KENSINGTON, Md. – A Maryland elementary school principal who recently courted controversy with a “smash space” for teachers to take out their frustrations is now resigning her post.
Kensington Parkwood Elementary School Principal Barbara Liess created a “smash space” on the school’s loading dock last month where teachers could take our their frustrations by beating on a scrapped rocking chair with a baseball bat, WTOP reports.
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Liess told parents she “got the idea after reading some business articles” about companies doing the same thing, and apologized for bringing the idea to school, calling the “smash space” a “lapse in judgment.”
The special area was “out of sight and sound of students,” Liess explained, and a sign posted by the station advised users to wear goggles and close toed shoes before taking a swing. But Kensington Parkwood PTA President Jessica Chertow and others complained to district officials that the idea sends the wrong message to students, Bethesda Magazine reports.
“This is an example of a major lapse in judgement by Ms. Liess—despite good intentions,” Chertow wrote in her complaint.
“I absolutely regret my decision to provide staff with an opportunity to ‘smash’ the rocking chair. This decision was not in response to any teacher comment or behavior, rather a misguided attempt by me to provide staff with an outlet,” Liess wrote in her apology to parents last month. “Our staff is committed to modeling for students and one another productive and appropriate ways for handling stress. I recognize that while well-intended, this scenario is counter to what we teach students and has no place in a school.”
Montgomery County Public Schools officials also announced that they didn’t condone the activity, and have since done away with the smash space.
Liess, who served as principal for a decade, announced on Tuesday that she’s leaving the school at the end of the current school year.
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The principal wrote to parents that “recent event have been a distraction from the positive things we have been able to achieve,” and she will not work somewhere else in the district.
The smash space debacle came just a few months after local Anthony Bonetti started an online petition of “Parent Questions & Concerns Regarding KPES Leadership” that called into question Liess’ side job as a realtor. Bonetti, the former parent-teacher association president, alleged Liess real estate work posed conflicts of interest because some school employees were her clients, and suggested the real estate work distracted her from her role as principal, according to Bethesda Magazine.
A few days after Bonetti raised his concerns, Liess surrendered her real estate license and ended her work at a local real estate office to kill any potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
That apparently wasn’t good enough for Bonetti, who continued to press district officials to assemble a special ethics panel to fully investigate the principal.
“I don’t feel like a lesson was truly learned here if it was never actually, truly investigated and substantiated,” he said.
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