{"id":6508,"date":"2025-10-17T15:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6508\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T15:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:34:09","slug":"staten-island-school-faces-leadership-shake-up-after-newly-appointed-principal-is-removed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/6508\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island school faces leadership shake-up after newly appointed principal is removed"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A change in leadership is on the way for students and staff at PS 3, Pleasant Plains, after the new principal was removed from the position last week.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a Friday letter from Staten Island District 31 Superintendent Dr. Roderick Palton, obtained by the Advance\/SILive.com, the school community was notified of an \u201cimportant leadership transition at PS 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize that leadership changes can raise questions, and I want to assure you that our commitment to the students, staff, and families of PS 3 remains our top priority,\u201d said Palton in the letter.<\/p>\n

Joseph O\u2019Brien was officially welcomed to the school community in a Sept. 8 letter from Palton. He replaced Elmer Myers, who retired after 10 years at the school.<\/p>\n

According to concerned parents who reached out to the Advance\/SILive.com, O\u2019Brien was relieved of his duties last week. The city Department of Education confirmed O\u2019Brien\u2019s removal on Friday, though the agency did not provide a reason for the removal or if the move was permanent.<\/p>\n

However, Friday\u2019s letter stated that an acting principal will be assigned to the school \u201cshortly\u201d and will be communicated to families once finalized.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, District 31 leadership will provide support to the school. Louis Bruschi, principal lead for strategic partnership and family and community engagement for District 31, was on site greeting families Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the entire PS 3 community for your dedication, resilience, and partnership,\u201d said Palton in the letter. \u201cYour support and engagement are essential as we move forward together in this next chapter of PS 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several parents refused to comment Tuesday morning on the principal\u2019s removal. However, one parent walking past a reporter said that parents are finding the situation \u201cquite crazy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another parent claimed that it was fellow parents who were the reason for O\u2019Brien\u2019s removal. Other parents expressed they didn\u2019t know the principal had been removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what happened,\u201d said Siva Thambiah, who has two children at the school. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good feeling \u2026 I didn\u2019t have a good feeling from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thambiah and another parent, Elena, who asked to only use her first name, noted that the former principal was always outside to greet students for arrival and dismissal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had such stable management before. We all knew him. He was always meeting the kids in the morning, it was very good,\u201d said Elena, about the former principal.<\/p>\n

According to Palton\u2019s letter to the school community last month, O\u2019Brien had \u201cmore than two decades of dedicated service to New York City Public Schools\u201d and was deputy superintendent in Brooklyn\u2019s District 20 before his appointment at PS 3.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A change in leadership is on the way for students and staff at PS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-6508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}