THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411160149
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Days after several residents appeared before the School Board to complain of ``poor management'' and safety concerns at Nansemond River High, the district announced the reassignment of Principal Allen E. Breland.
In a written statement, officials said early this week that Breland's new job is in the facilities and planning department, where he will help supervise construction and rezoning projects.
Parris D. Carson, an assistant superintendent, will fill in as principal until a replacement is found, the statement said.
Breland worked as an assistant principal at Nansemond River for about three years before being promoted to principal in September 1992.
He is a native of Mississippi. After graduating from Norfolk State University in 1975 with a health and physical education degree, Breland was hired to teach physical education and to coach at the former John F. Kennedy High School.
In 1985, he earned a master's degree in urban education. Three years later, he was made assistant principal of what was then John Yeates High School.
A school district spokeswoman, citing confidentiality laws, declined to discuss the reasons for Breland's reassignment.
A receptionist at the school said Breland was on vacation. He could not be reached at his home for comment.
Late last month, a 17-year-old Nansemond River student pulled a fully loaded, .22-caliber revolver on a male classmate in a school hallway. The two allegedly had fought at a school bus stop earlier that morning.
A week ago today, parents reminded the board of other recent incidents at the school, including a small fire set by a prankster.
Phillip C. Forbes, a leader of Concerned Citizens for Quality Education, described the school as an administrative ``mess'' at Thursday's meeting, which attracted more than three dozen residents who came to show support for the group's position.
Forbes, as well as others interviewed Thursday, also said some administrators unfairly labeled white students from the Eclipse and Crittenden neighborhoods as troublemakers.
Other residents asked the board to take steps - such as adopting a quality leadership program or installing stationary metal detectors at entrances - to improve the school's environment.
The district now randomly uses hand-held metal detectors, and a city police officer was assigned to Nansemond River this school year.
The president of the PTA said he had never known the school to be out of control, as some parents alleged. But safety issues have been difficult to tackle without additional staff and money, said Alvin ``Andy'' Anderson Jr., Nansemond River's PTA president for the past two years.
``I think when you give a person a job to do, and then give the person only half of what's required to do the whole job, only half the job gets done,'' Anderson said, referring to Breland. ``I think he was doing what he could.''
A black parent and a black school official said privately that members of the concerned citizens group, which is reportedly all white, targeted Breland primarily because he is black.
Debbie Gaffos, a member of the group, denied the charge.
``If you're paid to do a job, you're supposed to do it,'' said Gaffos, who has considered sending her daughter to a private school next year rather than Nansemond River. Gaffos is white.
``I've heard that Mr. Carson is excellent, and I don't know what color he is,'' she added. ``I just want my child to go to a safe place where she can get a good education.''
Carson is black. Gaffos said the group also was dissatisfied with other staff members at the school, not just Breland. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Allen E. Breland
Assigned to new job
by CNB