Highlawn Elementary School Community Rallies To Save Principal’s Job

Students, parents and teachers converged in front of Highlawn Elementary School P.S. 97 (1855 Stillwell Avenue) on Monday in hopes of saving the job of acting principal Maria Famoso.

News 12 reports that the Department of Education is pushing the 18-year veteran of the school out the doors for, according to opponents of the decision, “no apparent reason.”

Famoso became acting principal in October, after serving as assistant principal for nearly two decades.

Now she’ll either be reassigned to another school or forced to retire.

“Why take her out? What has she done that you want to take her out?” one parent said to News 12.

Councilman Mark Treyger, a school teacher before taking office this January, has joined the fight, telling the station, “to simply leave people in the dark and not to have any type of communication or engagement, that’s unacceptable and I won’t stand for that.”

The Department of Education has not yet told the school community who will serve as principal in the fall.