The girl can’t stop it. Unsatisfied with her recent escape from discipline for suspending a student for seven weeks in the middle of her senior year, McKinley High School principal Crystal Barton—claiming harassing phone calls and anonymous death threats as a result of ongoing media stories describing her outrageous antics—wants Ralph Hernandez to be removed from the school board.

Barton, whose power is clearly unchecked within the walls of McKinley, and far outweighs requests from investigators that she testify in any proceedings that directly involve her, now feels entitled to remove an elected public official who brought anonymous charges of wrongdoing in her high school to light. Apparently, anonymous charges should be swept under the rug. Anonymous phone calls—those are so serious you should use them as the basis for legal papers to challenge your opponents.

The verified petition turned in by John M. Lichtenthal, lawyer at Lipsitz, Green, Scime & Cambria, LLP, indicates that Barton now feels unsafe in her workplace and the community as a result of harassing emails and phone calls she began to receive after the Jayvonna Kincannon suspension became big news. If so, she probably feels about as persecuted as Kincannon did when she used her cell phone from a girl’s lavatory—against regulations—to request an opportunity to speak at a school board meeting.

Barton’s current complaint also sites damage to her reputation and “ability for professional advancement.” She points her icy finger not only at Hernandez but also at School Board President Mary Ruth Kapsiak, board members Christopher Jacobs and Catherine Nugent Panepinto, and chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, Robert Bennett, for good measure.

All were in cahoots to besmirch her once promising career, which also included various other scandals over the years including taking a European trip with her husband as chaperones for the school chorus at no expense to either of them, and playing fast and loose with money from McKinley soda machines.

Barton awaits a response to her request from State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills.

“Folks became upset with Barton when she thumbed her nose at the Kincannon investigation, showing disdain for the rule of law and insubordination for which she was never held accountable,” says Hernandez, responding to the recent development. “Mrs. Barton’s cocky attitude and refusal to cooperate with the independent investigator angered a lot of people. She truly believes she answers to no one; I am confident that will change soon.”

When asked for comment, Superintendent James Williams provided the following response via spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw: “The upcoming school year must begin with a focus on this noble goal: providing the children of Buffalo the best education possible. We need to move forward, look ahead, and focus on the promise of the future for the children of our great city rather than issues of the past.”

—buck quigley