Bradley Moved to Gladwyne Elementary, Parent Starts Petition

A Gladwyne Elementary School parent has started a petition asking that Lower Merion School District explain in greater detail why it restructured the administrative team at Welsh Valley Middle School, then moved two of the administrators to Gladwyne.

Bruce Newman, a LMSD parent who has children in both schools, launched the petition on Change.org. Newman is asking that the district provide:

1. Appropriate disclosure of the facts and circumstances regarding the restructuring of the WVMS administrative team that resulted in the departure from that team of Dr. Bradley and Ms. Persofsky and others; and,

2. That such disclosure be sufficient for a parents of GES student to form an informed point-of-view as to the qualifications of Dr. Bradley and Ms. Persofsky to join the administrative team of GES.

Much of Newman's concern surrounds the case of Dr. Orathia Bradley. Bradley was removed from her position as principal of Welsh Valley in April, just a year after she was hired, then appointed as assistant principal at Gladwyne Elementary earlier this month. 

Bradley's sudden dismissal from her post as Welsh Valley principal—she was removed with weeks remaining in the school year—was coincident with incidents involving student drug use and "self-harming" at the school, which Newman said raises questions the district has not satisfactorily answered. 

"I have absolutely no information to understand why she was removed in such an urgent manner," Newman said on Tuesday. "They dismissed the entire administrative team in the middle of the school year. Seems odd doesn’t it?"

While the petition has received seven supporters as of Tuesday afternoon, it hasn't escaped the notice of the district.

Lower Merion spokesman Doug Young told Patch that the district would be in touch with Newman, but said he felt the district was "pretty clear," about the reason it moved Bradley, or as clear as it could be.

"In some cases, you can’t get real specific," Young said, adding that, because the Bradley situation is a personel matter, there are limits to what the district can disclose. Young did emphasize, as he did when Bradley's removal was initially announced, that "this was not a situation where there was a question of character or impropriety "

"It was very much a decision about the day-to-day management of the school," Young said, adding that Bradley's ouster had nothing to do with her handling of the drug or self-harming incidents.

"That is not accurate. We believe Dr. Bradley and the administration handled that well."

Young also mentioned that some of the information in the petition is not accurate. He said Beth Persofsky was not removed as assistant principal at Welsh Valley, then transferred to Gladwyne. Rather, she requested to return to the classroom and the district granted it.

Newman, for his part, says there are still questions that are left unanswered. 

"Transparency and accountability are the bedrock foundations of democracy, but apparently not the school district," he said. 

"I don’t think it’s fair for the school district, after everything that’s happened, to say just trust us."