The controversial leadership change at JHS 80, commonly known as MS 80 and the Norwood and Mosholu Parkway area’s largest middle school, is causing serious concerns for parents.

In the fall of last year, YouTube videos surfaced at the school revealing that the school’s new principal, 30-year-old Emmanuel Polanco, belonged to a Reggeaton band, El Siki. The videos show Polanco dancing around with scantily-clad women and drinking champagne.

“What the video depicts seems unsuitable for a professional in Mr. Polanco’s capacity,” said Cecilia Donovan, the former Parent’s Association president, in an email.

The provocative and sexually-explicit videos have since been taken down, and although the videos are believed to be from several years ago, parents say that students can be heard rapping lyrics from some of the songs in the hallway.

These videos, however, may be the least of Polanco’s worries, as parents say they are growing frustrated with his inaccessibility and a lack of support for their children in terms of academics and safety.

Michelle Pagan, a parent of an MS 80 student, said that when it comes to Polanco, she doesn’t deal with him because she can’t reach him. “When I call the school, it seems like nobody gives anybody messages there,” Pagan said.

Another parent (who asked to remain anonymous because she didn’t want her father to know her son went to a “bad” school) has problems with her son cutting class, but has little to complain about Polanco himself. She’s more worried about students’ preparedness.

“His past can’t help us,” she said. “I’m focused on what he can do for our kids now. Half aren’t prepared for the state exams.”

She added, “Last year, Saturday Academy [which supplements students’ regular academic schedule] began in October. This year, in January. How much can you really do in a few weeks?”

Another MS 80 parent, Carolina Crespo, also wants more guards and has even been considering switching her daughter out of MS 80, saying that, academically, her daughter hasn’t been the same this year under Polanco.

Donovan has also disapproved of Polanco’s leadership, specifically critiquing his absence in the Parents Association. Donovan said that parent association elections were held hastily late this past fall, months after they were originally planned to take place. The emergency election prevented some parents from voting, Donovan said.

The school referred all questions about Polanco to the Department of Education.

Marge Feinberg, a representative of the DOE, said the DOE “takes parents’ concerns seriously,” and that they are looking into them.

The DOE says Polanco’s record is clean. “He has no prior substantiated investigations,” Feinberg said in an email.

Polanco began his teaching career in 2003 as a substitute teacher and served as an assistant principal for less than a year before becoming principal of MS 80.

Last year, under Principal Lovey Rivera, the school had installed a plan to improve its performance with the aid of federally-funded programs. Those plans fell apart when the teachers union and the DOE failed to reach a compromise on a teacher evaluation system. It was then that the DOE required the school to enter a “turnaround” program, which mandated that the school change its name, replace its administration and replace half of its teachers.

The DOE began implementing the turnaround program in the spring by replacing Rivera with an interim principal and then eventually hiring Polanco toward the end of the school year. The rest of turnaround was halted by a successful lawsuit brought by the teachers union over the summer, which led to the school retaining its name and its staff.

In the fall, the DOE announced that MS 80 had earned a “B” on its report card, a marked improvement from the past few years. Donovan credits that success to Rivera. Last year, many parents and teachers said they felt the school was on the right path under Rivera.

Despite losing her title as PA president earlier this year, Donovan says she continues to strive for a better relationship between school faculty and parents. Donovan is working on a petition that will demand three things: a better security system, including more security cameras to prevent students from cutting class; more security guards; and an open communication policy that will work to connect the parents to the DOE and the school.

Parents say cutting class is commonplace and that they’ve heard students are having sex in the school. It’s disconcerting to parents, which is why many have chosen to speak up, even if they can’t reveal their names publicly.

The parent who wished to remain anonymous said, “My child is supposed to be in a place where he’s supposed to be learning, where he is guaranteed safety. But I can tell you, before I can say I’ve lost my son in there, I’m trying my best as a parent.”