Bronx Principal Fired Over Writings On Race

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Published on August 02, 2011, 7:55 pm
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The principal of a Catholic elementary school in Bronx has been fired because of his writings on race and white supremacy, the Archdiocese of New York said earlier today.

Frank Borzellieri was relieved as principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary school in the wake of recent concerns about his writings and his previous ties to a group called American Renaissance.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremist groups in the United States, describes American Renaissance as a “white nationalist movement.”

Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, issued a statement Tuesday saying that the principal was let go because “many of the opinions expressed by Mr. Borzellieri in his writings were found to be incompatible with the philosophy and practices of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, and with Catholic schools throughout the archdiocese.”

Borzellieri was hired in 2009 as principal of the elementary school, which has, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a mostly black and Latino student body.

Zwilling’s statement did not mention as of what date the termination was effective.

The official who originally hired Borzellieri, the Rev. Eric Rapaglia, pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, made the decision to remove Borzellieri as principal after reviewing his writings, according to the archdiocese. Rapaglia and the search committee did not know of Borzelleri’s writings at the time of his hire.

Borzellieri previously served as an elected member of the New York School Board for 11 years. During his tenure, according to published reports, he made efforts to forbid references to homosexuality and to ban literature he considered “anti-American,” including a biography of Martin Luther King Jr.

The website for American Renaissance currently advertises writings by Borzellieri, including a 2009 book titled Lynched: A Conservative’s Life on a New York City School Board. Another book by Borzellieri, titled The Unspoken Truth: Race, Culture and Other Taboos, lists among its topics “the myth of integration” and “multicultural madness,” according to the website.

During his time on the New York School Board, Borzellieri tried to fire teacher Daniel Dromm for being openly gay, according to published accounts. Dromm, now a New York City Council member, described Borzellieri as an “equal-opportunity hater.”

Ironically, Dromm told CNN “It’s completely inappropriate to have someone of this type be anywhere near children.”

In the  late 90’s, Dromm had reportedly told his fourth-grade class that he was gay. (Now how is that for a good judgement?)

Following the incident and demanding disciplinary actions against Dromm by the superintendent of Community School District 24 at the time, Joseph Quinn, Borzellieri referred to Dromm as “the hysterical homosexual”.

 

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Jonas Bronck is the pseudonym under which we publish and manage the content and operations of The Bronx Daily.™ | Bronx.com - the largest daily news publication in the borough of "the" Bronx with over 1.5 million annual readers. Publishing under the alias Jonas Bronck is our humble way of paying tribute to the person, whose name lives on in the name of our beloved borough.