Dump principal – pols

LOCAL POLITICAL leaders are calling on city schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña to remove an unpopular principal from a top Queens high school, the Daily News has learned.

The four Queens elected officials — state Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, Rep. Grace Meng, state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky and City Councilman Rory Lancman — ripped Townsend Harris High School’s embattled interim-acting principal, Rosemarie Jahoda, in a Feb. 16 letter to Fariña.

Officials accused Jahoda of ruining kids’ chances of attending college by withholding their transcripts, refusing to help students with disabilities and ignoring Muslim student leaders when they reported discrimination.

The letter accuses Jahoda of delaying sending senior transcripts to colleges and universities — adversely affecting students’ acceptance status.

It also accuses her of keeping a parent waiting five hours in her office when the parent sought help with one of the delayed transcripts.

“It is our belief that the Interim Acting Principal Rosemarie Jahoda lacks leadership and the ability to take action,” the twopage letter states. “Ms. Jahoda has clearly demonstrated that she is not the right fit for Townsend Harris.”

Jahoda, 55, a 16-year city educator, denied the accusations in the letter and said she’s working to help Townsend Harris students.

“While I am frustrated by many of these inaccurate allegations, I remain 100% focused on serving students and families at Townsend Harris and working to move the school community forward,” Jahoda said.

She was appointed acting principal of Townsend Harris in September, a move that many school staffers believed made her a shoo-in for a permanent job as principal there.

The controversial educator had come from Bronx Science High School, where 20 of the 22 math teachers she oversaw as an assistant principal filed complaints against her in 2010.

Jahoda (photo), who earns a salary of $146,813, immediately clashed with educators and Townsend Harris students, leading parents, faculty and alumni to create a petition calling for her ouster. The document so far has 3,691 signatures.

The school’s parent-teacher association has also passed a resolution calling for Jahoda’s removal and students have held multiple protests to have her yanked from the job.

For its part, the city won’t rule out making Jahoda the permanent leader of the school.

Education Department spokesman Will Mantell said the city has received 38 applications for the position and a selection will be made by early May. He said he couldn’t give any other details about the candidates.

“Confidentiality rules prevent us from disclosing any individual candidates for a principal position,” Mantell said. “We continue to listen to feedback from this school community.”

Another letter to Fariña, this one sent Tuesday by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, accused the city of withholding information about the ongoing search for a permanent school principal.

Katz maintained the city has not said how it will quell the unrest at the school.

“Parents and students deserve to know more,” she wrote to Fariña. “Accusations and troubling accounts are occurring on a daily basis ... I am deeply troubled.”

Townsend Harris students plan to take the steps of City Hall on Friday morning in a fresh protest of Jahoda’s leadership.