Chesapeake Science Point parents are surprised about Principal Fatih Kandil?s reassignment earlier this week but are standing by the leader of their Anne Arundel charter school.
“Yes, it?s a shock,” said Becky Gardner, mother of an eighth-grader at the Hanover school who also has a daughter who will teach at the school.
“As far as anyone I know, we all adore Mr. Kandil.”
She said she heard a rumor that Kandil was reassigned for making students do push-ups for not tucking in their uniforms or following other school policies, she said.
“If you?re going to be reassigned for something like that, then you?re going to have to fire every single gym teacher,” she said.
“There seems to be more to this than anyone?s saying.”
School system spokesman Bob Mosier was asked about the reason for the reassignment and said he could not speak to the push-up rumors.
The Parent Teacher Organization was not made informed of any inappropriate activities from Kandil, PTO President Michelle Taylor said.
“In fact, most of the complaints that have come to the PTO is that he?s not strong enough sometimes,” she said, referring to his discipline of students.
The charter school?s governing board Tuesday evening selected Judith Henry, a former dean of students and academics at the school, to fill in for Kandil.
“She?s familiar with the school,” Taylor said.
“It?s great to see a familiar face.”
Joan Valentine, a former principal at Mary E. Moss Academy in Crownsville and Meade High School at Fort Meade, took over for Kandil on Tuesday only. The school system is not revealing why Kandil was reassigned because it is a personnel matter, Mosier said.
Kandil was temporarily reassigned to another position pending an investigation by the county Department of Social Services, he said.
