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MARGIN NOTES
October 19, 2009
PAVE Academy Charter to continue sharing space with P.S. 15
The Department of Education has notified the principals of a Red Hook charter and district school that they will continue to share a building until the charter school secures its own private facility.
In a letter to the principals of PAVE Academy Charter School and P.S. 15, the interim director of the DOE’s Office of Portfolio Planning, Debra Kurshan, writes that the department has determined that both schools can successfully co-exist in the Red Hook building through the 2010-2011 school year.
The schools’ original space-sharing agreement specified that PAVE would move into its own facility after this school year. But the charter school requested a two-year extension to allow its founders more time to build their own building, prompting an emotionally-heated debate over how the schools use their space.
The letter does not specify exactly how long PAVE will continue to share the building with P.S. 15, nor does it address whether or not PAVE will be allowed to admit a new class if it stays in the building next year.
A copy of the letter obtained by GothamSchools is below the jump.
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October 19th, 2009 8:56 pm
New York Charter Parents Association is pleased to hear that the families in Red Hook will continue to have a choice in which public school their children attend. Charter Schools are Public Schools and have every right to share space in a public school building.
As parents, we all want to provide our children with a quality education. We don’t care if it’s a charter, district, magnet or specialized school. All the aforementioned schools are Public Schools! We want our children to be educated and we want to have options in choosing which public schools our precious children attend.
After all, we are the parents and it’s Our Children - Our Choice!
Mona Davids
President
NY Charter Parents Association -
October 19th, 2009 9:34 pm
Space should be shared as long as the whole population of schoolchildren, ELL and Special Ed., are shared in fair numbers throughout the whole system. The kids are not, thus the NYC charter school set-up is unfair and corrupt. While we’re at it, let’s put some money into building more schools, alleviating the space problem, and lowering class size.
Pogue
President
End Bloomberg and Klein’s Dismantling of Public Education Teachers and Parents Association -
October 19th, 2009 9:49 pm
Corrupt?
What if PAVE, a school that accepts students in Kindergarten, is able to apply preventative intervention methods before a student needs an IEP decreasing the school’s SPED numbers? Does this make them corrupt?
Or is a school that immediately demands an IEP of every student who can’t concentrate in class and therefore increases SPED funding to their school corrupt?
I am not insinuating anything about either school, I am just saying that maybe corrupt is not a word that we want to throw around lightly and the definition may depend on your point of view.
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October 19th, 2009 10:13 pm
NYC public school buildings belong to all children, all parents and all citizens of NYC- not special interest groups or self serving and self proclaimed spokespersons. PAVE and other charter schools have been able to maintain shared facilities throughout the city, with few if any problems. Charter schools are no longer an experiment, but rather an established educational program free of bureaucracy in exchange for increased accountability. Their very existence is dependent on student achievement, sound fiscal management and measures not required of the conventional schools. The authorizers, SUNY and SED along with Chancellor Klein determine if their charter will be renewed-not those with their own agendas.
Congratulations to the PAVE community, NYC Charter PA President Mona Davids and Chancellor Klein for putting kids above all others. -
October 19th, 2009 11:24 pm
Dear Houseguest,
We’re really looking forward to your leaving, as indeed you were supposed to have done already. In the meantime, let’s enter into an open-ended contract whereby you can keep raiding the fridge.
Because, when it comes right down to it, it’s (sic) OUR children, and OUR choice of when we leave.
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October 20th, 2009 5:24 am
Okay charter schools…no more lotteries, no more applications, no more attrition, no more small class sizes, no more billionaire donations….Oh, wait a second, Jeez, this sounds like what the rest of NYC public school children have to deal with.
Charters…putting certain kids above all others.
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October 20th, 2009 5:38 am
Mona (a great example of Bloomberg’s army of people who shake down communities … see the video on line.) is not part of the school community… but she screamed her head off at the PS 15 parents, students, and staff community …. this is a leader of Bloomberg? This is what he does to the people of NYC. Very scary.
Oh, those bad words … school community.
The school community of PS 15 has not been included with any part of PAVE entering PS 15 at all. Everything done to PS 15 has been done in back room meetings where deals were made and money exchanged without the public knowledge. Pave has been rammed down the throat of PS 15. There is so much to this story…if there are any caring lawmakers out there….this is real corruption!
But, who cares about school community anymore? Bloombergs mission is to break all communities….even with his re-election bid. The more divided we are…the more NYC will fall.
School community is the core foundation of a school.
But we have Bloomberg/Klein running the show…. NON EDUCATORS! The less community the better for their self serving plans.This is the saddest time for education in NYC and America. May the voters respond and get rid of the charter school mess and corruption that exists in NYC and the President who supports this corruption.
Corruption that is so apparent … and our law makers allow this, sit back and do nothing? We live in a law-less city and country at this time …. it is scary … see what D15 Leadership President has recently said:
“The absence of a formal application by PAVE for the extension coupled with its apparent continued EXPANSION at PS 15 would appear to flagrantly violate the recently enacted amendments to the Education Law which require, among other things, an Educational Impact Statement IN ADVANCE of any “public hearing” as well as an extended public comment period prior to submission to the Panel for Educational Policy BEFORE final approval.
The CEC for District 15 has previously discussed passing a resolution calling for the public process the law requires and I believe, shall do so in the very near future Likewise, I have tentatively raised the question at the last District Leadership Team meeting and a suggestion for such a resolution has been met with an initially favorable response from my colleagues.. More importantly, the District 15 UFT rep was VERY supportive even to the point of hinting at participation of union legal counsel
Meanwhile, this might be especially timely given Bloomberg’s smarmy implication of a “pay to play” operation by Thompson at the last Mayoral debate (for a mere half million dollars). In light of Rachel’s Daily News story documenting the ten million dollars contributed by Spencer’s dad to Klein’s favorite “non-profits” (from which the Chancellor personally benefitted), the gross circumvention of legal process to the advantage of that contributor’s son demonstrates, at a minimum, that the DOE seems far more adept at shaking down people it does business with than Thompson supposedly is.”
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Jim Devor -
October 20th, 2009 8:32 am
This is what it boils down to Our Children and Our Choice!! Public City schools belongs to Our children it has nothing to do with Staff members! Only the Parents have the opinion and to be heard! This is an ongoing process that is happening all over NYC. We as parents need to come together for the sake of our children and their education. What needs to be stopped is the negativity that is going on and the false accusations. We as parents in the community need to come together and do whats best for our children and learn from one another regardless of the situation. I’m very pleased to to know that Pave has been approved for another two more years or whatever the footprint from DOE says. Let’s just get united and go on in life..
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October 20th, 2009 10:00 am
“Fish and guests stink after 3 days”
Benjamin Franklinimagine what 2 years has been like. Why does everyone assume that the people who are against the PAVE extension are not FOR children? That is the main reason for the fight! Nor are we “protecting pur jobs” as so many people seem to think. We will have our jobs regardless of whether PAVE stays at PS 15 or doesn’t. We are acting on behalf of the children…all children. Children have a right to an education, a free, fair, and public education. Not an education that is fostered and carried on the shoulders of backdoor dealings, less qualified staff members, and unmeasured “success”. Where was the public hearng? Where is the due process? Where in the transparency? it was paid to disappear. From cash to custodial staff to tend to PAVE issues first to baseless extensions. Also, Mr. Robertson, how very nice for you that at the meeting a few weeks ago you made your grand announcement that a building had been found and was in contract. Interesting that that “building has failed to go through again. Its been 2 years, where is the site for your building that is being built from the ground up? your would think that sfter 2 years you would have at least broken ground? No? Odd indeed?
It is a sad day in Red Hook when an evelope of cash can destroy a community and chip away at our democratic freedoms. A very sad day when a man handing out free blue tshirts can buy your intetgrity. -
October 20th, 2009 10:24 am
Our Children — Our Churlishness ???
Is it even possible any more to separate Charter Supporters from Space Stealers? Or Charter Supporters from teacher-bashing Union Busters?
The city-wide epidemic of school-splitting, community-splitting, privateers and travelling shills must be called out. The faux grass-rootsiness pave-it-over “astroturfers” that are the field soldiers of the Bloomberg /Klein “vision” for New York City must be stopped.
One BUILDING !
One SCHOOL !!
One COMMUNITY !!!“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
– Honest Abe -
October 20th, 2009 11:07 am
Wow, this is amazing. So much hate, anger and false accusations.
All children deserve a quality education. Parents also deserve to have a choice of public schools for their kids. PAVE parents live in Red Hook. Red Hook is their community. PS15 and PAVE are sharing a public school building.
Why shouldn’t the parents of Red Hook have public school choices? Red Hook is a predominantly Black and Hispanic community. Charter Schools which are Public Schools are closing the racial achievement gap. Why shouldn’t Black and Hispanic parents have access to a school choice that has a proven track record of closing the racial achievement gap?
Yes, President Barack Obama supports charter schools because he knows they are closing the racial achievement gap. So, now our President is corrupt too because he supports giving parents public school choices?
PS15 and PAVE parents both want their children to receive a quality education. They deserve public school choices.
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October 20th, 2009 11:29 am
Stargate,
Points well taken.
Kids and parents deserve quality public schools. On this I believe we can all agree. -
October 20th, 2009 9:45 pm
Stargate says … Wow, this is amazing. So much hate, anger and false accusations.
Yes, alot of hate, alot of anger but false accusations? No …only lies by Spencer. His father and the mayor can buy all of Red Hook with less than a snap of a finger. There are so many places for sale to build on. 2 years and not even an address to share? Absolutely nothing! He lied and will continue to lie at public forums. This is the person NYS Ed and Klein support?
That is what parents want teaching their children? He is a leader? This is what the mayor allows? This is what our president supports? Is is shameful. A regular public school principal would be called on the carpet for this…. oh but not the charter schools. They can just about do whatever they want.Can stargate outline the false accusations? Please do, many would love to hear it … but it would only be more lies. But, please do so. Let’s hear what you have to say.
The truth is the truth. Even many reporters ignore it …. not all but many.
But, we all know who is paying and controlling them. (that includes moaning mona)PAVE was shoved down the throat of PS 15 hook, line and sinker!
That is what the mayor and Klein have done to many poor communities.
That is where the hate and anger comes from.Nobody at PS 15 asked for this.
How about someone tell PAVE to get out of the extra space they now have?
Ahh, to turn the tide. And they mayor is giving them more… more to people who lie.This is our democracy… or really the end of democracy.
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October 20th, 2009 9:56 pm
Ms. Davids……perhaps you can best support our precious children by curbing your language and racist comments (that you made on a previous blog)…and by resigning as President of The NY Charters Parents Association. And…..to the NY Parents Charter Association: This is the person you choose to represent you?…SHAME ON YOU….
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October 21st, 2009 12:51 am
Jim u speak about breaking and dividing the community. But honestly the only ones doing this are people who don’t understand and don’t want to understand it’s time for change. How can a charter school break a community? You opposers of Charter schools for whatever your reasons have turned this space issue into a hate issue. How sad. What’s worse is what we are teachin our children. My child is 6 & has had to hear so much negativity coming from other children just because he goes to PAVE to get an EDUCATION just like evey other child.
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October 21st, 2009 5:08 am
When dishonorable politicians and greedy privileged oligarchs attempt to steamroll the general population for the good of the few, anger will naturally ensue.
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October 21st, 2009 5:48 am
It is more than a little disingenuous for charter schools, their supporters and enablers to enjoy advantages - massive private funding and PR campaigns, hidden subsidies from the DOE, ignoring of their student creaming, attrition and teacher turnover, etc. - denied public schools, to lie and grab public facilities, and then become sanctimonious when the offended parties respond, especially when those injured parties represent the overwhelming majority of stakeholders in the public education system. Please spare us your mock outrage.
What is happening to public schools in cities across the nation is nothing less than the hostile takeover, inevitably leading to wholesale looting, of a public good and public right. Those charter school parents (or so-called, since they rarely identify themselves, leading the more cynical among us to question whether they are ringers for the DOE and privateers) who continue to insist on their right to “cut their own deal” for their children at the expense of others, should show less faux outrage when people refuse to thank them for the honor of getting screwed.
Part of the viciousness, and tactical brilliance, of the move to charters is that the private interests that share an unacknowledged responsibility for the problems the public schools have faced for decades (inadequate funding, capital flight from communities, etc.) are manipulating the justified frustrations of parents to serve their own interests. In other words, those who should take a major portion of the blame for the sad state of education in this country have magically been allowed to position themselves as its savior, using parents as part of the wedge to do it. And I must admit, it is an infernally good method, especially when backed by the resources of our local, state and federal-supported oligarchy.
I’ve learned from bitter experience over the years that when you defend yourself against sociopaths, you are accused of being the SOB. Well, sorry, but we’re going to call you on it every time.
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October 21st, 2009 6:23 am
…on second thought, Ms.Davids……Don’t resign. With you at the helm, the demise of charter schools and all of the corruption and unfairness that accompanies them will happen sooner than we’d hoped!
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October 21st, 2009 12:20 pm
Memo to vitriolic anti-charter screamers: Narrow your focus a bit to the facts. You won’t get anywhere in a democracy (yes, this is still a democracy and there is an election coming up, and an oligarchy would be rule by an elite few…I hardly feel that Monserrate and Espada constitute an elite; we have more low-lifes in government right now than Rockefellers) spitting angry chatter except raise the volume of the argument.
@Stargate Response: You might have a real point to make about Robertson et al., but it’s lost in your vitriol against Stargate. I won’t speak for Stargate but I will say that there are a lot more accusations than JUST the ones that MIGHT have merit being thrown around in these comments! And it is those to which I believe Mr. or Ms. Stargate is speaking.
Pogue, do you have public meetings for your club?
And finally, all schools are houseguests because guess who is the landlord? Like it or not, Mr. Klein. PS x doesn’t own the PS x building, the DOE does…
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October 21st, 2009 3:07 pm
KS,
Points well taken.Note there’s plenty of rhetoric on both sides of this DOE-fostered cage fight.
Re the Charter-Chancellor as landlord… Say you’re a tenant. Does the landlord have a right to assign you a new apartment mate? And yes, I know we’re beating this analogy to death.
One Building !
One School !!
One Community !!! -
October 21st, 2009 5:17 pm
Memo to KS
Re: Schools owned by the DOE, et al.,On the contrary, they are owned by the people of the City of New York.
As for the elections that you seem to think belie my charge of oligarchy, I’d point out that Stalinist Russia and Baathist Iraq had regular elections, also. It’s typical for autocrats to want validation from the vulgar masses they feel such contempt for. You accuse us of ignoring facts, while failing to refute anything we say.
Do you really think that an election where a candidate spends one hundred million dollars of his own money, a substantial chunk of which is “philanthropic donations” to non-profits and CBOs - aka hush money - constitutes a healthy democracy? Since you apparently do, please contact me: I have some mortgage-backed securities I’d like to sell you.
And once more, please spare us the self-righteousness concerning our - alleged, by you - inappropriate tone: when people’s rights and resources are being stolen, they have a right to be angry, and they have a responsibility to call the privateers and their enablers out on it.
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October 21st, 2009 5:32 pm
Still failing to see the “stealing” of public resources for public school children…
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October 21st, 2009 6:03 pm
As is your conscious choice.
If you and your cohorts refuse to see how private corporations - which is what charter schools undisputedly are - are allowed to grab space in public facilities, with virtually no oversight or accountability to local communities or elected officials, then you are either in denial or being intellectually dishonest.
Charter schools are funded by the public but managed and controlled by private entities. When these private entities are given materially preferential treatment at the expense of the overwhelming majority of stakeholders in the educational system, that’s theft. You can try and cover it up with all the feel-good rhetoric you like, but facts are stubborn and they are unchanged by PR, propaganda or self-serving denial.
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October 21st, 2009 7:16 pm
We, parents and educators of PS 15 students, would like to ask the DOE, Spencer Robertson, Chancellor Klein and Bloomberg: Exactly what should our kids give up? We are facing a space crisis- we don’t care what the fake building capacity numbers say- all you have to do is take a walk through PS 15 to see that we are packed to the gills and giving up more space will have a negative affect on our children. There was no walk through, no opportunity for PS 15 to present the facts as they pertain to space and the negative impact on our students instruction and experiences. This is criminal.
To the person who talked about charter schools being a means to lessen special education students- you are right that this is the goal, which came out of one of the main educational conferences of politicians and corporations a few years ago (one of their goals was to eliminate special education and ell services). Where you are mistaken is that this is a good thing. There are students who need related services, small classes and specialized teachers and classes to meet their needs. What charter schools, particularly PAVE, are doing to children w/ special needs (changing their IEPs at will to make them fit into their school blueprint, not for the child’s benefit, but for their lagging numbers) is an outrage and flat out bad for kids.
Finally, to those who continue to call charter schools public schools that are proven and no longer experiments: private interests run charter schools and they use public money to do it. That is defined as corruption, not public. Additionally, all of the so-called studies that support the success of charter schools are written by those w/ an agenda or an economics background- this is not undisputed research and we venture to say, it is invalid research.
We will continue to fight for our children, even in the face of Robertson’s billions and power, because we care about our kids. If time does unfold to reveal that in fact PAVE will remain at PS 15, at the very least they should not be able to expand. No one argues w/ parent choice, PAVE’s right to exist, or that there needs to be a place for the existing PAVE students and their families, but it should not be at the expense of the more than 350 children and families that chose PS 15. -
October 21st, 2009 10:15 pm
Michael, please remember that New York State charter law specifically mentions that charter schools may be housed in public school buildings. It has said so since 1998, when it was enacted. This is NYS education law.
“Virtually no oversight or accountability to elected officials”? Charters undergo a good deal more scrutiny than district public schools. Last time I checked, the a majority of the (albeit corrupt and awful) NYS legislature voted to continue mayoral control. The mayor, although he rammed his way into eligibility for a third term, DOES after all have to win an election.
And charters, which indeed are PUBLIC schools run by PRIVATE, NOT-FOR-PROFIT corporations which are incorporated by the Board of Regents, only seat 3.5% of NYC public school students. So Bloomberg is putting his eggs in a pretty paltry basket if this is his way of buying an election.
CA: Do you care to share any more details about this shadowy but main educational conference from a few years back? The charter conferences I’ve been to include workshops on better serving special education and ELL students, not eliminating them.
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October 21st, 2009 10:21 pm
Michael, it appears that you are an egocentric person nwho gets tremendous satisfaction attacking others and trying to impress them with your vocabularly. It’s too bad that your knowledge on this topic is so limited. There was a chance that you would make sense if you only knew something about the subject.
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October 21st, 2009 10:24 pm
It should be known that Mona Davids receives exactly $0 for her time, effort and courage on behalf of charter parents and kids. Yes Michael, there are some people who really care and want to make a difference. I’m sure Mona would be glad if you wanted to contribute to the NYC Charter Parents Association, since to date, she has personally covered all expenses.
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October 21st, 2009 10:58 pm
DoE teachers, at the direction of those who pull their leash would do better to realize that the benefit of charters is the exchange for increased accountability for decreased bureaucracy. There is more oversight on charters than conventional schools. Charters do not have the option of becoming SURR schools, re-organized schools or other slaps on the wrist while generation after generation of inner city minority kids lose their future. Look at the waiting list to have a child in a charter school. The only thing that is to be feared is fear itself. Competition is healthy, choice makes this country great.
Michael, based on your limited knowledge, you wouldn’t last a week as a charter teacher. Spend some time in my shoes, in my neighborhood and then talk. -
October 22nd, 2009 5:17 am
I think charters would be great…After the other 96.5% of the NYC schoolchildren receive lower class sizes, a quiet/safe school environment, financial support of arts, sports, and other diverse fields of study, and a comfortable/non-crowded space with which to do all this in. If it can’t be done then there is no accountability to this mayor or chancellor. If there are waiting lists to get into charters, then it exposes how miserably Bloomberg and Klein have failed. Charters are the answer when leaders lack intelligence and creativity.
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October 22nd, 2009 5:30 am
Oh, forgot one thing…. you said PAVE is full of Red Hook children …. then please share how you figure that. What are all the school buses doing outside your school every morning?
Charter schools really do pass the buck. Come to think of it … it is Bloomberg/Klein who are passing the buck … (opps, in more ways than one)
Is it really about choice. After viewing the charter school…. I do not really see a difference except for a uniform and money for the latest technology … so where is the difference?
If I got to pick the kids for a school…and those kids mainly were the highest ranking kids anyway .. why would my school not succeed? I would easily be able to say my kids scored higher than a REAL school.
This whole charter school push is bunk! Hey, there are many bridges to sell in NYC too! It is amazing how the politicians push for this. They do not want to take the responsibility either?
Let’s pass it onto someone else … -
October 22nd, 2009 5:41 am
60’s Radical,
As an alumnus of the NYC public schools - who has deep personal experience of how awful they can be - a public school parent and public high school teacher for over twelve years, I dispute your claim that my knowledge is limited, and I particularly challenge your claim that I somehow “don’t care.” I could introduce you to many hundreds of students who would be glad to enlighten you about the kind of teacher I am. This goes likewise for the overwhelming majority of NYC public school teachers.
As for your claims about the sacrifices that Ms. Davids is making on behalf of “inner city minority kids” - who, in contrast to the Orwellian language of corporate ed deform, my colleagues and I have been committed to educating for years, unlike the overwhelming majority of missionaries and mercenaries who have entered the field recently - a quick bit of research shows that she is the head of Azania Holdings, which is describes itself as involved in “business development,” “strategic investment,” “marketing” and “branding.” Which is exactly what the push for charters is all about. Azania Holding focuses on South Africa, which has endured the widespread privatization of public resources that is one of the hallmarks of neo-liberalism.
Some people recognize a great business opportunity when they it, I guess, and are investing accordingly.
As for the so-called “competition” that you say charters provide, this is just a buzzword used by the market fundamentalists who are the driving force behind school privatization. Exactly what kind of “competition” is it when urban public education is starved for resources for decades - a fact upheld by the NYS Court of Appeals in the CFE case - attacked by those with financial and ideological biases against it, falsely accused of being responsible for social ills that it has little or no responsibility for, and then forced to “compete” with selective schools that are supported by an interlocking network of corporate, foundation, think tank, academic and media support?
If you think that’s fair competition, I’d hate to have you referee my kid’s soccer game.
The ongoing financial crisis - which is being used to accelerate school privatization - is largely a product of the market fundamentalism that is driving the spread of charter schools. Of course some of them are good schools, and of course they are staffed by hard-working and well-meaning people, and of course they serve parents who legitimately want the best for their children. But that is not why the financial elite of this country is so busy pushing them; after all, where were these people when the schools and the communities they serve were being hollowed out? Oh, right, they were busy making money, lobbying to lower income and capital gains taxes, and sending their own kids to private schools.
No, charters are being forced down our throats because vouchers, the original vehicle for school privatization, had such bad PR. Charters have been presented with the soothing language of the civil rights movement, along with staged photo ops of plutocrats posing with adorable minority children, while they simultaneoulsy create a separate-and unequal educational system.
If things continue on their present rapid course, we will wake up one day soon and ask where public education went in this country. And not long after that, the small mom-and-pop charters will find themselves under the gun, and will be either forced to close, consolidate or merge with the big chains, as investors and “change agents” force them to scale up. That’s the logic of the business model.
After the schools have been privatized, that will leave Social Security as the last major public good to be the target of a hostile takeover. And then we will will truly enter the brave new world of your Free Market Utopia: private schools serving the narrow labor market demands of private corporations, private prisons, private armies, private law enforcement guarding private, gated communities, all subsidized with public money.
Yes, it does take a lot of courage to stand up for the interests of the rich and powerful, doesn’t it? But someone’s gotta do it.
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October 22nd, 2009 10:49 am
Michael F.,
Thanks. Not sure if ’60s Radical meant F. or M.Not sure what part of growing up in the ’60s in Berkeley I missed. Evidently the part about privatizing government functions and letting for-profit corporations educate our kids.
I might be off by a few years, but circa 1860’s, I believe the then-radical notion was that government should educate our kids. Nearly a hundred years later it took Brown v Board of Ed to apply that to ALL of them equally.
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October 22nd, 2009 10:51 pm
Mike F… BRAVO!
They think we can’t see the truth behind the this movement, but we can, and we will fight for our kids because that is what we do, what we have always done, and what we will continue to do. The Mona Davids of the world, those out for personal gain, but cynically claim they are for the good of the kids and play the race card at that, come- but thankfully go- eventually their greed catches up with them and the illusion they have created reveals itself to others. The truth behind this movement will come out eventually (in no small part to informative statements such as yours), it is just a shame that so many have to suffer in the meantime.
To Kitchen Sink: I do care to share more details about this conference that I spoke of. The first one happened in 1989 under Bush #1, led by Bill Clinton, not a single teacher, parent, or student was invited- but lots of corporations were. Another in 1996, led by Tommy Thompson, no stakeholders, but lots of corporations. These conferences, that include corporations as the stakeholders in education, came out of Nation At Risk (under Regan) (which by the way, he was against until he saw its political promise). Nation At Risk basically rebranded education as an economic issue and led to the mountains of myths about public education that exist today. I have to dig in my files to send you the exact reference I made above (I have an article on file that lists specific points inlcuding the one I mentioned) from one of the more recent of these government-corporate education conferences. There is nothing shadowy about what I am referencing, but of course you want to minimize any truth that would expose the real intent behind the charter school movement. At the end of the day, I wonder if this all just isn’t an exercise in wasting my time… like you really are interested in hearing anything. Also, my understanding of NYS charter law is that only in NYC are charters allowed to have access to public space…? Also, not all charters are non-profit and I certainly wouldn’t classify school leaders making $350,000 in line with the philosophy of non-profits either. I strongly disagree that charters undergo more accountabilty than public schools, but we will just have to agree to disagree. In terms of Bloomberg, yes it is true that his stolen third term only happens by vote- however, when you have spent as much as he has, driving any viable candidate out of the race while brainwashing half the city and discouraging the rest, it is pretty easy to win. That is why an opposition vote for Thompson is what many of us will cast on November 3rd. -
October 23rd, 2009 6:07 am
Wow,
Michael … you have gotten to the core. You will have no one from the charter school side commenting anymore. How could they argue now?Where is the UFT? I recently spoke to a friend at another nearby school. The teacher said the district UFT rep was there and said NOTHING about the pain and suffering that is happening at another school so close. WHY? Nothing in the UFT papers and no one is talking about it to rally or at least let other real public school teachers know about the fight that is going on and the threat to our profession.
The teacher said, “remember when Randi said all charters would have union teachers?” I told him that is not happening on the scale that was promised.
The charters are out to break the union … why would they encourage their workers to join?
What is also sad, our politicians and our own union are slapping all real public school teachers in the face. We have worked hard to learn our profession. We have meet the state requirements that they set and now charters hire people who have the least experience, few with a masters degree. It is a slap in the face because we as teachers do not deserve any protection, any chance at fairness in the work place. They plan to use statistics against all teachers for not performing. Yes, it is true, this is a measure and should be used to guide best practice. The problem is, the statistics do not take into account the most important teacher and influence on a child’s education - the parents.
I wonder, will colleges end their education programs? It does not seem to be a very big priority to work in a charter school. And with Bloomberg … it is just business. Some places and countries honor their teachers. We teachers who care, have given their life to the kids, families and to the profession, are being given the shaft by any one who pushes for charter schools.
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