At 1:00 PM on January 28, 2008 my wife and I met with the Patrician Kerrigan, Principal, and Brent Brummet, Assistant Principal of Brown Barge Middle School to discuss problems our son was having there. He had gone from straight A’s and loving school and being Student of the Year of his school in fifth grade to getting zeros on assignments and hating school. His self-esteem had been shot and he stated to us that he’d been made to feel as though he wasn’t smart enough to be at this school. Our son placed in the 98th percentile on national standardized testing prior to entering Brown Barge Middle School and has excelled in the Program for Academically Talented Students since he first entered elementary school. In fact, the only day he didn’t dread school was Wednesdays when he in the PATS classes not taught by his Brown Barge teachers. Along with the fact that his grades and comments from teachers at PATS were in direct contrast to those he received at Brown Barge Middle School, we became convinced the problem was with the school.
Our son informed us that at least one Brown Barge Middle School teacher leaves the classroom unsupervised for several minutes almost every single day of the week. In addition, when he would ask for assistance from his teachers, they merely reiterated the instructions that he had already made clear he didn’t fully understand. I personally had met with two of his teacher the Thursday previous to this meeting and was A) baldly lied to about an e-mail communication that one teacher had said she’d conducted with my wife (she didn’t) and B) as I sat there another teacher looked through her grade book and realized she’d given my son two zeros for work she suddenly remembered he’d turned in. In addition, the school’s Teacher of the Year, who was a finalist for the Escambia County Teacher of the Year and whose speech at that ceremony flouted the fact that she personally knows every one of her students had to be reminded by other teachers during a parent conference that she was mistaking our son for another student when she tried to claim our son was a troublemaker. (If this is what it takes to be Teacher of the Year at Brown Barge, I can only shudder at what the worst teacher in the school is capable of.)
My wife and I scheduled the meeting with Brown Barge’s Principal, Ms. Patricia Kerrigan, to not only get to bottom of why our son was suddenly hating school, but to get answers to questions about such things as why teachers were leaving students unsupervised on a daily basis, why a teacher had flatly lied to my face, and why multiple teachers were giving zeros for assignments that had been turned in. My wife, who is an elementary school teacher in the same district, took the lead in providing information about our concerns. At no point during the conversation did we ever even imply that we were considering withdrawing our son, nor at any point did either Ms. Kerrigan or her Assistant Principal, Mr. Brummet, make any mention that this was the direction they were learning toward. I finally decided to take charge of the conversation and initiated it through my intention to ask Ms. Kerrigan if the school provided any paperwork that explained the unique classroom structure and grading system of Brown Barge Middle School, which is unlike any other middle school in the district. I got about five words in when Ms. Kerrigan moved to interrupt me, at which point I politely but firmly requested that she not interrupt me while I was speaking. Ms. Kerrigan had repeatedly interrupted my wife, who had politely allowed her to do so and had not reciprocated, therefore I believed since I had barely spoken to that point that I was deserving of the courtesy of not being interrupted.
Apparently, Principal Kerrigan did not think likewise because suddenly, obviously with no provocation, she leapt out of her chair and announced, “This meeting is now over!” She then went on to say that she felt it would be in the best interest of everyone if my wife and I were to immediately withdraw our son from the school. This assertion was instantaneously seconded by Mr. Brummet in an almost comical parroting effect. She then went on to make some truly peculiar threat in the form of telling us she would make sure that Norm Ross, one of the higher-ups in the district, heard about the meeting. Why that threat should have scared us, we’re still not certain. My wife and I exited the room without comment. I immediately placed a call to the head of the Escambia County Dept. of Secondary Education, Steve Marcanio to inform him of the bizarre behavior exhibited by Ms. Kerrigan. He proposed to call Ms. Kerrigan and get her side of the story. When he called me back, it was obvious that Ms. Kerrigan had lied to him, doubtlessly because she realized she’d probably violated my son’s civil rights and was eager to cover both her and this miserable school district’s behind. She told Mr. Marcanio that her decision to abruptly end the meeting was based on the fact that the meeting seemed to be heading toward a mutual agreement to withdraw our son.
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. LIE NUMBER THREE, AT LEAST, FROM A BROWN BARGE MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATOR
No decision of any kind had been made to that point. How could it, when I had barely said ten words and I had at least a dozen questions to ask Ms. Patricia Kerrigan that I would have deemed absolutely necessary before making such an important decision. It was only the utterly absurd reaction of Ms. Patricia Kerrigan that led my wife and I to agree to withdraw my son. Her deranged reaction to my request that she refrain from interrupting me was like a rocket going off warning me that the best course of action regarding my son’s future education was to get him as far away from his potentially unstable woman as possible.
I have contacted the American Civil Liberties Union for my own benefit, but I write this in a desperate attempt to bring attention to the fact that the Escambia County School District needs to conduct a serious investigation into how Brown Barge Middle School is being run. Clearly, Ms. Patricia Kerrigan is a troubled woman and just as clearly she based decisions regarding students not on what is best for them, but on random whims based on her own feelings of inferiority and the fear that she may be held accountable for such questionable practices as allowing students to remain unsupervised on a daily basis, and hiring incompetent teachers.
I beg all those who are considering sending their children to Brown Barge Middle School to please take into account the fact that the Principal behaved during at least parent conference in an unprofessional a manner as I have ever heard. Everyone who has heard our story has reacted in the same manner: jaw-dropping astonishment and disbelief. On a number of occasions, that stunned silence has been followed by their own personal horror stories about Brown Barge under the misguided leadership of Patrica Kerrigan and the Brian Kuh of Brown Barge Middle School, Brent Brummet.One final note: Since this occurred, our son has enrolled in another school. He know once again looks forward to attending school, is excited, and is excelling. Another great benefit is that actually get feedback from the teachers there and they don’t confuse him with a troublemaker. Also, to the best of our knowledge, no one there has yet lied to our face.
