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ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE BELOW THE FOLD
Written and edited by Norm Scott: EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!! Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
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This all started because I was outraged by the denial of public school access to the library which had been lovingly renovated by the librarian and volunteers she solicited. Take a look at the video. If you care about kids and about libraries, it will break your heart.
As a former employee, I can honestly say that I cannot BELIEVE (no pun intended) that there is not enough oversight from the Chancellor to expose the atrocities that are happening on an almost hourly basis at all there of these schools. Principals/”Superintendents” are fired and escorted out of the building midday, months after being publicly hailed and showered with praise by the CEO Melendez. There have been three different principals in the last two years, and the recklessness and haphazard manner with which decisions are being made about how many is spent, and who assumes positions of leadership make it seem as if ideas were drunkenly drawn from a baseball cap. There are people in that building making six-figure salaries who have not made a single contribution to the students or organization at large in their three years. What a great way to make a quarter of a million dollars! The majority of leadership positions are held by people in with less than one, or even zero teaching experience which has led to a major disconnect between themselves, the rest of the staff, and the kids. Don’t trash all charter schools…trash this one and all the others like it. Stop giving 5 years extensions to places like this and then walking away for long periods of time only to do one day “state visits” which consist of student and staff file checks and cursory classroom observation which are hardly enough to unveil the corruption that exist just below those surfaces.
An insightful discussion on education reforms among Chicago teachers on the Education Nation/NBC series, aired on May 2. We have edited out the first fourteen minutes, which consisted of a painfully slow introduction from NBC, Univ. of Phoenix and the other sponsors of the series.
There’s much incisive debate on the show, but one of the most interesting moments is a heartfelt statement at its conclusion from a teacher at Urban Prep Academy on the importance of keeping class sizes small. Urban Prep is the Chicago charter school that Arne Duncan highlights for its results, and yet at the same time, Duncan insists on devaluing the importance of class size. Another indication of the hypocrisy of the corporate reform crowd.
Joe Williams, Education Reform Now: "No one wants to lay off teachers -- or any layoffs for that matter -- but it will be doubly cruel to our students if those layoffs remove some of the most effective teachers from the classroom because of an outdated and poorly considered law. For months, New Yorkers have called for Albany to take action on 'Last In, First Out,' and now time has run out. It's time for state leaders to act to end the practice of LIFO and help ensure the best teachers stay in the classroom during this difficult time. That's what reform means -- giving the taxpayers more for their money, in this case, the best teachers we have. The ball is now in Albany's court."Yes, that's the line. We don't want layoffs but the main fight is not against layoffs but against LIFO.
Bloomberg insists he means it this time, that the money isn’t there, and that he isn’t laying off teachers to prove a point about LIFO. But if this isn’t the usual shell game, in which city tax revenues spike and Bloomberg saves thousands of jobs just before the July 1 deadline, he really is going to need an assist from Albany. There’s not much chance of the state suddenly coughing up more cash; a compromise on seniority rules or state mandates, though, should be possible. Two weeks ago the mayor and the governor had a long dinner on the Upper West Side. Perhaps today’s quieter tone at City Hall is the next step in trying to get Cuomo to pick up part of a much bigger check.Here are the link:
The mayor tried to pass the buck today to the state and the federal government, blaming them for the elimination of over 6,000 teaching positions. What happened to mayoral accountability?
And yet he added that if the state provided extra funding or mandate relief, he would not necessarily restore these positions, but he might spend it on the police or fire department instead.
He said he was “very sympathetic” to Gov. Cuomo, but he mentioned no sympathy for NYC children, who will have to bear the brunt of these cuts in the form of the largest increases in class size in at least 30 years. While he commented that he would not put city's fiscal "future at risk," he seems all too willing to put our kids' futures at risk instead. This is not a budget which puts children first.
Already in the last three years alone, students in grades K-3 have experienced class size increases of 10%; leading to the largest class sizes in over a decade. More than a third of all Kindergarten students are now squeezed into classes of 25 or more. Why should they have to suffer any more?
He offered not a single proposal to control the huge waste in DOE contracts and consultants, which has led to numerous instances of lax oversight and corruption, including more than $3 million in stolen funds on one DOE tech contract alone, and another contract that has gone millions over budget, with allegations that a DOE supervisor was improperly involved with the consultant.
Nor does he have any plans to cut the growing headcount of the central and mid level DOE bureaucracies, but instead targets all reductions to teachers?
The city's overall spending on contracts has doubled to more than $10 billion in the last five years – with a huge part of the increase for technology. In the next year alone, the DOE plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on technology in its capital plan, with $350 million to buy computers to implement more online learning and testing.
Their ultimate goal seems to be depriving our students any contact with a real live teacher, but to put them all on machines instead.
The Mayor claims he has no choice, but this is yet another excuse for his lack of leadership. He has many choices which he refuses to acknowledge:
Make the cuts elsewhere in the DOE budget, including to central, contracts, consultants and computers; draw more from the $2 billion still remaining in the city’s health care reserve; and support the retention of the millionaire’s tax, either on the state or city level.
The city’s richest one percent are still expanding their wealth rapidly – but instead of asking them to contribute their fair share, the mayor chooses to make our kids pay the price.
Though a millionaire’s tax on city residents would also need Albany’s assent, it would be a far better campaign than continuing his obsession with eliminating teacher seniority protections, which has little chance of being approved.
A Joint Hearing scheduled for Thursday evening for the colocation of a new charter school for just released incarcerated students and other "disconnected youth" was abruptly cancelled by the proposed school. A Charter School Association representative stated that the failure of the new proposed charter to obtain a principal caused the sudden withdrawal for the application while others understood that the pressure by local civic leaders and Aspirations High School staff brought to bear was too much for the DOE and the proposed Charter.-
MORE at ICE blog: UFT Chapter at Aspirations HS Stops Charter School in Its Tracks
Hit the Road Cami- with new best friend, or sibling, Chris Christie |
Could be. But I think this model is dead. Privatizing this segment of public education may have gone too far. When I spoke to the SUNY Charter rep yesterday she understood that the proposal was fast tracked because of political considerations and little thought was given to how the school would actually function. While I’d like to feel it was our pressure that stopped them I believe they knew it would fail.
Jeff
Good afternoon all,
The Department of Education just received notice from the ROADS Charter School Board that it will be requesting a planning year and will not be ready to open its new school, ROADS Charter School I, until the 2012-2013 school year. As a result, the DOE is considering revising the proposal to co-locate ROADS Charter School I in Building K894 beginning in September 2011.
In addition, the hearing that is to be held tonight on the proposal will be cancelled. A DOE representative will be coming to the school to discuss this and to answer any questions from the community. We apologize for the inconvenience this late notice may have caused.
The DOE is currently discussing the matter with the ROADS Charter School Board, as well as other stakeholders in Building K894 and the community. If the DOE decides to revise this proposal (i.e., to propose that ROADS Charter School I open in Building K894 beginning in the 2012-2013 school year), a revised Educational Impact Statement will be issued and a new joint public hearing will be held.
Thank you again for your cooperation and apologies for any inconvenience.
Have a good night.
Best,Izaak
Izaak OrlanskyPortfolio Engagement SpecialistNew York City Department of Education
Dear E4E Members, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! To celebrate you, your hard work, and your dedication to students, E4E is hosting two Teacher Appreciation Events this Friday, May 6th. Launched by two Bronx teachers in March 2010, E4E was founded to be a voice for teachers in education policy - a voice that helps to elevate our profession and improve outcomes for our students. Please join us, get involved, and share E4E with your colleagues over free drinks, appetizers, and the chance to win great prizes for you and your classroom. E4E will be raffling off teacher supplies, gift cards, and Kindles. Help us grow the E4E movement - bring your colleagues, get extra raffle tickets! These events continue E4E's commitment to connect like-minded educators from across the city and provide a forum to share your voices. Please join us. We will be hosting events in the Bronx at G Bar and in Union Square at Revival. Please feel free to forward the RSVP link to interested colleagues and friends. Details are below:
Thank you for the hard work that you do every day for New York City students. You have the most important job in shaping our country's future. Please know that you are appreciated. All our best, The E4E Team |
K12’s board is headed by Andrew Tisch, co-chair of Loew’s Corp, the brother in law of Merryl Tisch, who is in turn, the head of the NYS board of Regents. Meetings of the NY state education department are often held in the Loew’s headquarters, which is run by Merryl’s husband, James. http://www.loews.com/loews.nsf/OfficeOfPresident.
The NYS Regents are currently considering eliminating all seat time requirements, and to allow the rapid and essentially unregulated expansion of online learning. In addition, K12 has submitted a charter application to the Regents/NYSED, called “NY Flex charter school” in D2, that has gone through the preliminary approval process by NYSED. (EDNote: Pedro Noguera who is considered by many to be on the anti-ed deform side chairs the SUNY charter committee. There have been charges he approves every charter request.)In an earlier iteration/application, K12 was clearly running the school, now the application has been revised to indicate that the school will “contract” out with K12 for services, including curriculum, assessments, teacher training, and other support and services as requested by the Board and staff of the school.This recasting of the application is to avoid legal conflicts w/ the new NY state charter law which bars for-profit companies from operating charter schools. Here is an article about this controversial issue: http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4185/ pedagogy-and-profits-charter- school-bid-raises-questions
The Milkens’ privately held Learning Group LLC is the largest shareholder of K12, owning 24 percent of the company. Another Milken employee, Nina Rees, gave Luna $500. Rees and Luna worked together in the Education Department, where Rees led innovation efforts. Rees also advised Vice President Dick Cheney and the Romney campaign. She now is a senior vice president at Knowledge Universe Education, a California-based holding company chaired by Milken, with stakes in more than 50 education companies, including K12. http://investors.k12.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=214389&p=irol- govBio3&ID=170658
K12 Classroom LLC, (“K12”) a subsidiary of K12 Inc., will be collaborating with us. K12 Inc. is an education company with a ten year history of providing outstanding curriculum and educational services to students in grades K-12. K12 will provide most of the school’s curriculum. In the 2009-2010 school year, K12 served almost 70,000 public school students through collaborations with public entities in twenty-five states and the District of Columbia. Since their inception in 2000, they have developed over 21,000 lessons of engaging curriculum—lessons, video, assessment, learning games, labs, textbooks, workbooks, and digital instructional resources that promote mastery of core concepts and skills for students of all ability levels. Their approach combines cognitive science with individualized learning and is well-suited for New York Flex. In addition to curriculum, the Board will specifically contract with K12 for assessments, teacher training, and other support and services as requested by the Board and staff of the school. Consistent with law and best practice, the Board and staff will retain the final authority for all decision-making, management, and operations including curriculum and personnel issues.
Tom Luna's education reform plan was a long time in the makingHow Tom Luna’s co-workers from the Bush administration — and the private education companies they now help run — positioned Idaho’s schools chief to make changes that the for-profit education industry may cash in on
STORIES BY DAN POPKEY - dpopkey@
idahostatesman.com Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman
Published: 02/20/11
A proposed Charter School is trying to take the space occupied by the closing EBC/ENY High School for Public Service and Law. The following is a brief background of the building (K895) and the schools that have occupied it.
Back in the early 90’s the East Brooklyn Congregations (a consortium of Christian and Jewish religious organizations in East Brooklyn) sought to cause the BOE to provide smaller neighborhood high schools as an alternative to the larger and increasingly violent neighborhood high schools in East New York and Brownsville. While proposals languished in the Board the creation of a new school did not occur until a shooting at Jefferson High School.
EBC worked with the Board to open two schools for the area, one in East New York and one in Bushwick. The school were housed together for the first years at 1495 Herkimer Street which was renovated at considerable public expense. The building had been a sewing factory and had been abandoned. A lease was negotiated with the private landlord and has transferred private ownership until the present. The lease has been renewed every four years.
Both schools were originally part of the District 79 (the alternative high school district) and as the schools grew Bushwick found a building on Gates Avenue. They are still at that building.
EBC continued at 1495 Herkimer and was transferred to the Brooklyn High School District sometime in the early 2000’s. The school’s population ran between 500 and 800 students which were comprised of, primarily, students from the immediate area, many within walking distance of the school.
After a couple of years on and off the SINI list Klein announced, in December 2007 that EBC would be phased out by June 2011. Each year another grade was removed from the school and the space left vacant. Currently there are less than 30 students who regularly attend.
In May 2008 the new school, Aspirations High School, was announced to take over ¼ of the building in September 2008. Aspirations was planned to be a transfer high school (to serve over aged and under credited high school students). The first year was a struggle as I taught at EBC just down the hall from the new school. The entire staff was young and female with most being TFA and no prior education experience.
In June 2009 I was excessed from EBC and agreed to join the faculty at Aspirations.
While there has been some prior tension between the teachers, administration and the CBO (Child Welfare League) with a change in CBO leadership a better working relationship developed. Still the school suffers from low attendance, (just above 50% on average), low graduation and regents passage rates and a significant group that ages out of school before obtaining a diploma. The school received an F for its Progress Report.
Since the announcement of EBC’s phase-out a number of rumors have circulated about the school or program that would take their vacating space. While groups of people would tour the space there was nothing mentioned until I happened to notice on the DOE website that ROADS Charter School was being proposed for the space. This occurred in the middle of March 2011. The notice was dated March 3, 2011.
When I spoke to my principal about it he said that he was against siting a charter in our building but there was nothing that could be done.
The original notice on the web for the Joint Hearing was scheduled for April 14, 2011. Upon information and belief no notice, other than the web posting, was provided to anyone at Aspirations (except the principal). On April 15 an amended notice was published on the website and a paper copied and given to the students. No instruction concerning what was supposed to be done with the paper was ever given and most, if not all of the notices were thrown away. Additionally it was the day before the Spring recess and attendance was well below 50%. There is no function PTA nor SLT at Aspirations. The notices and amendments can be found on http://schools.nyc.gov/community/planning/changes/brooklyn/TransferK894
The UFT Chapter at Aspirations almost unanimously voted against the siting of the proposed Charter School.
ROADS Charter School was fast tracked toward Charter approval. The school is proposed to be a school for “disconnected youth” specializing in students released from incarceration and/or homeless. ROADS is cosponsored by District 79 and Cami Andersen, the superintendent of District 79. Anderson, just announced as the new Superintendent of Newark Schools, sat on the Charter’s School’s Board during its formation. It is not clear what her connection is currently to the school as she does not appear on the EIS list of board members.
It is extremely clear that 1495 Herkimer was chosen by the DOE and ROADS due to the expected lack of political opposition to the school. There is little doubt co-locating this school with a school consisting of a struggling at-risk population will cause great hardship to the current public school.
Disconnected youth should be integrated into their former neighborhood school, not segregated as proposed. Our experience at Community Prep, a public school based on this model should teach us that these schools do not work and harm the communities in which they are situated. Not only will the students at the proposed Charter school be at further risk but we can expect an increase of violence and gang activity in the building.
So, Chris Christie, the grotesques Governor of New Jersey, visits Harvard Graduate School of Education and is embraced as one their own.
If nothing else, the friendly reception that this vicious vulgar clown received from grad students and staff at this pinnacle of higher education provides yet another clear example of how thoroughly and mindlessly liberal institutions have abandoned and betrayed the working people of this country, and how completely and uncritically they have embraced the suicidal, neo-fascist policies of the corporate state.
Central to those polices is the total destruction of labor unions and with them, worker rights. Central to the total destruction of labor unions is the total destruction of America’s teacher unions.
Christie’s reception by these students is especially disturbing because of the fact that their Harvard degrees and the built-in old boy and old gal networks that such degrees provide will just about guarantee these very students will be “fast tracked” into positions of influence and power – that much faster if they’re singing corporate hymns.
Christie and the Harvard Graduate School of Education dwell, apparently in an enviously untroubled, strangely one dimensional and curiously microscopic world.
“Geoff has described it as one of the only days of the year he does not look forward to coming to work,” Harlem Children’s Zone spokesman Marty Lipp said. “It’s a real roller coaster of emotions. It starts off celebratory, with parents shouting and beaming that their kids have gotten in. As we get to the waiting list and the room empties, it gets terribly sad. The parents’ hopes for their kids’ future just crash, and you can see the sadness etched in their faces.”
So why have a public lottery at all? This is a PR stunt and terribly abusive. Besides, there are several studies showing the HCZ results are not that good, despite all the money spent, and many say it is a badly run organization.
Diane Ravitch:
Why not just send a letter in the mail, as Gail Collins suggested after seeing Waiting for Superman? This is a marketing ploy.
The lottery and all of it are marketing ploys, it is so disgusting.
Two things from this article that really send me over the edge:
1. They are acting like this is some big discovery and original concept that our schools, especially in more vulnerable and underserved neighborhoods, should be centers of community. PS 15, my school which was forced to give up its space to a charter, has a medical clinic and dental clinic through our partnership with Lutheran, offers mental health services, ged programs, nutrition and cooking programs, a wrap around partnership w/ Good Shepherd services, etc. The DOE's budget cuts and co-location policies put all of these things at risk and providing these kinds of services and programs to our community has become more and more difficult, even though we have been doing these things for years (except the dental clinic, we were fortunate enough to obtain that about two years ago). In the article they claim this project is a "first for NY"- that is complete BS, there are amazing public schools in NYC, including mine, who do all of these things and are fighting hard to maintain these programs and wish they could do even more. Instead of being supported we are starved and undermined by the DOE.
2. Look at the details of the school that is being built: two story library, dance room, on and on. These are things that are considered shared space or extra space at our public schools and can be taken away from public school children, but yet they are boast worthy when we are talking about HCZ. This same oxymoron exists in our community; the DOE has given PAVE 30 million to build their own state of the art facility with all kinds of "extras" that we have been forced to give away and deprive our children of.
ALL of it, from the instructional footprint, to the lottery, to the so-called waiting lists, to the funding/stealing taxpayer dollars, all of it is nothing more than a scam, a shell game, wrapped up in marketing ploys and the goal is very clearly to transfer our tax dollars, and our public education system, into private and corporate hands. One only need to look at what has happened at PS 15 to know the truth; a school doing everything right, and we were forced to give away the space we uDiane Ravitch:sed for the very services and programs Canada gets rave reviews for as well as millions in matching funds. The only difference is we actually have had an "A" for four years while serving ALL children (with a 37% sp ed population and over 20% ELL population), while Canada serves far less needy children, kicks out the ones who don't make him look good and gets a "C" on his school report card.
It is enough to drive you mad! --
Julie Cavanagh