MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Metropolitan School District removes two principals from Southside Elementary School in Madison after an investigation into parent complaints about the school’s “chaotic, disruptive, loud, and unsafe” environment.
Principal Candace Terrell and Assistant Principal Annabel Torres are no longer with the school. Sixty-six parents filed an 18-page complaint back in June calling for both to be removed “[f]or the safety and wellbeing of [the children]” because of their “[t]urning a blind eye to children being harmed and allowing problems at Allis/Southside to fester”.
The parents believe that the “high levels of chronic unsafe and disruptive behaviors of some students is a symptom of an environment made unsafe by inconsistent discipline procedures, lack of sustained relationships with teachers, lack of seasoned teachers and staff, and unclear directives from Administration”, saying that the schoolwide environment at Southside Elementary included “physical fights… often with no adult intervention” and “classroom altercations that had gone viral on on social media”.
Parents say that the physical violence, psychological bullying, environmental and general wellness concerns along with inconsistent and disproportionate discipline makes the environment unsafe for their children, leading to educational losses for the students and staff turnover.
Longtime administrator Andrea Kreft is serving as the interim principal at Southside Elementary.
