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February 26, 2010

P.S. 15 parents ask Steiner to intervene in charter siting dispute

by Maura Walz, at 7:53 pm

Two parents at a Brooklyn district school who have strongly resisted the city’s plan to let a charter school extend its stay in the district school building are appealing to State Education Commissioner David Steiner to halt the plan.

The parents, John Battis and Lydia Bellahcene, allege that the city of violating state education law in its plan to allow PAVE Academy charter school remain in the same building as P.S. 15 until 2013. The citywide school board voted to approve that plan in its January meeting.

The appeal, which parents filed to the city today and expect to deliver to the state education department in Albany on Monday, claims that vote should be nullified because the city revised its timeframe for PAVE’s stay without having a second public hearing, as required if the city changes a plan for how a building will be used. It also argues that the city failed to give enough information about how the plan would affect students at both the schools.

Lawyers with the advocacy group Advocates for Children are working with Battis and Bellahcene on the appeal.

Here is a copy of the appeal:

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  • http://www.SpecialEducationMuckraker.com Dee Alpert

    I read the legal papers. It looks to me like the NYCDOE is making PS 15 non-accessible for kids who are disabled and need related services because they can no longer receive appropriately-effective related services in this environment. This would violate Section 504, amongst other things. The NYCDOE can’t wave a magic wand and declare that providing related services under these conditions is even nominally, marginally effective.

  • Charter parent of special needs child

    Juan Gonzalez’s articles yesterday and today in the Daily News prove that the NYCDOE is pushing charters to replace traditional public schools. Every day this week there have been charter scandals in the papers. The truth is coming out.

    They’re pitting parents of color against each other. PS15 parents are fighting PAVE parents. Why? We all want a good education for our children.

    We’re being manipulated by charter school leaders and the NYCDOE to fight each other. Now we see the charter school leaders are using charter parents to fight charter parents who are starting to ask questions about how charters are run and operated.

    Seems to me that the charter leaders are terrified. Time is up for charter schools. It’s the beginning of the end.

    Way to go PS15 parents. Without struggle there is no progress. Stand up for your kids education.

  • Let the charter lawsuits begin

    All the schools voted on by the PEP to share space with a charter must follow PS15’s example. Call Advocates for Children and review with them the DoE’s procedures in siting the charter school in your building. I guarantee you that PS15 is not the only school where the DoE didn’t comply with the school governance law.

    Chancellor Klein doesn’t care about neighborhood schools. He only cares about charters. All parents at affected schools should follow suit with PS15.

  • Paterson needs to go? Bloomberg should be fired!

    “An odor has remained among the sugarcane:
    a mixture of blood and body, a penetrating petal that brings nausea.” From The Dictators
    BY Pablo Neruda

    What is happening at PS 15 and across NYC is repulsive. This is corruption and it is finally being exposed. Bloomberg is fully aware how he has manipulated the DOE to destroy public education and leave so many children behind. Bloomberg should be fired for the selling of our children and public school space to these private companies and for a mishandling of public money and public spaces. This is illegal in other states! The public schools are stuck in the DOE’s ancient rules. Free the Public Schools from these rules like the DOE has done for the Charter schools! The UGLY DOE and the current UGLY UFT will not let that happen. Most public school teachers want equal freedoms the charter schools have. For example, we would love to pick our own curriculum. The DOE will not let this happen. They think they know better, but look at what they have done the past 9 years under Bloomberg! We have to use certain methods from places such as Teachers College. Guess who is making money from that? Talk about corruption. Give us this freedom of choosing our own curriculum. Public school teachers support due process but not the rubber rooms that the DOE and the UFT have set up to make us look bad. If a teacher is not fit, then that dismissal process should not take longer than several weeks. This lawsuit is only the tip of the iceberg and it is a step towards removing Bloomberg from office, getting rid of charter schools, mayoral control and Klein and his moronic staff, the worst chancellor /doe staff that NYC has ever seen as well as overhauling the UFT and its vial bureaucracy. Klein and the DOE have never given a straight answers. It is all on tape. Yes, we need an overhaul of many systems, but the outright, in your face corruption happening in NYC Education is the most repulsive misuse of political power, influence and let’s not forget BIG money this city has ever seen. Does it make sense to give almost 30 million dollars to a billionaire to build a school? Come on now, Robertson has spent more on polo ponies for fun. The Tiger Foundation’s manipulation of many of Red Hook’s community organizations against PS 15, even PS 15’s own beacon program has been bought out by the Tiger Foundation. This beacon program is run by a so called religious organization and they would allow that for the large donations? What a disgrace from NYC to the White House’s “race to the top/cash” program. “It’s all about the children,” they will tell you but look deeper and between the lines.

  • yes

    putting parents against each other,educators against each other,schools against each other-what a disgrace. ALL of this energy and resources should be put into our PUBLIC schools- focus and finances are what is needed. There are very needy children in this public school system, many of these kids have no one to advocate for them except the people who are trying to educate them, sad,but true– these kids are being left behind -who speaks for them? scrap the charter nonsense ,fix the broken schools ,take care of our kids and stop this political BS that is just causing more chaos. I have heard people state at that PEP meeting “just because they can’t afford a private schhol ,why can’t they have a quality education for their children” – they can ,in public schools just like i did and the chancellor did and so many of the well respected people in our country. This is a terrible thing that is being done to our city. Klein and Bloomberg are toxic . I wish the parents we see on TV at these rallies defending both sides could be multiplied by the amount of kids that are in the public school system >If that happened-perhaps the schools wouldn’t have as many problems. There are so many parents who are not speaking for their children,not involved with their childrens education- These are the kids who will suffer the most- who speaks for them?

  • Julie Cavanagh

    Wanted to thank all of the posters so far for your supportive words; I also want to note the commitment of and thank, with the greatest pride, John and Lydia for taking the lead on this and showing what we can do when parents take the leap and get involved with education policy. We have been so fortunate in the Red Hook Community to have an amazing collective of parents and teachers who work together fighting for their children. John, Lydia, and other parents and teachers have sacrificed much in this fight, but it is all worth it to us; we know how important it is to protect our children and the public education they ALL deserve. I just want to note to one poster, PS 15 parents are not ‘fighting against PAVE parents’… we have kept the tone and tenor very much focused on the DOE and the PAVE founder and board. Their decisions and motives do not serve PS 15′s children, nor the children who attend PAVE Academy. The destructive policies of this administration, and those who have hijacked the charter school movement for personal gain and an ideology deeply rooted in a privatization agenda, are shameful. We will continue this fight and hope more parents, teachers, and policy makers get informed and get involved.

  • Charter Profiteers conversation

    Charter Billionaires: We have a crisis. District parents are starting to fight back against co-locations.

    Charter school leaders: Yes, this is a crisis. Well, we were successful at pitting district parents and charter parents against each other. But now these district parents are starting to fight back legally. They have the nerve to hold our best friend, Chancellor Klein accountable to the new school governance law. We can’t allow these parents to interfere with our charter school businesses. We’re gaining market share. What are we going to do if other district parents at other schools start filing lawsuits against co-locations?

    Charter Billionaires: We need to do something. We have a lot of money at stake.

  • http://www.SpecialEducationMuckraker.com Dee Alpert

    I don’t understand why the Bloomberg administration hasn’t gone to the real estate development industry in NYC and tried to get space in their new and soon-to-be finished buildings which have unleased or unsold space for charter schools, thus avoiding the problem of displacing public schools and programs. For that matter, I don’t much understand why this hasn’t been done to get space for all the new small public schools.

    I’m not sure that the real issue many people are fighting over has to do with available space, but for those who are primarily concerned with that issue, suggesting a relatively easy and inexpensive way to rapidly expand available space might be a good way to go.

  • Informed Charter Parent

    I believe that ALL children deserve a GREAT education. Charters would not be in existence if the DOE did not fail our public schools. I am to see that an INDEPENDENT parent organization such as NYCPA are educating and mobilizing charter parents on what the bigger picture is. We are all public school parents ( district and charter) that want our children receive the best education, not just a selected few. The DOE along with CPAN are putting blacks/latinos against blacks/latinos thus not only creating toxic education enviroments with co-location but also ripping communities apart!

  • Informed Charter Parent

    Charter school parents along with district parents need to stand together. I am a charter parent that believes in public schools and public choice for ALL of our children! United we stand , divided we fall!

  • Charters are not a choice

    Charters are shoved into a black and latino community on purpose.
    Charters are sold to these people as choice and these people believe it. Go figure? These people do not see how the state and city failed their children from the get go and now they are being offered a choice from the same people who failed them in the first place? (But let’s blame the teachers.) These people do not see how they have been set up and sold out to corporations and billionaire hedge fund managers. Oh, yes, they are soft spoken, and well mannered sales people, who all say the line, “all our children go to college.” Have ya heard that one? How do they know, how many have gone already? Zero! These people are sold hook, line and sinker. These are the same people supporting a system that divides communities. New Yorkers divided? That is what the mayor, klein, and the doe want. That is what choice is about? NYC is in a very sad state, just like the corporations, just like the economy. Let’s drag the schools down too, why should they be spared. Opps, let’s stop saying, “it is all about the children.” That line has been abused and means nothing in our world with the corruption that exists in American Education .

  • Charters Are A Choice!! My Choice

    Why is it that when something new comes to the community people always have negative input of the situation. Just like when Ikea and FairWay first came to the neighborhood. People procrastinated. But they’re here and it’s over. So as the Beacon GoodShepards when it first came to PS 15. Now that there is a Charter Movement in the Community and because of it’s own Organization and place of teaching in a BOE school once again the problem begins.
    PS 15 Staff and some parents are just scared but you should’nt be. It will be over before you know it. Mr. Spencer does not want to take over PS 15 nor is he trying to phase the school out. 2013 is a done deal and then you would have to worry about somebody else moving into the building. It might be a Middle School or a High School who knows? Then that will be a worse case senerio for 15K Then What? Stop accusing Pave Administration and the people who stand behind Charter schools. The one that needs to be accountable for this is DOE and BOE! As long as our Children are learning and getting Educated that’s what counts. Jack the Ripper could be teaching my child and as long as I know that he is learning and progressing at 100% then so be it!

  • Spencer The Ripper … OK, that Works

    Hey Charters are a Choice, My Choice.
    Thanks for giving Spencer a new name, Spencer the Ripper. He has plotted against the PS 15 community for years. His daddy helped with the Tiger Foundation manipulate the Red Hook community organizations years before Spencer the Ripper’s entrance into the community. Spencer the Ripper stole a year of your child’s education failing miserably his last year. But did the ripper tell you? No, he just left that out of the equation. Ahhh, transparency, honesty, communication, if that is what you did not want, you got it! But that would not happen in a public school. And if the PS 15 community ever sits back, then the ripper will steal the school right out from under them. They only care about themselves not about the children of Red Hook. Why would anyone move forward with a plan knowing full well that it has caused almost rioting inside PS 15? When it divides the community against itself? Only the ripper would love this?

  • eme

    The problem is that 2013 is not a done deal at all. Read the DOE resolution: “PAVE Academy will remain at PS-15 until it has contructed a new building.” Will PAVE construct a new building? I don’t know. We know that Robertson has been dishonest about his plans. Numerous times in the past 3 years he has made announcements about finding a location for his school. Each time it turned out he was simply trying to manipulate public opiniion in relation to an upcoming DOE decision. Most recently PAVE stated in its application for public funding for construction that “PAVE has executed a contract for the purchase of 732 Henry Street.” We know now that PAVE lied to the DOE in this application and it still has no contract to purchase this site. The families of PS-15 cannot be held hostage to the delusional and dishonest behavior of this unstable individual.

  • concerned advocate

    I just want to highlight eme’s post… there is NO WAY a pave building will be ready by 2013; we have all the information from the so called site, the building proposal, the financials, and in looking at civic builders’s (the contractor to build the pave building) history, a three year time frame without even having the space yet is not realistic. Regardless of 2013, and the fact that the illegal pep/doe resolution does not cite a time frame at all (2013 or otherwise), there is not enough space now!!! I am not sure how this keeps getting lost in the conversation… if there was enough space for both schools, do you think parents and teachers would be spending their nights and weekends advocating for our kids after working full time jobs!? Why should ps 15 kids suffer and sacrafice? There is no answer for that, the agreement was two years, there was barely enough space for that… this is not about feeling threatened, we are well aware of PAVE’s curriculum and programming, no threat to our school; what we offer is a great, comprehensive child-centered education. Framing this as anti charter, being afraid, or unwilling to share is a diversionary tactic and denies the significant negative impact pave has had on ps 15. This is what the appeal is about, in addition to the ways the DOE violated a state legal process; parents should, and have the absoulte right to, fight to protect their children. If I was a pave parent, I would be demanding our own space from Spencer as well, there are plenty of places they could go; instead he chooses to suck the life-blood out of PS 15.

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  • Ellen

    “Jack the Ripper could be teaching my child and as long as I know that he is learning and progressing at 100% then so be it!”

    What a great analogy…a man who attached at night, by surprise and only women. The Ripper gutted his victims after torturing them. You sure a shooting hit the nail on the head.
    But here is my question: did you want Jack to teach Biology?

  • Dedicated Teacher

    How can a parent say that as long as their child is progressing, they don’t care if Jack the Ripper is teaching them? Does Jack the Ripper teach ethics? Or is it all about “making the grade” to get the almighty buck…ethics aside??? How utterly sad to think that a parent would accept such an atrocity. It is brainwashing at its most abhorrent state.

  • Red Hook Teacher

    Dedicated Teacher & Ellen: My sentiments exactly. I would never want a notorious torturing murderer to teach my child or head the school he attends. But then again, from what I hear, and have seen with our co-location relationship, Mr. Robertson is no different than the Ripper except he strikes in the daylight right in front of everyone’s eyes! Now THAT is bold and arrogant! He’s like a big kid himself. Has anyone seen his interactions with his students, parents or teachers? What a rich doofus! Sad, sad, sad what money can buy. All at the sake of the children and families of Red Hook.

    Good thing we don’t have idiot clowns teaching at or running PS 15. Then all of Red Hook would be doomed. The nice thing, is that we will still take back our children with open arms when the PAVE parents wisen up and see PAVE for what it really is: a 21st Century Horror Show. Thanks Spencer “Ripper” Robertson!

  • Public School IEP Parent

    Does PAVE have any parents of children with Special Needs? If so, this post from another blog about a teacher who avoids going to IEP meetings is for you:

    The blogger wrote: “Congrats [to the teacher] on your IEP victory. I do however “charge you” to continue going to these IEP meetings even though you deplore them. I send this charge because so many IEP’s are written like “fluff recipes” and the only one to suffer is the child. Often times parents aren’t savvy enough to know the special ed nuances of what their child needs and of course the DOE representatives with the CSE aren’t going to offer any strategies.

    The SPED person at the school is most likely under the control of the principal or other string masters and also don’t ensure all the services, or even that the right learning environment (class setting) is recommended for the student. To the contrary, I have seen MANY students stay in general ed when they would have really flourished in a real CTT or even, a more restrictive, but smaller 12:1:1 (not an off the wall, filled with behavior issues 12:1:1).

    The same especially holds true for charter schools who don’t even have the true means of servicing many students with LD’s or providing the necessary learning environment. Often times, schools, both DOE & charter are staffed with SPED teachers who are either so new to the profession & wet behind the ears that they have no real clue how to advocate for the special needs students in their school OR the one who has been in the system so long that they are burned out & recommend anything at IEP meetings.

    Either way, the parent is ill informed of the options for their child and the child is given a yearly IEP which is not reflective of their true needs & the services and environment that would make them most successful academically, socially & emotionally.

    Please keep going to these IEP meetings on behalf of your students. Be the sound, moral voice who can offer some support to them & their parents about other strategies, supports & options that will make them successful for their future lives beyond elementary, middle & high school.

    A really great friend of mine used to work at a charter school in Red Hook, but had to leave because of the practices the school was doing with their SPED students. The saddest part is that none of parents at the school have a clue when it comes to getting all the services their children need or even the options they have for other school choices because the school employs people who are either too inexperienced to know anything or are puppets themselves and say whatever their principal wants for fear of getting fired due to at-will charter policies. ”

    There are only two charter schools in Red Hook, and one of them just started this year…. so I wonder what charter school this person was speaking of? Could this be the work of the Ripper’s school? If so, SHAME on you! Where are the organizations standing up for the rights of children with special needs? Who is checking the charter school to make sure children with special needs are actually placed in the proper setting so they can be successful? Who’s writing these IEP’s and who’s at these meetings allowing this illegal craziness to go on? Who do parents hold accountable? The principal? The special education coordinator? The social workers? The teachers? or The Ripper?

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