Principal Fails To Halt Investigation Into “Communist Activities”
Jill Bloomberg, the principal of Park Slope Collegiate, failed to put a stop to an investigation accusing her of “engaging in communist activities,” the New York Times reports.
On Wednesday, May 3, before dozens of Bloomberg supporters, Judge Paul G. Gardephe announced he would not issue an injunction on the grounds that Bloomberg did not prove that “her rights were being violated, [or] that the investigation had a chilling effect on her free speech or that of other workers at the school,” according to the NY Times.
Bloomberg, an outspoken racial justice advocate, has been the principal of Park Slope Collegiate for 13 years. She claims that the DOE is conducting the investigation against her in response to some negative comments she’s made about the agency.
The principal filed a lawsuit against the NYC Department of Education on Friday, April 28, requesting a stop to the investigation that accuses her of “engaging in communist activities” and “recruiting students,” WNYC reports.
In her lawsuit she states that the Department of Education is violating “her rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects an individual’s civil rights and the right to free speech under the First Amendment,” the NY Times reports.
The city claims it first received an anonymous complaint against Bloomberg in May 2016, alleging she and two teachers at the school were “actively recruiting students to participate in a political party,” or the Progressive Labor Party, a Communist group, which Bloomberg denies having any involvement with. The three are also accused of “inviting [students] to participate in the party’s activities, including marches,” according to the NY Times.
Park Slope Collegiate is one of four schools on the John Jay campus located at 237 7th Avenue. Bloomberg argues that the city launched the investigation after she complained that the campus’ sports programs are segregated and “unequal,” with “one shared by the three schools” [including Park Slope Collegiate] consisting of mostly black and Latino students, and a second “much more robust one for the mostly white kids at Millennium Brooklyn,” according to Patch. In a letter to the DOE Bloomberg said these “segregated sports teams” violate the Civil Rights Act.
At an initial hearing on Monday, May 1, Bloomberg’s attorney said the “vague allegations” in the investigation are “dangerous,” while Bloomberg, faculty, and many supporters say the investigation is “creating a chilling effect at the school on speech related to social justice.”