Raymond and what was his role on the night of January 25 when the district approved for release two diametrically opposed statements sent minutes apart on whether a student who was violently killed hours earlier was or was not a student at New Rochelle High School.

No competently run organization would release two statements within 15 minutes that said the exact opposite about the enrollment status of a deceased student at the time of their death.

That this happened requires one of two possibilities:

New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond reviewed and approved both statements and failed to notice that the statements were contradictory.

New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond did not review or approve one, the other or either statement.

We do not know which because he has refused to respond to any of about a dozen inquiries to explain these contradictory statements starting with one sent within minutes of their release on the night of the shooting on January 25.

As previously reported it appears he delegated responsibility for the crisis response to subordinates operating in different “silos” (ie, Central Office v New Rochelle High School) and his subordinates failed to coordinate their response. Those subordinates appear to be New Rochelle High School Principal Dr. Dagberto Artiles and Raymond’s Chief of Staff Carlos Leal, both Raymond hires. Or maybe there is some other explanation. We do not know because he will not say.

We are told there is now an investigation.

New Rochelle BOE Investigating Internal Response to West End Shooting, Sources

There is no more important requirement of school leadership than crisis management in the immediate aftermath of the unexpected death of a student — especially a violent death where another student is charged with the murder. Apparent confusion over student records appear to be the root of the discrepancies between silos but any such confusion could not exist without an abdication of responsibility at the top which is why we are focused now on one question: where was the captain of the ship and what role, if any, did he play in leading the crisis response team that night?

At a school board meeting hours after the shooting, Raymond made brief, off-the-cuff remarks based on erroneous information.

Late this afternoon, we had a shooting in our community that involved it appears to be, you know, you know, two of our high school students enrolled but hadn’t been in school in some time, again, it’s still under investigation. We don’t know all of the details, but one of those students, one of those students has passed away. So our hearts go out to this community. I know the details will be emerging. But I think I think in some ways it pales to comparison to what happened earlier earlier today. Again, I understand and there’s there is no comparison when involves a loss of life. And our teams are have mobilized there’ll be they’ll be supporting our students at our schools and we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure that we have the resources and supports that are possible, you know, to you know, to move past this. I think it puts a great emphasis on our ability to really understand to ensure that our students, you know, whether they’re enrolled that they are in school, that they’re in enriching and supportive programs, and they’re earning credits towards, you know, college and careers and moving forward. You know, it’s enough and we and we need to figure it out and we need to, we need to come together and to work together, all all of us for a better future for our children in this community. Thank you

When he says “two of our high school students enrolled but hadn’t been in school in some time”, Raymond is speaking publicly about the attendance records of the two students involved in the incident: Tommy Rivera and Julian Oliveros.

After multiple requests for clarification on the two conflicting statements in the days following the shooting the District sent the following statement on January 28:

Student attendance records are part of their educational records and are governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which precludes their disclosure to anyone other than a parent or guardian.

In other words, having stated inaccurate information about the school attendance records of Tomny Rivera and Julien Oliveros at a public session of a board meeting, livecast on the Internet and in a video uploaded to the District website, the District contends it would be a violation of Federal law to correct that inaccurate information.

Put still another way, the District is saying Raymond violated Federal law by saying anything at all about the school attendance records of Tomny Rivera and Julien Oliveros and would be violating it again if he admitted what he said was wrong.

These are not small potatoes. These are violations of the education civil rights of students, depending on their age, and their parents or guardians.

In our effort to understand why we were sent an official statement with false information on the night of January 25, and why to this day, we have not received a response to our request for clarification of the two conflicting statements, we have heard from many in and around school leadership that this is not the only issue with Raymond’s whereabouts.

As it is apparent that we cannot get straight answers from Raymond or his staff we have informed them we will no longer waste time with media inquiries and will just post our questions on Talk of the Sound. If they wish to reply, they are welcome to do so.

Is it true that over the February break Mr. Raymond went to California and did not return on the Monday after the break because he has COVID?

If he has COVID, and/or if has remained in California, is there an expected date of return date to his office at City Hall?

We sent the following to a number of school officials yesterday.

I have let key people in the school community know that I have had it with Jonathan Raymond. He is on my LIST.

As folks know, people who get on my list do not last very long in New Rochelle.

Raymond asked to meet with me last summer. We ended up meeting twice for a total of 4 hours. I also was the first to interview him on the day he was hired.

A point of emphasis by him was his professed desire to have a good relationship with the media, something he said he had in California. I will not get into detail but the reality has been a wide chasm between what he said and what he has done. And in the wake of the West End Shooting he has flat out lied to me, repeatedly.

Since we met over the summer I made a number of media inquiries through his staff. From September to December not a single email inquiry from me received a response. Not one.

I emailed Raymond directly in early December to express my disappointment about what he offered over the summer and the reality. I then asked him 3 questions directly. He did not answer any of them.

To get the answers through records, I made FOIL requests. I have yet to receive ANY records.

The final straw was the night of Jan. 25 when Julian Oliveros was shot and killed.

Given my past experience I was not surprised that no agencies — City, BOE — or elected officials — Mayor, Council Members, BOE Members, State reps, US reps — had issue a press statement prior to a statement from NRPD. Everyone tends to take their lead from law enforcement.

Immediately after NRPD issued a statement I began to request statements from everyone else.

I received a statement from CSDNR:

“The City School District of New Rochelle learned Tuesday evening that a young person who previously attended New Rochelle High School was involved in an incident in the community that resulted in that student’s death”

I published reports based on this statement across all of my social media platforms and on my web site.

The information was false.

Julian Oliveros was a currently enrolled student and was in school THAT DAY (same for Tommy Rivera).

Later that same night I was forwarded a NRHS email by a parent from the Principal:

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the heartbreaking news that one of New Rochelle High School’s enrolled students was involved in an incident in the community that resulted in his death.”

I immediately sent an email to Jonathan Raymond, Dagberto Artiles, and the PR people with screenshots from the conflicting emails, asking:

“Was the victim a NRHS student or not?”

To do this day I have never gotten a response to that email despite REPEATED follow ups sent to Raymond, et al.

This week I received a series of deliberately obtuse emails which were sent by the new PR lady but were certainly sent under orders from Raymond. The emails are both a continuation of the lying but increasingly insulting as well.

I have had enough.

After 8 months of attempting to take Jonathan Raymond at his word I have given up.

You can expect a change in the tone of coverage as I will no longer give Raymond and his staff the benefit of the doubt.