DISTRICT REVERSES SOMS TEACHER CHOICE AFTER PARENTS OBJECT

Less than a day after parents urged the school district not to appoint a new South Orange Middle School teacher who had been fired from a previous job for poor performance, the district has changed its mind.

In a short email today, SOMS principal Lynn Irby informed parents that Lawrence Henchey -- who was due to start as an English Language Arts instructor on Monday -- would not be getting the position.

See the email below:

Dear Parents,

This is to inform you that Mr. Henchey will not be taking the leave replacement position for Ms. Alloway.  We will continue our search to find the best candidate for our students.

Thank you

This follows an uproar by many parents that began after Irby emailed them Friday that Henchey would be taking the place of Megan Alloway, who is taking a personal leave.

After doing some basic online research, parents discovered Henchey had been fired from a post in New Milford after the district claimed he was unprofessional and ineffective.

See background on that HERE.

A group of SOMS parents also posted an online petition demanding he be withdrawn. Requests for comment from the district Sunday went unanswered, but the email was sent in just the past few hours.