Lamarre St. Phard, an eighth-grader at Intermediate School 252 in East Flatbush, beat out 12 students in his class to advance to his schoolwide spelling bee. When no other classes in his school held spelling contests, St. Phard was declared the schoolwide champion and given a certificate to prove it. (Way to go, Lamarre!)
Mendis Brown, principal of the school refused to allow St. Phard to continue on to the district-wide spelling bee because he is a Special Ed student. St. Phard said that Brown took him into her office and told him that he didn't "have the brains to do it." She said, "You're gonna go to the first round and get eliminated and make the school look bad." Lamarre claims that Brown spoke to him while the door to her office was open which embarrassed him because people outside her office could overhear their conversation.
According to the New York Daily News, Brown took it a step further:
The principal then organized a schoolwide spelling bee and Lamarre was eliminated, according to teachers who said a general education student was declared the winner. When the winning student and the first runnerup got cold feet and declined to compete in the next round, Brown allegedly refused to allow the second runnerup - another special education student - to advance.
For those that aren't sure how to spell Mendis Brown, it's spelled "F-U-C-K-I-N-G B-I-T-C-H."
