The responses to the overcrowding were truly absurd. But no matter what question was asked—problems with servicing special ed kids; children in need of psychological counseling, lateness, poor attendance, unrealistic goals, the answers would have still been a slap in the face and pasta would still be a major issue.

That’s a great point. And the disparity between how charters and neighborhood schools are treated grows larger and more outrageous on a daily basis. This administration seems to display a consistent indifference to the fate of neighborhood schools, be they struggling, improving or excellent.

Personally, I can’t think of anything that adds value to a neighborhood more than a great public school. And despite the PEP’s apparent priorities, you rarely hear about people moving to be closer to the neighborhood pizzeria.

But there are no shifts in elementary schools, and these kids are attending their zoned schools — it has nothing to do with parental choice. This makes no sense. Which does not differentiate these statements from anything else he says, of course.

It think it is worth noting that when I asked Chancellor Klein and Deputy Chancellor Nadelstern how many more kids they stuffed into Francis Lewis, Stuyvesant and all the Manhattan public schools that have 28 in Kindergarten instead of 25 this year they would not respond except to say that 1) parents want their kids to go to those schools so they have to oblige them and 2) the schools can always add extra shifts.

I suspect that if charter schools were forced to take kids to the point where their class sizes and building utilizations matched those of popular public schools there wouldn’t be any waiting lists. But “accountability” is only for teachers and students. So the Bloomberg administration can overcrowd public schools to point where they fail while carefully sheltering the charters.

Patrick

http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BH10

Queens Parent: “No one cared about stupid ravioli when it was good enough for White Plains.”

Kitchen Sink: “I too am interested in quality ravioli, but those of you arguing about it aren’t putting kids first.”

Ken: “I consider myself a ravioli-lanthropist.”

Alexander Hoffman: “IS there such a thing as a standard for ravioli?”

Aaron Pallas: “What’s singular for ravioli? Raviolum?”

Thomas Carroll: “Taxpayers are best served by charters that serve ravioli.”

Michael McCurdy: “Do kids who eat ravioli do better on the G&T admissions test?”

ceolaf: “I’m working on a longer reply.”

Michael Markowitz: “Will Padma Lakshmi be hosting the next PEP meeting?”

Mayor Mike: “Anyone who doesn’t love Chef Boyardee is a non-parent activist who just wants to see a return to the Soviet Union. Or one of my appointees looking to get replaced.”

David Cantor: “Nothing you read here is true.”