MHS Students Protest Teacher's Tenure Denial

Dozens of Mamaroneck High School students don't want their English teacher, Jennifer Rosenzweig, to stop teaching. This morning, they made sure their pleas to the administration were heard by holding a protest outside the superintendent of schools' office.

About 50 students yelled "Rosenzweig" and "Administration, you are wrong" repeatedly during their lunch break, hoping that the decision to not grant tenure to their teacher would be reversed.

As soon as it was announced that Rosenzweig, who has been working for the district for three years, would have to leave the school as a result of not being granted tenure, students began protesting the decision in a number of ways: by creating a Facebook support group, which currently has 579 members, meeting with the high school principal and superintendent, addressing the Board of Education and wearing arm bands while at school.

Neither Dr. Mark Orfinger, the principal, nor Dr. Paul Fried, the superintendent, addressed the crowd today, but Fried did state that "clearly, the kids respect her and believe that she's on their side, if you will, that she connects with them. I don't question their passion and their thinking about that."

Fried wouldn't comment on his decision not to grant tenure to Rosenzweig (by law, school officials cannot talk about specific personnel decisions), but he said it is a "collective situation" and a "three-year process" that takes into account input from the administration and the assistant superintendents, and letters from parents.

The Board of Education will award tenure at their May 11 meeting.

To find out why some of these students feel Rosenzweig should continue teaching, watch the video to the right.

To find out more about the tenure process, click here.