When Principal Robert Haberski arrived at Lafayette HS a year ago, the rough Brooklyn high school had a tough, no-nonsense safety plan.
It called for regular “hall sweeps,” a room where security officers would take troublemakers and class-cutters, and a “crisis intervention team” to respond to violent incidents and other emergencies
Haberski rejected the plan – and hasn’t come up with a replacement.
“If I ran my classroom the way they run the hallways, the kids would hang me out the window,” a veteran teacher told The Post.
School-safety officers have nearly thrown in the towel.
“The same kids roam the halls, doing what they want,” one disgusted officer said. “When security takes them to the office, they slap ’em on the wrist, and they’re back in the halls doing the same thing.
“Why bother?”
He blasted the administration.
“They’re not getting involved. They’re not consistent. They’re breaking the chancellor’s regulations left and right.”
He noted citywide regulations require that schools confiscate items like electronic devices and hats that could identify a gang member or be used to conceal weapons – and return them only to parents.
“They give it back to the kids,” he fumed. “Why should I kill myself, get into a conflict with a student, over a Walkman or a hat, and the next thing you know they give it back?”
Haberski responded to questions through Board of Education spokesman J.D. LaRock.
“This is a rough school, like all big urban high schools,” LaRock said. “There are issues that need work, and Mr. Haberski has been giving his attention to them. He’s trying his best.”
Haberski has refused to hold a faculty meeting to discuss safety – the No. 1 staff concern. He believes faculty meetings should be “devoted to instructional matters,” LaRock said.
While the old safety plan – under former Principal Rosemarie Ferrara – called for several daily sweeps by administrators and safety officers, Haberski and his assistant principal use sweeps only occasionally.
Six have been conducted since September, LaRock said.
Up to 25 kids were picked up each time and “returned to class,” he said.
Under the old plan, kids caught cutting were taken to a “redirection room” or “in-house suspension center” for the day and let out only to go to the restroom – accompanied by a safety officer.
But Haberski “felt the redirection room was little more than a holding pen,” LaRock said.
“This principal doesn’t simply want to lock kids in a room, let them out and have that happen all over again,” he said.
Before coming to Lafayette, Haberski was passed over for the principalship at highly regarded John Bowne HS in Flushing, Queens, which he led temporarily.
There were complaints that he “didn’t get along” with some staff members, officials acknowledged.
Haberski – former director of instruction for all Queens high schools – landed the top job at Lafayette because it “needed work in instructional issues, and Haberski’s strengths are in that area,” LaRock said.
But Lafayette teachers claim Haberski has friends in high places. He’s close to both Nicholas Coletto, superintendent of Brooklyn and Staten Island high schools, and Margaret Harrington, the Board of Ed’s executive director for school programs and support services.
LaRock dismissed the charges of cronyism. “Lots of folks know each other and are friends, and that’s fine, as long as when people are applying for jobs, the proper procedures are followed, and they were followed in this case.”