In a rare move, dozens of parents and teachers took their complaints about a Queens principal to the streets yesterday after their elementary school plummeted in citywide rankings from the top third of schools to the bottom third in just two years.
The families say the formerly “A”-rated PS 118 in Hollis has been plagued by mismanagement under Cynthia Ofori-Feaster, who has left students without textbooks and dismantled a successful math and reading curriculum at the now-“C”-rated school.
The principal also bizarrely barred parents from raising funds to plug a gap created by budget cuts.
“Please be advised that the parent association does not have my permission to conduct a fundraiser at this point in the school year,” she wrote last month, according to an e-mail provided to The Post by PTA President Jasmin Farrier.
Parents and teachers said their protest came only after pleas to the local superintendent and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott for help fell on deaf ears.
“They have to remove her,” Farrier said. “Our children don’t deserve this.”
Parents and teachers said that the city has launched investigations into the third-year principal — including for alleged misappropriation of funds, conflicts of interest involving payments to her husband, and the unmerited promotion of students — but that no action has resulted.
Department of Education officials confirmed an open probe into Ofori-Feaster in response to complaints but declined to describe the nature of the allegations.
They said they organized a meeting late yesterday between the principal, staff, parents and officials from the department in an effort to resolve their differences.
But a teacher who attended said that Ofori-Feaster was a no-show and that the gathering turned into a two-hour complaint session at which parents detailed “horror stories of how she’s abusive to the parents, the teachers to everyone. She’s like a dictator.”
Ofori-Feaster did not respond to a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.