Watch the fascinating video embedded in this blog post from Buffalo, New York. Kevin Gibson, the Secretary of the Buffalo Teachers Federation gets up to speak. Board member Larry Quinn (yes, the same board member who was texting as a high school student was speaking at a recent meeting) waves to a police officer and has Gibson escorted out of the Board room. He was not allowed to speak. Democracy in action. Under what interpretation is a representative of the district’s teachers barred from testifying at a public hearing of the Board of Education?

Categories New York, Unions

69 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Mark Collins says:

February 6, 2015 at 12:38 pm

Look at who his best bud is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Paladino

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- Sean Crowley says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 10:20 am
  
  http://b-loedscene.blogspot.com/2015/02/larry-quinns-last-nerve-files-comp-claim.html
  
  Reply
  - Linda says:
    
    February 10, 2015 at 1:21 pm
    
    Thanks for the link.
Dienne says:

February 6, 2015 at 12:40 pm

Yes, Larry Quinn deserves a heaping helping of blame for this, but he’s not alone. Every single person in that room allowed that to happen, including everyone else on the board and the other members of the public who sat on their backsides without raising so much as a peep. No one in that room has any right to complain if and when they finally wake up and realize their democracy is gone.

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- FLERP! says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 1:07 pm
  
  One woman at the table raised a few peeps.
  
  Reply
  - Dienne says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 1:20 pm
    
    Well huzzah for a few peeps. I guess that is something in this day and age.
MathVale says:

February 6, 2015 at 12:48 pm

That is chilling. Now we know why these tea party types give police most favored union status and exempt from the union-busting laws. The “reformers” need that police state in order to preserve “liberty and freedom”. Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

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- Hemlock says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 10:15 pm
  
  Exactly . Like Animal a Farm
  
  Reply
Chiara says:

February 6, 2015 at 12:55 pm

I haven’t checked lately, but I don’t think membership in a labor union excludes him from the “citizen” category. Is there some other reason he was removed or is this just more anti-labor activism disguised as “ed reform”?

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Chiara says:

February 6, 2015 at 12:58 pm

“Quinn interrupts Gibson and has him confirm that he’s a member of the BTF, ”

Wow. The ed reform movement might want to watch that. They’re headed toward “are you now or have you ever been a member of a labor union?”

People might start to think it’s not all about the children.

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FLERP! says:

February 6, 2015 at 1:03 pm

I have two reactions:

First, Quinn should go to a department store and buy a suit off the rack and wear it to these meetings. Or at least a collared, buttoned shirt. The finely-knit black turtleneck just amplifies his general aura of “I’m hip, I’m rich, I work hard, and I play hard. Also I’m in my 60s but I look like I’m in my early 50s because I try to take care of my body.” What a d-bag.

Second — and I realize this is sexist and inappropriate, but I am nonetheless compelled to say it — Mel Holden is just completely adorable.

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FLERP! says:

February 6, 2015 at 1:05 pm

Oh, and another thing: the “Benson” theme song at the start of the video is genius.

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ira shor says:

February 6, 2015 at 1:45 pm

In Montclair, the retrograde Board of Education and its Broadie Superintendent continually seek ways to silence critics. Last year, subpoenas were issued to online critics when a new exam written by the District at a cost of $490K was suddenly posted online. This year, one local opposition figure was subject to FOIL harassment by an anonymous shadowy figure demanding all the emails of this individual to 28 town figures and citizens. Last year, the Board paid its lawyer for hours devoted to studying legal ways to limit public comment. This year, the Board hired a new lawyer who had just been let go from a neighboring town for her part in silencing public opposition there. The nullification of constitutional rights reaches down to what Foucault called “the capillary level” of society, close to home.

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- Chiara says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 2:27 pm
  
  “Last year, subpoenas were issued to online critics when a new exam written by the District at a cost of $490K was suddenly posted online.”
  
  I think the security around testing is weird. I realize there’s security measures for the ACT and the SAT but it just feels over the top and crazy for 3rd graders.
  
  We keep telling kids these tests are just assessments to “see where they are” but everything we do AROUND testing contradicts that.
  
  I think kids probably see right thru it.
  
  We should just tell them the truth: “obviously, these tests are hugely important to adults, although we don’t want you to believe that and we’ll deny it over and over” 🙂
  
  Reply
- Duane Swacker says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 9:35 am
  
  Ira,
  
  Do you have a reference for the Foucault quote? Any help will be appreciated.
  
  Gracias,
  Duane
  
  Reply
  - FLERP! says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 11:40 pm
    
    See page 39.
    
    https://books.google.com/books?id=Aqf309sk_EsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=foucault+power+knowledge&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8OfWVOf5GMPksATKo4HADw&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA
  - Duane Swacker says:
    
    February 9, 2015 at 10:25 am
    
    Thanks! FLERP!
    
    Just checked my copy and I had that sentence underlined:
    
    “But in thinking of the mechanisms of power, I am thinking rather of its capillary form of existence, the point where power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their body and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses.”
- Hemlock says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 10:18 pm
  
  Foucault was very hip to police and the dynamic they create
  
  Reply
Buffalopundit says:

February 6, 2015 at 1:51 pm

Thank you for the link, but two quick corrections: The man who was escorted out is Kevin Gibson, not Quinn. Also, he is the Secretary of the Buffalo Teacher’s Federation, not the President.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 1:54 pm
  
  will fix!
  
  Reply
  - Buffalopundit says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 2:13 pm
    
    Thank you!
Linda says:

February 6, 2015 at 1:54 pm

Flerp,
The gravity of the situation, in this Buffalo meeting, can’t be diminished by derogatory quips about the apparel of powerful people destroying our society, as much as we may wish it could.

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- FLERP! says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 1:59 pm
  
  I suppose that also applies to the Benson quip?
  
  Reply
Charles says:

February 6, 2015 at 2:03 pm

The latest Supreme Court decisions indicate that the rich and powerful create the laws that the rest of us have to follow, but not them. Welcome to the NEW AMERICA. It reminds me of the Roman rulers where they created the Coliseum to entertain the common people so they would not ask questions or be aware of a what was happening around them. We are given movies like The Sniper and we go to the theater, today’s coliseum, and this makes us forget about what is really important and we are distracted from reality. These people are very good at doing this bait and switch behavior.

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- MathVale says:
  
  February 8, 2015 at 3:45 pm
  
  Bread and circuses
  
  Reply
Tim says:

February 6, 2015 at 2:09 pm

Am I reading this right and the only possible sanctions here would be unwinding whatever votes or actions the board took at the meeting, and making Larry and Crazy Carl and their poor boardmates attend a . . . training session?

http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/openmeetlaw.html#s107

Electiond have consequences, but Quinn won a spot with only 7,000 votes, for crying out loud. How many teachers are there in Buffalo, three or four thousand? How did this happen?

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- bfloschoolnews says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 2:25 pm
  
  1.) Money. Quinn has lots of it
  
  2.) Lots of guerrilla marketing by his good friend Paladino and the charter school movement. Lots of signs everywhere telling people to ONLY vote for Quinn and any other charter school supporting candidates. I used to work at a charter school, and the faculty meeting before the election was taken for the administration to tell us who we were supposed to vote for.
  
  Reply
  - Sharon in NYS says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 9:01 am
    
    Wow, that is so wrong. Are charter school admins really exempt from the law that prohibits telling staff how to vote? Public school admins and boards of education members cannot do that.
    
    The Buffalo Board of Ed is a mess from what I gather, not helped by personality conflicts on both sides and now with more pro-charter members, including the board president.
- FLERP! says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 2:37 pm
  
  It’s not absolutely clear to me that refusing to let Gibson *speak* violates the open meetings law. I believe public bodies have some leeway in terms of when they have to permit public comment. (Then you get into the thornier question of what happens when some people are permitted to talk and others aren’t. If any member of the public speaks, does that mean every other member of the public attending the meeting gets to speak, too? I don’t know.) But kicking him out of the meeting seems like a clear violation, and yeah, I think that would require invalidating any vote or action taken at the meeting.
  
  Reply
- concerned mom says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 3:28 pm
  
  Tim,
  
  I agree, I can’t understand why people are not bothering to vote. In some cases, local elections have a much bigger impact on one’s community that state or federal level elections and yet, the majority of the people who bother to vote only show up for national elections (and even then we haven’t exceed 60% in decades)
  
  Why?
  
  Reply
  - colette says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 5:35 pm
    
    I cannot understand how being a business man qualifies someone to sit on the BoE. Oh, yeah, I forgot, this is America where the rights of corporations to make money exceed the rights of citizens to shared social goods.
  - concerned mom says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 7:09 am
    
    Did anyone more qualified run against him? If yes, then why didn’t the people come out and vote for the better candidate?
- Sharon in NYS says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 9:20 am
  
  It is notoriously hard to get the voters out for school votes, even in communities that generally support their schools. 20% of registered voters is considered a *huge* turnout in my small city, and we vote on the school budget not just the election of board members.
  
  Reply
  - deb says:
    
    February 8, 2015 at 7:31 am
    
    People here avoid voting because they don’t want to be called for jury duty.
  - concerned mom says:
    
    February 8, 2015 at 2:21 pm
    
    In my state they fixed that because now they pull from driver’s license records for jury duty and still people don’t bother to vote in local elections.
Linda says:

February 6, 2015 at 2:17 pm

Sandra Tan, at the Buffalo News, reported about the meeting, an hour ago. She describes a follow-up with Quinn, in which his disdain for media, is evident. Questions about Quinn’s veracity can be drawn from his reported statement that he didn’t summon the police to force Gibson to leave, when the video appears to show the opposite.

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- Tim says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 2:37 pm
  
  Her report raises the possibility that the meeting was not covered by the open meetings law (meaning that conventional public comment rules weren’t in effect) and also that Carl Paladino disagreed with the decision to remove the speaker.
  
  http://schoolzone.buffalonews.com/2015/02/06/tossed-union-rep-buffalo-school-board-meeting-see-video/
  
  Since “security” is the Buffalo police, perhaps they should be asked for comment.
  
  Things were much simpler when Larry Quinn just sat there texting and playing Candy Crush.
  
  Reply
  - FLERP! says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 2:44 pm
    
    I think it would still be covered by the open meetings law. It’s not like the board was discussing national security or highly confidential information (in which case the meeting would have been closed to the public). If it was just a special/working session, the public still has a right to be there. The public might not have a right to speak (the open meetings law itself just gives the public the right to attend, not to speak), but you’ve got to let them in the room to observe.
  - Linda says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 3:02 pm
    
    Agree with Tim, about enforcement policy,
    When two Board members, who are neither the chair, disagree about the removal of a specific person from speaking, in a public meeting and, there is no evidence of a law being broken, forced removal should require more than a nonverbal, imperial, Quinn dismissive wave, “Away with him.”
drext727 says:

February 6, 2015 at 2:27 pm

Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education and commented:
Wow….this is terrible. It sends such a bad message.

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Linda says:

February 6, 2015 at 4:04 pm

The Buffalo school system has a user friendly website, where the community can e-mail members of the Board, like Quinn. Interesting note, he’s the only Board member that has no bio. posted. There is a form to communicate with the Board, as well. I selected the addressees, Public Relations and Superintendent’s Staff, for my contact.

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- Sharon in NYS says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 9:04 am
  
  Yeah, I noticed that too about the absent bio. He’s probably been asked to supply one but cannot be bothered.
  
  Reply
Fred Smith says:

February 6, 2015 at 4:20 pm

Terrible. How is this episode any different or more outrageous than when UFT Pres. Mulgrew and his henchman shout down, bully or use faux procedural tactics to silence dues paying members in NYC who disagree with them at meetings or do not accept their party line?

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- Linda says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 7:02 pm
  
  Were the proposals/candidates rejected in NYC, more likely to secure stronger tenure protections, fewer high stakes tests etc. than the UFT strategies/leaders?
  It’s a tangential issue but, I’m curious about your opinion.
  
  Reply
  - Fred Smith says:
    
    February 6, 2015 at 8:17 pm
    
    I’m not sure I’m addressing your concerns about politicians I think. Here’s where I was going.
    
    As I understand it second hand, meetings held at UFT headquarters, involved union delegates and/or chapter leaders. Among them were individuals who felt the union, which has been run forever by a self-perpetuating leadership (i.e., the Unity slate) elected under procedures that make it virtually impossible to unseat the top ecehelon, did not think the UFT was doing enough for the rank and file members.
    
    These “dissidents” wanted the chance to address bread and butter issues, including the teacher’s contract and protection of members from arbitrary mistreament; and the leadership’s heretofore ineffectiveness in fighting back against charter schools that have been taking away space and resources at the expense of traditional public schools; and perceived sell-out tendencies that sacrifice principles for “a place at the table;” and the mealy mouthed positions taken by said leadership against the misuses of student test data tied into the indefensible inclusion of test scores in convoluted, ever-changing teacher evaluation formulas. Then too, there were the overriding questions–based on past history–of union governance and the undemocratic way Unity controlled the floor at these meetings–arbitrarily denying speakers a voice, not even a discouraging word to be heard.
    
    So, I would say the “trouble-makers” I have known, those who would give discomfort to the comfortable, have strong faith in labor and unionism and are deeply troubled by the state of the UFT. Yes, there is a certain amount of understandable self-interest in their beliefs, but I feel they are sincere when they say, “Our working conditions are our children’s learning conditions.”–which they strive to better. And I hope they grow in number and strength because one-party rule and monopolistic arrangements work against the vast majority of people kept on the outside. (The 99%?)
    
    I hate to see the way teachers have been portrayed as bad guys. They’re not. They shoudn’t be victimized by politicians who can be bought cheaply–nor by those who claim to represent them.
  - Linda says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 10:31 am
    
    Fred,
    Thank you for the clarification.
    If the current threat to working people, wasn’t so great, I’d call your posted comment a pleasure to read, for its points and elucidation.
    Under the circumstances, it portrays a scary scenario.
rastamick says:

February 6, 2015 at 4:48 pm

Quinn is a terrible baby. He is likely still wounded from last board meeting where Kevin Gibson annihilated the myth that one of their pet charters is high performing. Kevins data showed its actually underperforming. We know how they love data as long as they can use it to lie. My phone wont link it but Kevin’s
Talk is posted on Dailypublic.com in local.

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Jack Saviola (@Savi142) says:

February 6, 2015 at 6:43 pm

The video, unfortunately, tells a very incomplete story. The refusal to allow Mr. Gibson to speak was PROPER. This particular meeting was called to address a limited agenda and focussed on a single topic. There was not an open speakers item in the agenda. Speakers were allowed to address only the subject matter of the meeting.
Mr. Gibson was attempting to address issues that were not appropriate to this meeting, and was thererfore removed.
This thread is whipping up a lot of misguided and innappropriate anger at the Buffalo School Board. The video is a fraud!

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- Chris in Florida says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 7:57 am
  
  And leave it to an economist to defend the indefensible.
  
  Why do economists hate teachers, students, freedom and democracy?
  
  It’s becoming clear that economists are becoming a danger to our country and our way of life, America. Their crackpot ideas and baseless theories have taken over education, our government, and our social contract and they are systematically destroying everything in sight. They nearly sank the world economy, are eroding a century old institution of public education that has produced geniuses and wonders beyond imagining, they have infiltrated politics and corrupted the courts. Where is the outcry?
  
  Economists are not scientists. They are not educators. They are not priests or mystics. They are dangerous fools. Hide yo wife, hide yo kids, hide yo things. . . .
  
  Reply
- concerned mom says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 8:12 am
  
  Maybe refusing to allow him to speak was proper, but the way in which he dismissed him was not becoming of an elected official. He could have turned all the way around in his seat and told him his comments would be welcomed at another opening meeting. It seems as though Mr, Quinn could have done things differently and still achieved the result of Mr. Gibson not speaking.
  
  Reply
- Sharon in NYS says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 9:15 am
  
  Special meetings called on short notice (24 hours), while allowed, still must adhere to open meeting laws, and the New York State School Boards Association guidelines advise BOEs that special meetings should not be called if the matters to be discussed or resolved can wait until the next regular meeting.
  
  Useful document here: http://www.nyssba.org/clientuploads/nyssba_pdf/LegalOMLPresentations09.pdf
  
  Reply
- Linda says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 10:54 am
  
  Jack Saviola,
  “The video is a fraud!”
  What is the nature of the video’s fraud? Was someone impersonating Quinn?
  Is it your conclusion that people viewing the tape, have formed false impressions? If so, I think you are wrong, (but not a “fraud”). Reporter, Sandra Tan, provided context and the video speaks for itself.
  
  All of us should condemn the disrespect Quinn showed to a Buffalo police officer. For the a wealthy person to summon him, as if he was a waiter, fails to honor the risks that police officers take in performing their duties and, the power society gives them for our protection.
  
  Reply
- Ken Watanabe says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 12:07 pm
  
  Say whatever. That textmessge man left another skidmark on his career. He screwed Sabers with poor performance, and he’s screwing Buffalo once again. He’s coward, pathetic loser.
  
  Reply
- MathVale says:
  
  February 8, 2015 at 3:51 pm
  
  When the suppression of political free speech at a government meeting open to the public by way of police action is considered PROPER, then we really have become North Korea. Your post is more disturbing than the video.
  
  Reply
English Ed says:

February 6, 2015 at 7:07 pm

Another note about Larry Quinn, other than he’s merely a corporate stooge: while minority partner owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, he ensured that, instead of winning, the bottom line mattered most in the summer of ’07. That summer, he ordered the GM to let the heart-and-soul of probably the best Sabres team in recent memory to walk out the door (Chris Drury and Daniel Briere) to save money instead of re-signing them. An assuredly determined championship team in Buffalo was dismantled for the sake of profit. Does this sound eerily familiar? Quinn knows nothing about substance, heart, character, and guts. All he is, again, is a corporate stooge steeped in double-dealing, evasions, euphemisms, and deceptions and uses his clout to silence people when he’s exposed. Again, sounds eerily familiar, right?

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LI Mom says:

February 6, 2015 at 7:37 pm

The Teachers Union, the PTA, and other concerned citizens should demand to see the BOE rules governing public comments at BOE meetings. You cannot just remove a person because they are saying something you don’t like. Sadly some districts enforce time limits, pre-approval of questions, and no follow up questions.

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- Tim says:
  
  February 6, 2015 at 9:03 pm
  
  Here are the rules: http://www.buffaloschools.org/district.cfm?subpage=93805
  
  Reply
  - LI Mom says:
    
    February 9, 2015 at 4:14 pm
    
    Thanks for the link Tim. All I can say is WOW! As a BOE member of a school on LI my community would never stand for rules like that, and neither would I.
kidmade says:

February 6, 2015 at 9:02 pm

This might apply. http://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/otext/o2585.htm

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gitapik says:

February 7, 2015 at 7:57 am

When Reagan first took office, he made a very subtle but effective change to his addresses to the people. He would walk a very long red carpet to the podium. We got to see this guy leave his office, in the distance, and majestically walk to his place of authority.

It was at this time that another change was seen in the media and tabloids: a focus on the aristocracy in England.

My friends and I noted these changes at the time. We read articles about how the move to pull out of Vietnam was not due to public pressure but was, rather, a decision made by the government. We read how the middle class was a blip on the radar in the larger scope of history.

For me, Mr. Quinn, with his imperious wave of the hand, thus “dismissing” a citizen with the right to voice his thoughts at a hearing that’s been opened to the public, brings Reagan to mind. He would fancy himself king.

Our democratic rights are being trampled. Globalization. Free trade. Charter schools. Forget the reasons. This is serious and it’s going to require a huge backlash to turn it back.

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- gitapik says:
  
  February 7, 2015 at 8:54 am
  
  I forgot to mention another important media (and, consequently, public) shift that began with the Reagan years: magazines such as “We” magazine were replaced by publications titled, “Me” or “Self”.
  
  These changes have gained momentum over the decades to the point of what we’re seeing today.
  
  Reply
  - Duane Swacker says:
    
    February 7, 2015 at 9:51 am
    
    YEP, the “I, ME, MINE” mode of being.
  - Linda says:
    
    February 9, 2015 at 1:09 pm
    
    Another media shift- PR professionals outnumber journalists 4.6 to 1 and the pay differential has increased to $20,000.
Tim says:

February 7, 2015 at 10:18 am

If any good came out of this, it’s that we now have a better handle on the open meetings laws in New York State:

— contrary to what I and a lot of other people assumed, there is no requirement that the public be allowed to speak at an open meeting;

— However, if a board allows public comment from one member of the public, they have to extend that right to anyone else who wants to speak. It doesn’t matter that Gibson was “off topic” or not a resident of the district, e.g.;

–that being said, it seems there is a gray area with respect to comments that are intentionally disruptive or infringe on privacy rights. Speakers have been cut off at recent NYC DOE PEP meetings for commenting on what the DOE felt were personnel issues, e.g., and even for starting to make a comment that the board felt had already been made before.

–Gibson should have been allowed to finish his comment and Quinn was in the wrong. I am most concerned by the actions of the police officer, however, and I hope that Sandra Tan follows up on that aspect of the incident. And while earlier I mocked the portion of the state’s open meetings law that stipulates awareness training for violators, it seems like it would actually be a great idea for everyone involved here, including police officers who are assigned to work open meetings.

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Linda says:

February 7, 2015 at 10:55 am

Quinn displayed the cowardice of the entitled.

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dolphin says:

February 7, 2015 at 11:42 am

Reblogged this on Dolphin and commented:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quote: Ian Be · Weirdo at BOURBON AND COFFEE
the most disturbing part of this video is the apparent fact that the police officer did NOT remove Mr. Gibson, but rather Mr. Gibson stopped speaking and removed himself after the police officer approached him. there is a paralyzing fear that grows from the regular operation of political processes, especially when the rules are re-arranged to benefit the rulers rather than the ruled. if a man is resigned to silence himself because those he speaks against deny his right to a voice, then nothing can change. effective action does not begin with acceptance of authority.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I think like most of us, we would have done the same. It’s apparent that if we are to save public education from the profiteers and hedge fund managers, civil disobedience is in order. Mr. Gibson should have sat down in his spot — pushing them to arrest him for…what? Wanting to speak at a public meeting? It would have forced them to acknowledge that they were violating a person’s right to have their voice heard. Mr. Gibson’s eloquent speech in the previous video shows what they were afraid of–he intelligently speaks truth to power. And they can’t have that.

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Linda says:

February 7, 2015 at 1:05 pm

Ballotpedia reports Quinn received a contribution from Students First, for his campaign and, an endorsement from the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership i.e. Chamber of Commerce.
Reflecting a trend, Chambers of Commerce are changing their names to “partnerships”.

It won’t be long, charter schools will rid themselves of the moniker, so as to get past the toxic image. A PR firm is, probably, already working on a new name.

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colette says:

February 8, 2015 at 3:50 pm

The Buffalo Board of Education just rescheduled the meeting at which they will vote on whether or not to consider giving the 4 schools deemed ‘out of time’ (such terminology is another whole debacle) a chance to reinvent themselves to Friday February 13th at 10am. Obviously many community stakeholders will be unable to attend…

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DEzerov says:

February 9, 2015 at 9:53 am

Maybe those in attendance at the meeting or those who have seen the video should consider filling an online bullying report with the administration of Buffalo Public Schools?

Their Stop Bullying Now! webpage can be found at http://www.buffaloschools.org/EducationalServices.cfm?subpage=106826. An online reporting tool is mentioned.

While BPS most likely envisioned that this page is intended to address student vs. student issues, wouldn’t it be acceptable for adults too? Mr. Quinn would appear to be a bully.

And a fascinating aside: Lawrence “Larry” Quinn is the main antagonist in the 2003 live-action film adaptation of The Cat in the Hat. He is the Waldens’ pompous next-door neighbor who is determined to both marry Joan for her wealth and money and get rid of Conrad by sending him to military school. He was portrayed by Alec Baldwin… Real life mirrors art!

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