By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — A new interim principal has been appointed to lead the elite Shuang Wen School after the longtime head of the popular elementary school was dismissed last week.
Iris Chiu, who has 19 years experience in the Department of Education, taught English as a Second Language and Mandarin Chinese at elementary and middle schools in Queens and Brooklyn, according to a DOE letter sent to Shuang Wen parents.
Chiu most recently worked as a high school assistant principal in charge of humanities and guidance services, the letter added.
The move comes in the wake of 12-year Shuang Wen principal Ling Ling Chou's ouster late last week amid a series of investigations by the DOE into school practices.
Chou was "reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigations," a DOE spokeswoman said last week.
The school, at 327 Cherry St., which instructs its students in Chinese and English, is being probed for its paid after-school program and enrollment practices, among other issues.
Parents and advocates have sued the DOE for discrimination, saying that the investigations are being done in secret and are racially motivated.
In April, the head of the school's non-profit arm, which oversees the after-school language program, quit, but said his departure was unrelated to the investigations.
The month before, a parent was arrested for allegedly threatening to burn down the school.
The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
