Post a comment about the budget cuts at your school on our interactive comment map. more »
GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools
in their words
June 11, 2009
Parent activists feel “sucked down a vortex” on mayoral control
Here’s a good barometer of the mood this morning among parent activists who were fighting mayoral control, via an e-mail I just got from one of them:
We parents feel like we’re being sucked down a vortex here. Any chance you would consider calling assemblymembers and asking them point blank if they support fixed terms for the PEP? A week ago that looked like it was in at least. Please, please, please?
Silver’s plan, announced to lawmakers last night and leaked to the Times, does not include fixed terms for members of the citywide school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy.
Another sign of growing frustration: Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters and a leader among the parent activists, has these frank remarks about teachers union president Randi Weingarten in a City Hall News interview this week:
CH: What do you make of UFT President Randi Weingarten’s change of heart about mayoral control?
LH: I find it very disappointing. I don’t think she’s looking out for the real interests of the teachers, who overwhelmingly in surveys have expressed their dissatisfaction with Joel Klein and the current system. They are as concerned as parents with overcrowding, excessive class sizes and the fact that our schools are being turned into test-prep factories. This is really diminishing their ability to do their job effectively, and they have expressed that in many ways, in many forums.
Other parents criticized Weingarten’s position on mayoral control last week.
Meanwhile, Billy Easton, a director of the Campaign for Better Schools, remains optimistic. “There is no bill yet; there is still time to fix some of the shortcomings,” Easton said in a statement e-mailed out just now. The statement says Silver’s plan fails to strengthen the citywide school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, and fails to add in enough parental involvement.
-
June 11th, 2009 2:52 pm
This is complete idiocy. I’m a parent and I have no problem with Mayoral control. None whatsoever. Parents don’t run schools and they don’t decide on or implement educational policy. I have two jobs I work to support my family and I want to speak out on this pop-cockery that parents should be in charge of anything involving schools. My son’s school let’s me know when they need my participation and I’ve written many letters in support of not having his school’s budget cut. Those are my rights and responsibilities as a citizen. This whole “parental say” argument is a guise for some kind of teacher union chicanery, plain and simple.
-
June 11th, 2009 3:55 pm
I agree with this Dissenter chap. Why on earth should the bootless and unhorsed have any say whatsoever in the education of their children? Rabble need to be guided with a firm hand, and Mikey Bloomberg is just the man to do it, by Jove.
I also agree it’s union chicanery, and this Randi Weingarten woman is only pretending to support Mikey, while in secret she’s plotting to ask for more money for those awful teachers, who are always blathering on about one thing or another. Frankly, they make me ill with their demands of lower class sizes, and time off for this and that.
Fire them all, I say, and give them something to really complain about. And as for the rabble, we’ll train them to do what needs to be done. No more of this namby-pamby mollycoddling.
-
June 11th, 2009 4:26 pm
Dissenter,
According to popular wisdom, we live in a democracy. If you don’t want to participate and have a say in how your tax dollars are spent and how future citizens are made, fine; no one is forcing you.
But, I and most parents I know (not to mention total strangers who stop me in supermarkets on the train, etc. when they see my MORE TEACHING, LESS TESTING button) are VERY concerned about what’s going on in the schools and OUTRAGED that they, their city council members, etc. are apparently COMPLETELY powerless to effect change. Last time I checked, that was not a hallmark of democracy.
And, you seem to really have it in for the teachers’ union, Dissenter. To be frank, it kind of makes you sound like a nutty conspiracy theorist: everything appears to be the fault of the teachers’ union in your worldview. Wait! Are they the reason my bus came late this afternoon? I mean, I’m not a teacher, but they do sound scary powerful.
-
June 11th, 2009 4:37 pm
KK — I read this blog pretty often, and it’s well documented how much the teachers’ union spends tens upon tens of millions of dollars to pad the coffers of elected officials (who are of course “campaigning” but never have an opponent) and other so called “parents groups.” So I am not just making this up. So yeah, I see the “Democracy” in action. And let’s get real, this is my second child through the school system. That old thing they used to call a “community school board” where I live WAS A BIG JOKE. I’m just glad that ended that chicanery. I seem to call that the old “community superintendent” here also went to JAIL after having steered an IT contract for her personal benefit. She then showed up to court in a wheelchair claiming she shouldn’t be jailed. Oh yeah, THAT’s the kind of school system that served my first child so well. I’m plenty involved in my son’s school. They reach out to me when they need me, otherwise I don’t get involved. I’m so glad you all have so much time on your hands to sit at all these parent council meetings talking about a bunch of nothing and of course, complaining as is legendary sport in NYC. I like Mayor Bloomberg. I’m glad he’s got control of the schools. When something goes wrong, at least I know to whom I can complain. Just doing that years ago was a task in and of itself.
-
June 11th, 2009 4:59 pm
Dissenter…you sound like a parent Bloomberg could use on his PEP committee. Are you good at checking your Blackberry while people are talking?
-
June 11th, 2009 5:53 pm
Dissenter -
Pardon me, but I couldn’t help notice those 12 minutes between post and your comment appearing.
P.S. Chicanery does come to mind — but not concerning MOST of the earnest commenters on this site. -
June 11th, 2009 10:10 pm
Dissenter–The issue is not that parents should run schools, but neither should bureaucrats and lawyers who know nothing about education or the needs of children. Mayoral control has given them the freedom to ignore the input not only of parents who know when their is a problem with their children, but of professional educators–teachers and administrators–not to mention ignoring state and city laws when it suits them. It has also given them the power to award no-bid contracts, spend tax dollars on all kinds of programs with dubious value, including obsessive high-stakes testing, and on and on.
As a parent who objects to the way our education system has become distorted, I object to everything being attributed to the teachers union. They have their issues, but I have mine–our children and their education!
-
June 11th, 2009 11:15 pm
Nice job dissenter…no facts, sneering dismissal of everyone who may have an idea, less information and a lot of ‘chicanery” on your part. Keep up the good work, you add so much to the conversation.
-
June 12th, 2009 10:00 am
Dissenter is on Bloomie’s payroll. He/she is another person who really knows nothing about what is really happening in the schools.
-
June 12th, 2009 1:12 pm
Huh, that’s pretty much what happens here. No one wants to have a debate about policy — if you don’t like someone’s viewpoint, you just say that they are “on Bloomie’s payroll.” Face facts, there are parents like me who like Mayor Bloomberg, in fact a lot of people like him because he was elected by a landslide last time around, and I’m glad that he has control of the school system. None of the arguments against Mayor Bloomberg’s control of the school system hold water considering the old system and considering the other countervailing parties, such as these fake “parent groups” or the teacher’s union, and they DEFININTELY don’t have my son’s best interest in mind. What’s in place is not perfect, but it is 100 times better than what used to be when the teacher’s union ran the school system and claimed that it was working in the kids interest. Fat chance of that.
-
June 12th, 2009 2:25 pm
Dissenter,
Closing your ears to the voices of the vast majority of your fellow parents — who happen not only to disagree with your position, but continue to make their case OVER POLICY with extensive documentation — is your prerogative.But that doesn’t make any of them shills or fakes as you continuously allege.
And NO ONE is arguing for a return to the old system. It’s a “straw man.” THAT’s the argument that doesnt’ “hold water.”
Let’s move on. Now then, which policy would you like to discuss — that you think more parental input would jeopardize?
-
June 12th, 2009 3:40 pm
Michael M< I don’t believe any policy can be “jeopardized” by more parental input. But it’s clear from the original post above that “input” is not being sought by these “parent groups.” They want control. And I don’t agree with that. I think the Mayor should control the school system AND determine and set its policies. You do not. That is where we disagree. As I said, my son’s school seeks my input when they need it and I give it to them, even sometimes when they don’t ask. They ask me to write letters against school budget cuts and I’m on a listserv that tells me about district issues, other PTA issues, and such. Yes, I’m quite informed. But I’m also not under the delusion that I control the school system. The very idea’s preposterous.
-
June 12th, 2009 4:07 pm
I’m fine with your last comment.
The Parent Commission wants a “Partnership” due to the littany of well-documented pitfalls of the last seven years. There’s nothing “preposterous” about it. It’s may be pioneering and even “Solomonic,” but it’s modest from a national perspective.* To whit: In many cities, We The People elect a School Board, which sets policy, and which in turn hires a Superintendent to implement. Budgets get haggled out with the Mayor and City Council.
To your points as a laudably participating parent, Mayoral Control is not so much about what happens within a school walls so much as what the current regime is doing outside those school walls on a systemic and systematic basis. I have no doubt that Bloomberg and Klein encourage parent involvement in the schools; my objection is they want parent input LIMITED to their local school. Easy examples: Has any of our letter writing restored the 5% budget cut? Provided adequate school construction in the Capital Plan? (** crickets **)
* $1 says you modify your stance after reading the proposal:
http(colon)//gothamschools(dot)org/2009/03/13/parent-commission-reduce-mayor%e2%80%99s-board-appointees-to-three/ -
June 12th, 2009 4:31 pm
Michael M as to your last comment no, I still think that my son’s school will lose its after school program next year and no, school financing is not adequate, but listening to the chirps on this blog, you’d think that money grows on trees. I assure everyone that it does not. Has anyone heard that there’s a recession going on and NYC has lost hundreds of thosands of jobs (including my husband’s)? Reading the post on here seemingly not?
-
June 12th, 2009 4:40 pm
D,
I am NOT naive, and certainly not about the economy.But school construction can be funded by bonds. Due to Tweed’s denial of a school space crunch, they’re BLOWING money out of the OPERATING budget to cover LEASED space. And the state doesn’t share the cost of leases. Total waste.
And we are talking about a mayor willing to pump $1.5B (I was mistaken when I wrote $1B earlier) into a new police academy covering 35 acres.
It’s not about the economy… when you see priorities such as these. It’s about policy. It’s about a billionaire log-rolling both the city council and non-billionaire rivals to stay on, and a pro-charter antitrust attorney deciding what’s best for our kids.
It’s about the usurping of democracy in New York City.
-
June 16th, 2009 8:40 pm
[...] parent activists are expressing concern and frustration regarding the proposed bill which they think still gives the mayor too much [...]
Leave a Reply
Mapping the Budget Cuts
16 Comments
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack