Formal complaint spearheaded by VFA
Oksana Britsova
By Ruth Bayang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
A Seattle school principal will not return for the 2018-19 school year.
Oksana Britsova, the principal at Seattle World School (SWS), was the focus of a formal letter of complaint written by James Hong, executive director of the Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA).
He said Britsova has taken advantage of the students’ vulnerability and targeted them based on their race, religion, national origin, or immigration status.
On June 5, Britsova released a statement: “After much reflection, I have decided not to return to Seattle World School for the 2018-19 school year. My leave begins immediately.”
Since May 12, 2018, numerous community members reported to the VFA that Britsova threatened and bullied students, creating an unsafe and unwelcome school environment by harassing and intimidating students and violating professional boundaries.
Hong said the Seattle School District and the City of Seattle needs to ensure that all refugees and immigrants are welcome, and that “we must end acts of racism, violence, and threats towards all.”
2014 incident
Britsova is no stranger to controversy.
In 2014, she was placed on administrative leave while she was principal at Center School. A student brought a Molotov cocktail to class and Britsova was put on paid leave because of questions about whether she followed school safety rules.
The students told Britsova about the threat, but it is not clear whether she reported it to police. The district said its review of the incident prompted a review of safety protocols for principals, but no policy changes were made.
Britsova returned to work a week later.
In the Trump era
Hong said student concerns and fears are especially heightened in a time when refugees and immigrants are actively being targeted, harassed, attacked, and deported.
“This fear is particularly poignant in light of the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ recent testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee that it is up to individual schools to decide whether to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they suspect their students are undocumented,” said Hong.
The letter goes on to say, “In an era of #metoo, #blacklivesmatter, and #neveragain, it’s clear that our city and nation demand students and families live and learn free from abuse and threats to their safety.”
Ruth can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
I am so happy she is finally leaving. Justice is done, but it took too long. She harassed teachers and students alike, and she has no business being a principal. Now watch, she’ll either be transferred to another school or be given a desk job at the administration building. Mark my words . . .
When I was seventeen, I told Britsova that I might not be coming back for my next year at the school. I mentioned it in passing, briefly and quietly.
Things happened, the decision was made, I came back to the school to confirm that I was dropping out. I was still seventeen. I went to talk to her, to tell her, and she told me she’d already pulled me out of the system, at the end of the previous school year.
Without contacting my mother.
How dangerously negligent and incompetent do you have to be to allow for that? I was seventeen and I did have my mother’s blessing to drop out, but she never followed up on it with my mother.
It is about time she got removed. I spent two years with her around and it was nothing but misery and a steady drop in the quality of the school — and I had to see my favorite teachers unhappy with the changes she was making.
The Center School started out as an Arts focused College Prep high school. When Britsova arrived, she made it into a “Troubled Teen” magnet school in an attempt to get more funding and a higher salary. She was incompetent and nasty when she spoke to parents.
She was, actually, a good portion of why I left.
I am the parent of a former Center School student. It is high time Britsova was disciplined. She’s been a problem for years.
I have a family member attending SWS. This principal is a terrible administrator who was allowed to remain at this school way too long. These kids and their hardworking teachers deserve much better.
I was one of the students who warned Britsova about the kid who brought the Molotov to school.
I feel like your coverage doesn’t portray the depth of her dismissal of our concerns.
a group of friends and i were walking around campus, with this kid following us. we all knew he did weird things, but it was mostly not a big deal. anyway, he picked up a payphone and loudly announced he was going to prank call life alert (or 911, I can’t remember which, he prankcalled them both a lot). someone took the receiver from him and hung it up, telling him something along the lines of that it wasn’t funny and he shouldn’t do it. he then proceeded to tell us he was “going to bring a shotgun to school” and use it against us.
naturally, our next response was to warn school administration.
we found oksana in the armory food court, and reported what happened to her. immediately, her response was that he was special needs, that we shouldn’t worry about it, basically that we were wrong to think that a threat to murder us was valid.
weather or not he had access to firearms, I don’t know. what I do know is that shortly afterwards (I want to say the next day?) he brought the Molotov cocktail to school.
I’m so glad that Britsovas blatant favoritism, discriminatory administration, and incompetence is coming to light. thank you for covering this.
she had a personal vendetta against many people, and