If you go to the website for Brooklyn Tech, BTHS.edu - you will find that their version of Brooklyn Tech history is very similar to that of the Alumni Association - namely, missing some things.
For example, here is the BTHS.edu description of 1992 - 2006, fourteen long years of Brooklyn Tech under Lee D. McCaskill, who was found guilty of criminal activity in 2006 and forced out:
(from BTHS.edu as of 1/15/2018)
That's it - a few short sentences - McCaskill took over in 1992 and then left in 2006 - Randy Asher took over in 2006.
How can you deal with reality when you don't live in it?
The history of Brooklyn Technical High School is a rich and wonderful one - filled with both highs and lows, and good and bad. You have to acknowledge both the good and the bad when dealing with history, otherwise you are doomed to repeat it.
The story of Brooklyn Tech started with Albert Colston… Albert L. Colston was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1873. He obtained a Civil Engineering degree from Cornell University in 1895, and then spent four years as a government engineer in Hawaii, where he also taught mathematics and drawing at Oahu College, Honolulu. He next taught applied mathematics at Tome Institute, Maryland, for three years. In 1902, Mr. Colston started his long teaching career in Brooklyn, when he joined the Manual Training High School, first in charge of mechanical drawing classes, and then becoming in addition, the head of the mathematics department.
There was a need for schools that would teach special training in the industrial arts. John E. Ruston, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, said "the days of the pick and shovel are gone." In 1918, Dr. Colston recommended to the New York Board of Education the establishment of a technical high school for Brooklyn boys. He envisioned a school with a heavy concentration of courses in math, science, and drafting with parallel paths leading either to college or to a technical career in industry. In 1922 finally got his wish. His concept was approved by the Board of Education and Brooklyn Technical High School opened in a converted warehouse at 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension. The first students at Tech were 2,400 of the students from Manual Training High School.
The Building
In 1930, as the Great Depression began, the ground breaking for the current building occurred. The school, at 12 stories high and at a cost of $6 million, opened in 1933. The school's physical offerings included two gyms, one indoor track, a pool, tens of shops and drawing rooms, a foundry, a recording studio, a broadcasting antenna, a recital hall, a library with fireplaces, a courtyard and a 3000-seat auditorium. Brooklyn Tech's founder and first principal, Dr. Colston, had an apartment built for him in the tower of the building, and was the only person to ever live inside Brooklyn Tech.
Of the school, Dr. Colston said “Owing to the demands of the special courses in the last two years of this school, high standards in mathematics and applied science must be maintained. The pupil is taught to know the materials and processes of construction in the many shop courses during the first two years. This is an all-important factor in training the future industrialist and engineer. This knowledge is put to very practical use in special courses in the last two years in the school, when the student devotes a major portion of his time to one line of technical work.”
Under the Temporary Emergency Relief Act, the government set up an organization to complete public works of art, the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). In 1934, they commissioned the artist Maxwell B. Starr to paint a mural in the main hall depicting the “History of Mankind in Terms of Mental and Physical Labor.” A few other WPA easel paintings and graphics survive in the offices.
Education
Dr. Colston wanted to make sure the students that graduated from Tech could actually get jobs in the industrial, engineering, or production fields. They would also be ready for entrance exams of universities such as M.I.T. There were courses offered in aeronautics, radio broadcasting, communications, industrial arts, architecture and building construction, chemistry, electricity, structural design and fabrication, machine construction and general design. Dr. Colston retired in 1942, and for four years afterwards the curriculum stayed pretty much the same.
Tech's modernization would come under Principal William Pabst, who became principal in 1946 after serving as chair of the Electrical Department. He created new majors and refined older ones as students were able to major in Aeronautics, Architecture, Chemistry, Electrical and Electronics, Industrial Design, Mechanical Technology, Structural Technology, and Technical College Prep.
Specialization and Modernization
After Principal Pabst retired in 1964, Tech remained stable with no dramatic change until 1972. In 1972, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, Stuyvesant High School, and La Guardia High School of Arts become incorporated by the New York State Legislature as specialized high schools of New York City. The act called for a uniform exam to be administered for admission to Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant. The exam would become known as the Specialized Science High Schools Admission Test (SSHSAT) and tested students in math and science. With its statewide recognition, the school had to become co-educational starting a new era for Tech. Dr. Colston's vision of a school for Brooklyn boys is now a school for New York City students of both genders.
On March 29th, 1973, Tech celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a dinner-dance at the Waldorf Astoria. There were 122 graduates in the class of '23. At the reunion, 20 of them came to enjoy the festivities. The class also honored their former math teacher Helen Cooley, who was turning 91 a week later. “I had wonderful results with these boys – they just ate it up!” Also reminiscing was Lou Pellman, a surgeon from Sheepshead Bay. Mr. Pellman picked up a copy of his yearbook graduation picture, and after looking at it for awhile, said “Imagine that, I used to look like that, by God! Not bad.” As part of the anniversary, the school funded the erection of a monument, complete with a time capsule buried beneath it, in the North courtyard. The monument has eight panels and each panel has a unique design that represented each of the eight majors that Tech had at that point.
Ups and Downs
Tech, like any school, had its share of ups and downs. In June of 1982, four Tech students invaded a classroom and robbed a teacher and 21 of their fellow students at gunpoint. The students, David Clarke, Anthony General, David Clark, and Louis Holmes were later arrested and charged with first-degree robbery, possession of stolen property and possession of a deadly weapon.
In 1983, Matt Mandery was made Principal and his appointment to principal made him the first Tech alumni to guide the school. In 1984 under his leadership and guidance, Tech received the Excellence in Education award from the United States Department of Education. Also under his tutelage, the Alumni Association is formally created, coalitions are formed with the NYC Department of Transportation and the local business-university community.
Following Dr. Mandery, John Tobin was appointed Principal in 1987 and over the next five years Tech saw the Bio-Med major added to its curriculum, but at the same time the Material Science Department was abolished and the 7th floor foundry was closed. Dr. McCaskill had previously been the Assistant Principal.
In March of 1998, a group of Alumni led by the chairmen of the Barnes & Noble company announced that they were going to raise $10 million for Brooklyn Tech. The gift was to be used to set up a university-style endowment fund that could generate as much as $800,000 annually. Leonard Riggio, a member of the class of 1958 and the chairman of Barnes & Noble, said that the move was simply repaying a debt that he owed the school - "It's really hard to describe this feeling that all of us have. We are what we are in large part because of Brooklyn Tech."
Lee D. McCaskill ran the school like a mafia operation from 1992 through 2006, when he was finally pushed out. McCaskill had a “my way or the highway” attitude, hurting the school, students, and faculty in many ways including censorship, embezzlement, verbal and physical abuse of teachers and students, shutting down student programs and activities, covering up crimes occurring in the school, and many other corruption.
Because McCaskill’s list of crimes was so long, please see “Corruption” on the menu above for more information.
Lee McCaskill was finally pushed out in 2006 – the New York City Office of Special Investigations (OSI) found him guilty of defrauding the city of $19,441 in lost tuition because he and his wife lied to the city about where they lived so they could get cheap tuition for their daughter. McCaskill and his wife then lied to OSI investigators about it during the investigation, which is also a crime.
The OSI recommended to the Department of Education that McCaskill be fired – however, the Department of Education was run by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and his deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña, and Carmen Fariña had been a good friend of McCaskill – and because of cronyism and corruption, they allowed McCaskill to “retire” so that he could still collect benefits. The Office of Special Investigations was quite upset with this situation and put out a letter officially stating that they disagreed with pardoning this long-term criminal instead of prosecuting him.
Brooklyn Tech is located in District 13 in Brooklyn, and Carmen Fariña was the Superintendent of District 13 and a good friend of Lee D. McCaskill – she became the Deputy Chancellor, and amazingly every time one of McCaskill’s crimes would pop up, the Department of Education would say it “supports McCaskill”.
In 2006, when McCaskill was finally found guilty of one of his crimes and forced out, Carmen was too – because of her history of covering for McCaskill, Carmen Fariña was also finally pushed out (nicely fired).
When McCaskill left the school in 2006, former Brooklyn Tech student and teacher Randy Asher, was selected to take over as Principal. Asher had been the assistant principal for mathematics and computer science at Brooklyn Tech from 2000 through 2002, and had been the principal of the High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at the City College of New York.
In 2006, right after McCaskill was ousted from Brooklyn Tech, and as Randy Asher took over, I had my 10 year reunion at Brooklyn Tech – Principal Asher addressed our Alumni crowd on April 29, 2006:
“In recent times much of the press focused on negativity surrounding adult interactions rather than celebrating the outstanding achievement of our students” said Asher (for the full speech he gave, click here).
Unfortunately, if the press hadn’t focused on all of the crimes McCaskill was committing at Brooklyn Tech, he would still be committing them. So thank goodness for the media exposing the truth.
Corrupt and ejected Principal McCaskill later went on to become the Principal of Orange High School in NJ, where he served for only 2 years. He later became Principal of Hillside High School in New Jersey, where he would be found guilty in 2013 of spanking a female student and quit before he could be prosecuted.
In 2013, Randy Asher came under fire when a teacher at Brooklyn Tech was found to have been having sexual relations with many female students for years. Mathematics and Physics teacher Sean Shaynak was brought up on 36 charges and pled guilty to nine counts - second-degree kidnapping, two counts of disseminating indecent materials to a minor, four counts of official misconduct, child endangerment and resisting arrest. He preyed on students from 2011 through 2014, three years of having sex with students, rewarding some with good grades.
At a PTA meeting in October of 2014, parents bombarded Randy Asher with questions about how Sean Shaynak was able to get hired at the school and was able to prey on students for over three years. “How does this happen?” said one dad, Edwin Harrell, 52. “How does this teacher slip through? No one paid attention to what he was doing? It is sickening.” (New York Daily News, https://nypost.com/2014/10/03/parents-blast-brooklyn-tech-principal-over-sex-teacher-allegations/)
In 2015, a lawsuit brought by a Brooklyn Tech student charged that Principal Randy Asher witnessed Sean Shaynak’s inappropriate behavior firsthand and did nothing, and that the Department of Education was told about Shaynak as well, by several people including the owner of the student-frequented Connecticut Muffin bakery, who reported it from 2010 through 2012 and nothing was done. Source: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150112/fort-greene/brooklyn-tech-principal-knew-about-sexual-misconduct-did-nothing-suit
Carmen Fariña, who was forced into retirement for covering up former Brooklyn Tech Principal McCaskill’s crimes for years was brought back by Mayor DeBlasio to be the Schools Chancellor in 2014. DeBlasio was on the school board of District 15 back when Fariña had been the Superintendent there and were good friends.
http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/51A6E9CF-322B-42FE-AEB8-EE3347993994/0/DOEOrgChartSept2017.pdf
In January of 2017, after three teacher-student sex scandals at Brooklyn Tech, Carmen Fariña abruptly reassigned Principal Randy Asher to an administrative post. She made the new Brooklyn Tech Principal Randy Asher the “Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Talent Management & Innovation” and changed him from the Principal of the school to the “Master Ambassador Principal”. David Newman, who had been the Assistant Principal of Social Studies for 20 years, was named Acting Principal.
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