Aberdeen High School students are planning a protest on Monday that they hope will save Principal Tom Szerensits from being demoted and reassigned next year by Dr. Robert M. Tomback, superintendent of Harford County Public Schools.
In an April 29 farewell letter to the Aberdeen High School community, Principal Szerensits wrote that Superintendent Tomback told him he was being removed as principal next year because the school “needed to move in a new direction,” and he would be transferred within HCPS but would no longer be a principal. The longtime HCPS employee and Aberdeen principal added that the superintendent’s decision “has very nearly crushed my spirit.”
Calling it a personnel matter, HCPS has declined to comment specifically on the move, citing legal constraints. As reported earlier by The Dagger, Joppatowne High School Principal Macon Tucker is also being removed from his post.
At school on Friday, Aberdeen students invited other students and their parents to join a demonstration, handing out a flyer that called the decision to remove Szerensits “terribly wrong” and saying that the action Monday is intended as a “tribute to Mr. Szerensits” and a “walk out/peaceful protest.” The flyer asks students to rally in a campus parking lot at 7:30 a.m. Information provided to The Dagger indicates that the protesters plan to remain outside during part or all of the school day and that a sit-in is also being considered at a scheduled school board meeting later that evening.
Also on Friday, sources said that Principal Szerensits made an announcement urging students not to miss class time and to focus on the upcoming Maryland High School Assessments, but didn’t specifically mention the protest.
Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications for HCPS said that students who are not in school because of the protest will be marked with an unexcused absence and she denied rumors that the school would be locked down to keep students from leaving. “We expect a normal instructional day on Monday,” Kranefeld told The Dagger.
By the weekend, a “Save Szerensits” Facebook page where plans were being formed had garnered over 800 fans, including students, alumni and other adults. Some advised against the school-day protest and urged supporters to attend the scheduled school board meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the A.A. Roberty Building in Bel Air.
School board policy allows for peaceful student assembly on school property within limits set by school authorities, and also allows the principal to seek further discipline in cases of unexcused absences, tardiness or truancy.
Below are excerpts from the school board policy on student rights of assembly and student discipline, followed by the text of the student flyer, a copy of which was obtained by The Dagger for publication.
“Student Rights and Responsibilities – Assembly
Students have the right to assemble peacefully. There is an appropriate time and place for the expression of opinions and beliefs. Students who wish to assemble must recognize the rights of fellow students who do not wish to participate in such activities.
Therefore, school authorities have a right to set reasonable limits as to the time, place, and manner of such activities to ensure proper protection of the school community. The student has the responsibility to ensure that all student meetings in school buildings or on school grounds are approved in advance by the principal.
Discipline Policies – Introduction
In addition to these policies, the school principal has the right and authority to discipline students including suspension and referral to the superintendent of schools for further action for other behaviors including but not limited to physical attack on a student, verbal or physical threat to a student, fighting, extortion, sexual assault, sexual activity, false alarms/bomb threats, explosives, disrespect, insubordination, harassment, classroom disruption, inciting or participating in a disturbance, class cutting, tardiness, truancy, academic dishonesty/cheating, theft, trespassing, unauthorized sale or distribution, vandalism/destruction of property, and refusal to obey school rules.”
The complete text of a flyer that students at Aberdeen High School handed out at school Friday is listed below. Information to The Dagger indicated students handed out about 1,200 copies and were met with some resistance from school administration:
“AS EVERYONE IS WELL AWARE MR. SZERNSITS HAS LOST HIS JOB AS PRINCIPLE HERE AT ABERDEEN HIGH SCHOOL. MANY OF US FEEL THAT THE DECISION THE BOARD OF EDUCATION HAS MADE IS TERRIBLY WRONG. MR. SZERENSITS HAS BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO ALL OF US, A LEADER AND TAUGHT US TO DO THE RIGHT THING. SO IN TRIBUTE TO MR. SZERENSITS AND AS AN EFFORT TO HELP KEEP MR. SZERNSITS IN HIS POSITION AT ABERDEEN HIGH SCHOOL WE WILL BE HAVING A WALK OUT/ PEACEFUL PROTEST TO KEEP MR. SZERENSITS IN HIS POSITION. WE WANT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO KNOW HOW IMPORTANT MR. SZERENSITS IS TO US. WALK OUT/ PROTEST WILL BE AT 7:30 AM, MONDAY, MAY 9 2011 IN THE STUDENT/TEACHER PARKING LOT. THIS PROTEST IS NOT ONLY FOR STUDENTS BUT PARENTS AS WELL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT MR. SZERENSITS PLEASE COME ON OUT.
*LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!!!!!!!!!
EAGLE PRIDE!!!!!!!!!
Tune in to WAMD 970 AM on 8:30 a.m. Monday morning to hear Cindy Mumby with a breaking update to this story!
I m sooo sad nd upset that ar super attendant fired our glorias leader Mr. Z.
If this is an indication of how students at Aberdeen spell, it’s a good thing they are trying a new principal!
looks like someone was attempting to be funny….just guessing by the name given
I am so proud of the students at Aberdeen High school, for showing their support for Mr.Szerensits. I believe the protest went very well. I just hope that Superintendent Dr. Tomback moves in the right direction and keep Mr. Szerensits. I also want to say thank you to The Dagger for posting and covering the story.
As a former student of Mr. Szerentsits, graduate of HCPS, and a current teacher for HCPS, I am appalled with how Dr. Tomback dismissed and demoted Mr. Szerensits. Was there evidence and data to support Dr. Tomback’s unilateral decision to remove Mr. Szerensits and not even place him at another school as principal? If so, where is it? To my knowledge, Mr. Szerensits has only been evaluated in a successful manner as a principal in HCPS.
I admire the students who organized and participated in the rally. Young people need their voices heard and am proud of the respectful and orderly way it was carried out today.
I encourage students and parents to attend Monday’s Board of Education meeting and/or contact the President, Mark Wolkow, and other Board members to have their voices heard again.
If Jackie Haas were still alive and super, would this have happened. My gut is no – as she was Harford county through and through. We have a snob factor at work these days – wise guy know it alls trying to appeal and impress the influx of newbees to APG from the NY area. I have seen Harford county go from rural to heavy suburban and now practically urban. We’ve lost a lot of the heart of what Harford once held – a good, decent, safe, not stuck up place to raise families. We’ve lost it to a snob factor on one end and drug dealers on the other. This removal at AHS is apparently just another blow for the former.
I think it is time they get rid of Tom. What does he really do has a principal. It takes more than walking the hallways and being friendly to the students. Running a school is like running a business. He does not follow rules, he makes his own as he goes along. They need someone to school in there and truly run the school. They need someone who is going to follow the rules. set by HCPS, how come all the students that were late due to the protest got to still play in there games yesterday. If you read the rules unexcused lateness on a game day means you can’t play but Tom let them all play, that just shows what kind of principal he is, he could have followed the rules and put his foot down but no,not Tom. Good bye.
SHUT THE HELLLL UP ! he isw a gooood principal , (litttle do you know) , like realllly. this was a suppport thing, and nobody asked for your negative comments., the kids at aberdeeen support him, and thats alll that matters. And guesss what. its you against a millllon people. So boooo that freak .!
I graduated from Aberdeen, class of 2010, Mr. Szerensits was an inspiration to everyone. You’re right, it does take more than talking to students in the halls and what not, he helped a lot of people graduate. He even gave a few students a second chance, he was the kind of educator everyone wanted to be and wanted to know. He was there when anyone needed anything, that’s how he will be remembered. If it was too late for the protests and what not, so be it, the Aberdeen community will not be complete without him!
Anyone who cares about saving Tom’s job should blast the entire board, elected and appointed, with respectful but pointed emails and phone calls to let them know that the henchman from Baltimore County is not appreciated here. He might look like the best thing to hit Bel Air, but Aberdeen is not Bel Air, thank God. Tom has been good for the school and the community. I doubt seriously that the professional teachers at Aberdeen have trouble with him. No name uses the weak kneed comment about following rules,as though the minions at the supervisor’s office have the “divine right of God.” The fact of the matter is that Tom realizes that “zero tolerance” means don’t think or use logic or try to research a situation. The disciplinarians at the assistant Principal level hide behind that and and any parent worth their salt will call BS on the comment. What the hell do we need an assistant principal for if all we need is some politically correct handbook that tells what the punishment has to be for any imagined or real infraction of some useless rule? Fire them all and buy a computer!
In the mean time, force this guy Tomback to really man up and change his mind. You have the power.