October 23, 2023

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,

We are a mighty community of well-connected parents and stakeholders. We are deeply concerned regarding the current happenings at Brighter Choice Community School (aka BCCS and PS K627) in the heart of Bedford Stuyvesent, Brooklyn.

Since Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips was placed at BCCS at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, the experience for both students and parents has been consistently chaotic, confusing and downright concerning.

Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips’ behavior flies in the face of the words he espoused in his BCCS Family Welcome Letter dated September 1, 2023. In the aforementioned letter, Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips described himself as a “collaborative”, “caring” “fun-loving” and “warm” leader who would ensure “every student feels valued, supported and safe”. He claimed to look forward to “a productive and enjoyable year of gains” through “partnership” with parents.

Concerned Parents of BCCS have not seen these espoused qualities demonstrated with any consistency since the beginning of September 2023, and have aggregated the following list of examples that contradict Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips’ purported mission:

• Numerous reports of Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips yelling at students throughout the school day
• A BCCS family exited the school due to their child, who had a known and documented medical history, being forced outside onto the playground during the first week’s heatwave. The child went home ill and was subsequently hospitalized. When the parent later came to the school to ask questions about their child’s day, they were met with an icy reception by leadership. They immediately pulled both of their children from the school.
• A new automated attendance tool was utilized without any communication to parents. A parent was contacted with an automated message stating her child was absent that day. The parent knew this was in error because she dropped the child off. She became worried and attempted to reach the school but could not contact anyone to confirm her child was safely inside the building. It was a worrisome window of time before she was able to verify that her child was indeed in class.
• Failure on behalf of Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips to effectively communicate changes to long-standing school policies and traditions. In one case, he announced a major school policy change to an auditorium of students before making parents aware.
• Failure on behalf of Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips to communicate respectfully to parents when questions are asked regarding the school
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips ignores email communications from parents and does not respond
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips actively avoids interacting in meaningful ways with the parent community. During the Latinx Heritage Month event, he avoided mingling with children and parents for the duration of the first event of the school year.
• Leadership under Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips caused numerous families to exit the school within the first two weeks of the school year due to lack of communication, lack of respect, a condescending tone and a dismissive attitude toward the community BCCS built prior to his arrival.
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips does not respect the schedules of parents (i.e.beginning the first SLT of the year nearly an hour late, showing up an hour late to let PTA into the school building for a weekend event)
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips suggested parents hold the SLT and PTA meetings the same day for the convenience of the teachers. After hearing from parent leaders that scheduling back-to-back would not be practical, he stoked division between parents and teachers by implying that parents did not care about teachers’ schedules. Chancellor’s Regulations (A-655 Article 3, Section 1) clearly states “SLT meetings should be scheduled at a time convenient for parent members on the team via a yearly-conducted Parent Poll”.
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips dictated how Title 1 Committee meetings would function without consulting with the Title 1 Committee Chairperson, who is a BCCS parent leader. Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips made such dictates without having attended an actual Title 1 Committee meeting himself.
• Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips made the decision to move all school/parent communications from Remind to Class Dojo, then subsequently scolded a parent who asked a clarifying question on the platform.

In District 16, as outlined by Superintendent Brendan T. Mims’ Core Beliefs, parents and parent leaders are key partners and stakeholders that advocate for school and district success.

The vision of Superintendent Brendan T. Mims additionally outlines empathy and engagement as two of the four tenets of District 16.

Furthermore, Chancellor David C. Banks states in pillars three and four, respectively, that in order to “build trust in NYC public schools”, school administrators must “prioritize student wellness” and “make families true partners”.

Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips does not demonstrate positive communication, prioritize student wellness with his actions and words, nor does he display empathy for parent stakeholders. Further to the above, he does not embody the collaborative qualities that the BCCS student and parent body require to function as a successful Community School.

Due to this well-documented and extensive list of issues over a noticeably short period of time, we feel that Interim-Acting Principal Keiron Phillips is not fit to lead the students at Brighter Choice Community School.

Signed,

CONCERNED PARENTS OF BCCS