Schools Chancellor Heckled Off The Stage At NE Queens Town Hall

OAKLAND GARDENS, QUEENS — A packed town hall with Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza Thursday night ended abruptly after parents enraged by a recent string of scandals at a Bayside middle school unleashed their fury on the public school system's head honcho.

Department of Education officials cut short the town hall after a furious father stood up and demanded to know why officials at Marie Curie Middle School failed to immediately notify him about the sexual harassment he says his daughter suffered at the hands of another classmate, according to news reports.

"The school basically just covered it up and all I wanted to do was just talk. But I know they wouldn’t let me talk," the father told the Queens Courier. "It’s just disconcerting."

Another parent screamed at Carranza about her daughter getting beaten up in the Marie Curie cafeteria, which was caught on video; the school's principal said the girl's attacker was suspended, but that girl was at school when police officers arrested her for juvenile assault the next day, the girl's mother told the New York Post.

Hundreds of parents showed up for the District 26 town hall at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School in Oakland Gardens, where members of the district's Community Education Council read prewritten questions submitted by parents and other community members.

Before that, Carranza spent 40 minutes answering questions from elected officials.

Asked for comment on the town hall's abrupt end, Department of Education spokesperson Miranda Barbot said: "Once it became clear the town hall was no longer going to be a productive conversation, the DOE and CEC President ended the meeting. As always, every question asked is going to be addressed."

"The Chancellor addressed a wide range of concerns and made it clear he’s taking decisive action," Barbot said.

A day before the town hall, elected officials in northeast Queens wrote to Carranza urging him to "make immediate changes to your investigative processes for harassment and sexual assault cases" in light of the recent incident at Marie Curie Middle School, also known as M.S. 158.

Officials at the education department said they are revising the school's protocol, retraining staff members and hiring safety agents and counselors.

At Marie Curie, we’re revising school protocol and retraining staff and communicating with families. We are adding additional staff, including safety agents and counselors, and the superintendent will continue to closely support the principal to ensure Marie Curie is a safe and supportive learning environment for all students.