Comments on: DOE switches course on process for PAVE extension request

By: Parent

Parent — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:06:07 +0000

It is obvious that co-location DOESN’T work. Students at PS 15 & PAVE are pitted against each other, as are teachers and parents… all from the same community. And all because the son of a millionaire wants to plant a charter school in a “poor community” as his new pet project.

Spencer “the Ripper” Robertson, 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!

By: Dedicated TeacherDedicated

Dedicated TeacherDedicated — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:54:59 +0000

Yes, many thanks to the CEC15 for your honest support. Let’s take this victory as a call to action to preserve and protect our schools. Teachers…..please unite in this endeavor. Encourage the teachers in your schools to become part of the “support system” in favor of a democratic school system.

By: JRTeacher

JRTeacher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:42:56 +0000

Thank you CEC15 for supporting the voice of the people. The teachers and parents of the children of PS 15 have only the interest of them at heart and want to protect and preserve the education they deserve. Hopefully this process will truly be a hearing and the members of the PEP will listen with an open mind and make a decision based on what is best for the children and democracy.

By: p

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:02:32 +0000

A victory for democracy!!!!

By: Concerned Advocate

Concerned Advocate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:17:10 +0000

This is a victory for due process, for what we have been fighting for. Now we need to make sure the process is transparent… a hearing is one thing, being heard is another. What is at issue here is not charter schools (although many of us have opinions about them), what is at issue is a faulty DOE space sharing formula that is bad for kids and bad for schools— and not for nothing– both groups of kids and schools! The DOE formula does not take into account the space demands of our special education population and does not take into account a full prep schedule, as well as the space needed for the enrichment and intervention services that make PS 15 an AAA school. I should also mention we have a medical, dental, and social services program at our school as well that requires space. We all feel for PAVE parents who fear losing a place for their child’s school, but firstly, this is the fault of Robertson and his poor leadership, planning, and judgement and second of all, PS 15 students should not suffer for his incompetence. He has more than enough money to go and find himself a space somewhere else where he would not be negatively impacting the education of over 350 other students, whose parents choose PS 15. We should not be functioning in a system where we rob Paul to pay Peter. Support our fight in keeping PAVE to their two year agreement!www.capeducation.blogspot.com

By: What a mess in NYC!

What a mess in NYC! — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:10:52 +0000

It is very sad to see what mayoral control is doing to the school communities of New York City. The schools in NYC who have charter schools in them have seen all the rules change in favor of the charter school. The Public Schools under Mayor Bloomberg and Klein gets to flounder in and under the new rules and whatever the charter school wants it gets. There is no recourse for the public school, its teachers, its parents, and most importantly its children. The children of the public school get very little of the resources the charter school gets and to top it off they must look at it every day. How do you tell a child in a public school the reason why the charter school rooms have everything new and full of the latest technology, freshly painted and cleaned first, why their rooms do not look the same? The charter will tell you they are all the same children but why is there such a division of resources? All the equity money coming from NYS is being funneled to the charter schools. The elected officials gave the mayor control over the school system, are they checking on him at all? No! Then who is checking on what is going on with the public schools? It is terrible! Who is hearing the cry rise up out of the communities suffering with these charter schools? Very few elected officials are or even show they care about the people of their own city! What a shame.
The teachers union is doing nothing as well. Heck, they run their own charter schools? Talk about a conflict of interest. And the UFT lets the mayor fill up the charter schools with non union workers. WHY Mr. Bloomberg? You know there are many teachers who work very hard, they do not deserve a union who gives them a fair shake? We all know about the small amount of bad teachers. Yes, that needs to be addressed, but to go after their union and seek to break it? That’s Bloomberg and Klein. The teachers are NY’ers too. Born here and have families here and with the charter school movement, you will take that tiny bit of dignity away from them when the union falls…and that will happen eventually if the UFT does not get rid of its own charter schools and starts to be a real union and fights for its teachers. AND, the UFT supports the President who wants charter schools!? Go figure? In my friends union news paper there is not one article about the charter school struggle? Why? They seem to be turning its back on its own members? Where is justice for them? WHAT A MESS IN NYC!
Thank GOD for CEC 15. They seem to be the only ones who at least want to be fair to the people of their district and are willing to fight for them. They see the trash of these charter schools and the extreme lack of accountability with mayoral control. God Bless You CEC 15!