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After Stroke, Principal Returns to New School, and Controversy

By ALEX KRATZ

Just four months ago, Paul Smith woke up and found himself in the middle of a nightmare.

It was Sunday, July 16, a day Smith will remember for the rest of his life. The principal of the Bronx New School in Bedford Park had just finished service at Foster Memorial A.M.E. in Westchester, where Smith is also a pastor. It happened during an after church reception. Smith was talking to members of his congregation, when he began to feel lightheaded. Then everything went black.

Next thing Smith knew, he was strapped to a hospital bed while a team of doctors hovered over him, conducting tests. He tried to move, but found himself paralyzed on his entire left side. Relatively young at the age of 48, the active educator and minister had suffered a severe stroke.

“It was very frightening,” said Smith.

The Rehab
The large man with the shaved head couldn’t feel the left side of his body for a good month.

Though doctors told Smith that he recovered quickly because of his youth – most strokes don’t hit people until their 60s – and good health, the principal found rehab “difficult” and “frustrating” at times.

Eventually, Smith graduated from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane and soon was able to move without support. At Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in Westchester, Smith learned to walk again.

Smith credits his faith and an incredibly supportive network of family, friends and church members for his steady recovery. He finished up at Burke at the end of October and returned to school on Nov. 1. He says he pushed himself to get back because “I love my work at school and I love my kids at school.”

The Comeback
Smith says he’s easing his way back into the position of running an elementary school with the help of a very supportive staff. He feels better every day, but multi-tasking isn’t as easy as it once was. He’s adjusting by writing things down more and “pulling back” when he finds himself feeling stressed.

With only a week under his belt, Smith says he’s still “playing catch-up.”

This has all the makings of a heartwarming comeback story, but it’s not that simple. In fact, some parents at the school don’t want him to come back at all.

Now “90 percent” recovered from his stroke, Smith, who called the Norwood News with a request to be interviewed, is back at the New School, where his landing may not be so cushy. His six-year tenure has been plagued by controversy and turmoil, according to parents and teachers.

Meanwhile, parents say although they are happy he has made a recovery, his absence reminded them of what the school was like before Smith took the helm.

Falling From ‘Heaven’
The Bronx New School was created by a group of parents and teachers 20 years ago. Designed to be a progressive public elementary school with alternative education philosophies, including multi-age classrooms and heavy parent and teacher involvement, parents say the school has been drifting away from its original model over the past six years.

Smith’s top-down approach to school management is the primary culprit, parents interviewed for this story say. He phased out multi-age classrooms, one of the school’s prized institutions, because he said it was adversely affecting test scores. But more importantly, parents say, he often makes sweeping changes without consulting the school community.

“When I came here to visit three years ago, I thought I’d fallen into heaven,” said one parent who requested anonymity because her child still attends the school. “Now, I’ve seen those ideals gradually whittled away by the administration.”

Former New School parent Patrick Wynne had enough of Smith’s style after just two years. Earlier this year, he pulled out his 6-year-old daughter, Shiori, and put her in the new AMPARK elementary school in Van Cortlandt Village – the only “progressive” education possibility around now, Wynne said.

As a member of the School Leadership Team (SLT) – a group of parents, teachers and administrators, including Smith – Wynne says he butted heads with the principal on many occasions. He felt Smith rarely heeded the advice of parents and teachers, who were used to having more input, and openly chastised them when he felt challenged.

“He showed disdain for progressive education,” Wynne said. “Part of it was that he was really focused on testing. He thought if he could keep up the test scores he would be free from criticism.”

Wynne and other parents said SLT meetings would often deteriorate into shouting matches and that Smith showed little interest in hearing opposing viewpoints.

Visibility and approachability were also a big issue with parents, who wondered where his priorities were, Wynne said.

“I think he was there just picking up a paycheck,” Wynne said.

Smith was rarely seen during lunch period or after school and spent school time working on church-related activities, Wynne said, adding that he had heard from reliable sources that Smith had hired three staff people who were members of his congregation at Foster’s.

‘One Driver’
But Smith said he has never used school time to perform any church-related activities or hired anyone from Foster’s.

He said he believes the school is still “progressive” in the sense that children still have the opportunity to create their own learning environment.

Though it was hard because he had high hopes for the New School, Wynne finally decided to take Shiori out of Smith’s learning environment after an encounter his wife had with the principal last year.

According to Wynne, when his wife, Siobhan O’Neil, approached Smith about holding Shiori (who was young for her grade) back a year to work on the shy girl’s social and emotional development, the principal shut her down in front of his staff in the main office, saying there was no such thing as social and emotional development and, therefore, they didn’t need to talk about it.

Four teachers left the New School, including superstar Martha Andrews (who has a course designed on her work at Columbia Teachers College) after last year. It marked the first time in school history, a parent said, that one teacher, let alone four, had left for another school in New York City.

“These were some of the best teachers in the city,” said the parent who requested anonymity. “They were so creative and so experienced. I think he’s creating a little fiefdom there.”

Smith couldn’t say why those teachers left, but said he wished them well and hoped they wished him the same.

He admits that he has clashed with parents and teachers in the past, but says he’s excited to make a fresh start. “We’ve traveled through some dark waters,” he said. “It was a very difficult time.”

Although he’s not preaching at Foster’s now, he intends to in the future and says his ministry only makes him a “richer, fuller” educator.

As for his top-down management style, Smith says, “People here need to realize that collaboration works both ways. You have to understand your roles as teachers and parents and understand that it’s for the betterment of the school.”

Smith has a favorite saying that he says best illustrates his point. “All of us are on the same bus,” he says, “but there can only be one driver.”

‘Management Issues’
Local Instructional Superintendent Keith Oswald, Smith’s direct supervisor, said that Smith’s doctor cleared him for full-time duty and that while they would be keeping an eye on him, he wouldn’t require any further assistance from the city.

Oswald wouldn’t comment on any in-house turmoil at the New School, except to say that “those are management issues. All schools have those kinds of issues.”

Coming off a stroke, Oswald said, Smith may need to re-evaluate how much he’s extending himself. “He’s got to think about how he needs to keep all these things on his plate and still be effective.”

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