GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Mail Bag

June 12, 2009

Warning against a “halt” to “progress,” Duncan sent letter Monday

by Anna Phillips, at 5:38 pm

In a two-page letter sent to the Citizens Union Monday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered a stern warning that placing restrictions on mayoral control could “turn back the clock and halt progress” and have “profoundly negative consequences for New York City’s students.”

We reported yesterday that Duncan had sent such a letter, but at the time U.S. Department of Education officials wouldn’t confirm that the letter existed. That changed a few minutes ago when an official e-mailed it over.

The full text of the letter is after the jump.

Print Print
  • http://edintheapple peter

    I am disappointed at the Citizens’ Union … rather than reaching out to their readers and/or contributors they seem to havr succumbed to pressure frm Arne … the only way I can punish them is to cease my contribution … which I encourage others to do …

  • Michael M.

    Wowzers — a good government group that responds to pressure from those IN government who want to further consolidate their grip on power?

    “[Guess Who] acknowledges that there were votes of conscience today, on both sides of the issue, but there were also convoluted and changing votes of political expediency, which reflects poorly on those whose votes changed or resulted in them being on both sides of the issue.”

    http(colon)//www(dot)citizensunion(dot)org/www/cu/site/hosting/Statements/TermLimits1023.html

    Irony ain’t dead yet folks.

  • Emily

    I am so dissapointed in Arne Duncan. I think he’s almost forgotten we live in a democracy. The point of our government is that there are checks and balances, so why should education be lead by a dictator? In Duncan’s third paragraph he says straight out the problem with fixed term limits for those on the PEP is that there might be a disagreement with the mayor. How can he not see there’s something wrong with saying that the point of the PEP is only to agree with exactly what the mayor says? How can he think that’s okay?

  • Insider Knowledge

    A Mayor who thwarts the will of the people and a federal agency mandating education policy which is a clear violation of the constitution. Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave.

  • Pingback: Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky’s blog

Take the GothamSchools Survey

Tips, questions, feedback?

Contact us at .

Follow GothamSchools

RSS

Recently Posted Jobs

Chalk It Up

Recent Comments

0 comments so far today
View all comments »

Events Calendar

RSS Feeds

Newsroom posts Community posts All GothamSchools content

Our Twitter Updates

  • Several readers have asked us to change our site so that external links open in a new browser tab. Anyone disagree? Anyone agree? 11 hrs ago
  • 12 NYC schools on @Newsweek's list of best 1,000 American high schools (not the same as last week's list): http://t.co/1tqx9o2C 12 hrs ago
  • Dennis Walcott runs, sings in a church choir, and makes the week's meals on Sundays: "I can do everything except sew." http://t.co/vVOBRp5G 16 hrs ago
  • @JBrownDPost: surprised to see that federal gov. doesn't have a way of deciding "what worked" for the SIG schools over 3 yrs process. #EWA12 1 day ago
  • .@tkonz: Of 18 SIG schools, only about 4 teachers were recruited from strong schools because they "wanted to be part of a big change" #EWA12 1 day ago
  • More updates...

Archives

May 2012
M T W T F S S
« Apr  
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Copyright Notice