LI Principal Resigns After Making Black Student Kneel For Apology

UNIONDALE, NY — The white headmaster of a Catholic elementary school in Uniondale resigned this week after he allegedly made a Black student kneel when apologizing to him.

According to reports, John Holian, the headmaster of the St. Martin de Porres Marianist School, resigned this week following the incident in February.

The Daily News reported that the child, who is in sixth grade, was sent to Holian's office by his English teacher, who tore up a worksheet he was working on. His mother, Trisha Paul, told The Daily News that he had already done the reading the class was doing and started a worksheet to get ahead. Reports say Holian made the boy kneel and apologize.

When confronted by Paul about the incident, Holian said he made her son kneel because it was the "African way" to apologize. Holian said he learned of it from a Nigerian father who made his child kneel to apologize for something, according to Newsday. Paul and her son are Haitian-Americans, not Nigerians.

"I felt as though he instructed him to kneel because he was Black," Paul told Newsday.

"The leadership of St. Martin de Porres Marianist School continues to review the incident in question to ensure that it is never repeated again in any form," the school wrote in a statement. "It is important to assure students, parents, and faculty that this incident does not reflect our long, established value of respect for the individual or the established protocols regarding student-related issues."

The school said it accepted Holian's resignation and immediately appointed Mrs. Shawn Lisa Torres as the new principal. Torres is a licensed social worker and certified school administrator, and her sons are students at St. Martin's.