BLOCKED: Van Buren HS hoopsters can’t count on any home-field advantage this year — their games have been ordered off campus.
This principal is a bad sport.
Insisting her “edict” is to get kids graduated, Martin Van Buren HS Principal Marilyn Shevell has declared war on athletics, outraged students, parents and coaches charge.
Last week, Shevell stormed out of a PTA meeting in the Queens school’s auditorium after announcing the girls and boys basketball teams could play no games at home this fall. Last year, she slashed home games to one for the girls and three for the boys.
Shevell also barred classmates and their par ents from attending last year’s games to cheer for their “Vee Bees.” And just in case any specta tors showed up, she had the bleachers bolted to the gym wall so they could not be used.
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She has also limited practice for all sports teams to three days a week, instead of the six other schools allow. “It seems like she just doesn’t want to sup port sports at all,” said Toni Gooden, a senior on the girls basket ball team, which made the playoffs 13 years in a row before last year.
Parents and students packed last Monday’s PTA meeting, where Shevell ousted a Post reporter.
“She was upset. The subject was sports, and the parents wanted home games,” said Diana Payne, whose daughter plays basketball. “Ms. Shevell made a statement that her edict was to get the students graduated in four years.”
When parents continued to question Shevell, she walked.
Parents say Shevell has used various “excuses” for the cutbacks — including a broken gym divider, asbestos in the gym ceiling and fights at prior games.
But when questioned by The Post, city Department of Education officials said the wall had been fixed a month ago, there is no asbestos problem, and there have been no melees — or even any home games — this year.
“There will be home games. The bleachers will be unbolted,” DOE spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said in response to Post queries.
Feinberg said that while Shevell dropped girls soccer and cross-country “for lack of interest,” the school still offers 17 girls and boys sports teams, including baseball, cricket, track, softball, tennis, and volleyball. .
But coaches said Shevell is shoving sports to the sidelines in her single-minded goal to boost Van Buren’s 68.6 percent graduation rate.
“She doesn’t want sports in the school. She’s going to do whatever she can to get rid of sports,” said Herman Crump, a former volunteer assistant boys-basketball coach and Van Buren grad.
Payne said her daughter is devastated because she wants her friends and family to watch her play.
“My daughter loves playing basketball. It has raised her self-esteem. She knows her grades come first,” she said.
PTA President Helen Young is calling on Chancellor Joel Klein to investigate Shevell’s eight-year stint as principal, saying she has “destroyed the pride and morale.”
“It’s like she has low expectations for our kids. When they are in sports, kids tend to do well academically as well,” Young said. “The problems go beyond athletics. Parents are not contacted by the school when problems arise. There is a dearth of textbooks.”
Van Buren, in Queens Village, has 2,645 students. It rated a “C” on its latest DOE progress report, but an “F in “environment,” including safety.