Remove Principal Marie Kennedy from Mitchell Elementary School

To whom this may concern,

                The following petition is asking for the removal of the current principal Marie Kennedy from Mitchell Elementary School.  The time has come for not only the staff, the parents, and for the community to step up and see that our children come first in Education and as their advocates we as parents should have the right to be heard when something is not right.  To help to make a change for the better.

I am currently a parent volunteer at Mitchell Elementary School in Garden Grove.  I have been a volunteer at this school for approximately 14 years and at one time was a noon-duty supervisor as well.  This letter is a complaint against the current principal, Marie Kennedy.  In the four years that Marie has been a principal there I myself have been slandered by her to the staff, my children were treated poorly, and I have witnessed her being rude and disrespectful to both staff and the other teachers.  The first incident to occur actually happened before school officially started and was during a staff meeting.  Out of the blue during this meeting Mrs. Kennedy brought up my name directly, talking of how my two youngest children were now enrolled there and how the staff needed to “watch out for me” and that I was “a liar”, that I “should not be trusted” and how I “think I am an employee there”. 

                Last year I filed a complaint with her supervisor regarding the treatment of myself and my son whom she had transferred into a mild-moderate program with the stipulation that if I did not feel it was doing any good that she would gladly accept him back to Mitchell with no problems.  Even after several complaints about the mild-moderate program and my not thinking it was the correct environment for my son, she started making excuses about how he would be left behind, that she could not allow him back into Mitchell (even though he had attended that school for the majority of his education thus far), and that if she did that she was going to place him with the strictest teacher that she knew who would “rule over the classroom with an iron-fist”.  I have since switched his schools to Anthony where he is still enrolled in the mild-moderate program but I feel as though he is not welcomed back at Mitchell.

                Currently my twins do attend Mitchell, on numerous occasions (even though this is only the 2^nd week of school) I have been told by other parents about the way that Mrs. Kennedy mistreats them.  They are afraid of her, I have friends who have had students there that they pulled out because of Mrs. Kennedy.  They transferred their children to other schools so they would not have to deal with her abuse.  I am fairly close to the majority of the staff and have witnessed first-hand the way that she berates them and treats them as though they were nothing but mere slaves.  Some of the staff have even quit because of her.  This is really sad because Mitchell used to be such a great school.  Not only myself, but my husband, and all of my other children have attended this school and had a great time, and learned a great deal.  Now it seems as though the school is ran as though it were a boot camp and once you get onto Mrs. Kennedy’s bad side, you might as well transfer your students out because she will be verbally and mentally abusive not only to you, but also your children.

                These are the reasons why this petition is necessary.  No one should have to endure being slandered or watch as their children or others are harassed.  Children should be cared for and nurtured at their schools, not afraid to go because of the person who should be leading the school itself.