Glenfield Parents Petition BOE to Reinstate Principal Who Resigned After BB Gun Incident

A petition for the Montclair Board of Education to reinstate a principal who resigned after a controversy involving a student bringing a BB gun to school has 40 supporters and counting on Change.org.

Principal Charlie Miller was removed from Glenfield Middle School on April 29 during the investigation into how the incident was handled and later resigned.

Superintendent Penny MacCormack said Miller “made some significant errors” in response to finding a student with an imitation firearm on April 24.

MacCormack told 150 parents gathered Monday for a special meeting organized by the parent/teacher group Glenfield School Action Team that “omissions” in Miller’s report of the incident “did not help me feel I could trust the leadership in the school any further.”

The Change.org petition created by Alex Garbarino of Montclair reads in part: 

"We are Glenfield and Montclair parents and want Dr. MacCormack and the Montclair Board of Education to reinstate Charlie Miller as principal of Glenfield Middle School. The events of April 24th were unfortunate in many respects, and as parents, we recognize that a child bringing an air pellet gun on school grounds was a foolish decision. Charlie Miller defused the situation immediately upon learning of it. He used his discretion as the top administrator of the school to first take the gun and then contact involved parents and to speak with the children implicated. He then contacted the Superintendent’s office.  

The fact that Charlie Miller did not lock down the school and wait for the Montclair Police to arrive to disarm a 6th grader of a non-lethal hobby gun was a judgment call. One, frankly, that we all agree with. In this case, if Charlie Miller had abdicated the responsibility that he surely felt to use his judgment, the school would have – by dint of bureaucratic necessity – gone into ‘lockdown.’ With students pouring out of busses, half the kids would have been locked inside the school, and half outside. Nothing would have been accomplished – save for more chaos and more squandered hours that might have been spent on something valuable: education. Of course the very thing we need is thoughtful leaders who have the sense and skill to exercise judgment. At the moment of this supposed crises, Charlie Miller swiftly and simply ensured that the school was safe – and once it was, he got back to his one true mission. Dr. MacCormack said herself that it was within his discretion on how to best respond to protect the students and faculty.  

Read the full petition here.