There is only one thing to be said….
…show us the new building…. we know where the money is going.

With a dad meeting Bill Gates, Oprah, Buffet … to discuss giving away their billions in fortune magazine …. the poor son of a b (billionaire) can’t get 50 million from his billionaire dad and friends to make a a little school building for himself? The president gave the state 700 million, can’t he get some of that taxpayer money? The city had 26 million in an account for him already of taxpayer money. Where did that go? Anyone checking this? NOPE!

Do they really think we are all a. holes? What a bunch of horse manure. Bloomberg, and puppets Klein, the DOE, the PEP … tell us we have to believe it? Since these people control the media … no one knows or cares. Even the politicians are all bought out. WOW, America …. with liberty and justice for the few.

What is really sad… now the title of Pave as last heard … “the black school of red hook.” That is a terrible name. The segregation of charters and lack of integration…this is their charter? That is something we as a country fought to abolish years ago and now it is back? Thank God for PS 15 … even more today than ever.

Spencer and his prejudiced school administration think they are in Red Hook to “save the poor minority children.” Why can’t the parents at PAVE see them for what they are: a bunch of lying undercover racists who talk down to their own student’s parents & shut them out of the parent involvement equation. Name one successful school charter, DOE, catholic or private school without real parent involvement? NONE. Hello PAVE: Without parents you have no students. No students = no school.

How many more students & teachers will leave PAVE after this school year? How many have left since the school opened a year ago?

Everyone in the community is talking about it! The lie to families with children who have special needs and take them in knowing they can’t give them the services they need. The school doesn’t want parents involved. Their teachers are treated like modern day slaves without a voice – forced to work longer hours and made to feel less than professional.

This is why so many charter schools are anti-union and anti-PTA. The parents who have come to their senses and left the school will tell you the truth… just ask them. They have nothing to fear. Their children can’t be mistreated for speaking out!

Co-Location ruins communities. It is tearing Red Hook apart!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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 !!!

@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…