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Yay, a rubber stamped re-vote.

AFIK, neither the applicable sections of the Education law nor the pertinent Chancellor’s Regulation permit the DOE to “cure” an admitted substantive defeict in a co-location resolution via an “Amended” or “Revised” EIS AFTER THE RESOLUTION HAS ALREADY BEEN PASSED by the PEP! As such, it would have to start the process all over again.

Accordingly, the EIS would have to be issued 45 days in advance of the PEP meeting and since AFAIK, no such new EIS has yet been “filed”, the change cannot be placed on the April 20th PEP Agenda. Even more important, since such an EIS has not been filed more than six months prior to the commencement of the next school year (i.e., September 8th) – as required by the Education Law – the DOE (even though warned well in advance of the problem), has missed the deadline to introduce such a proposal. Consequently, IMHO, it is time barred from changing its Resolution absent an Order by the State Education Commissioner.

The bottom line? PAVE should quickly start looking for space it can lease effective August. YMMV

Hey eme… you are so right. They keep saying when Pave will finish. Finish? They have not even started! So how long will that take? Only GOD knows. But we all can take a guess …. um, never.

saw on NY1 tonight bloomfu@%!* boasting increased graduation rates… guess what? They were based on August and 5 year grad rates! Funny how these stats don’t count for the schools they shut down; only counts when it suits their agenda. Indeed this administration is beyond corupt, cynical… they are down right theives and liars; but all darkness comes to the light. If they wanted to pursue these closings and co-locations on the merits so be it; but instead they usurp the law and make stats fit their agenda. The People say, “Enough is Enough!”

PS 15 and PAVE both have goals. To educate students in a region in Bklyn. However, to my understanding Charter schools were originally intended to give parents an option if their local school was failing. PS15 received an A on their report card. So why are they there? Since they have the capitol, they should have been housed in any of the numerous buildngs in Red Hook. How about being housed at PS 27? Now it’s just a matter of being stubborn and not moving out because they want to stay and because they have political ties. Lets be fair, PAVE move on while there is still some positive connection with the charter school movement. It is exhausting to watch the people of the community, and the licensed personnel, struggle to defend what is rightfully theirs.

This whole space-sharing argument is very interesting! As a public (DOE) school teacher, I have had my experience sharing space with other DOE schools & charter schools. Either way, space sharing creates numerous problems – especially when schools have different grade levels, cultures, and philosophies. Unless the two school administrators & leadership teams begin their shared relations on a solid mutually respectful foundation – the co location relationship will be doomed to failure which seems to be the case between PS 15 and SLAVE, I mean PAVE Academy charter school.

However, contention will continue to exist when a person or organization with millions of dollars has the gall to think they can just come into an “at-risk” community and co-locate in a space without a care in the world except for their own agenda. They wouldn’t try this stunt in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens or wherever the founder, mayor & chancellor live. So why think it’s okay to do it in Red Hook? Divide & Conquer a Minority Community not Taking a Village to Raise a Child huh?

PAVE says they want to give parents educational options and the opportunity for their children to go to college, but their true agenda is to lie to (or withhold information from) it’s parents about what goes on in the school, inside the classrooms and especially the progress of the new PAVE location.

A Red Hook pre-school parent went to a PAVE “open house” and was savvy enough to tell that the founder, his flunky administration, and cloned teachers were full of manuere. It’s sad that PAVE really thinks Red Hook families don’t know a sham of a school when they see it? PAVE parents: Wake up and smell the tar that PAVE is shoveling before the steam roller as it continues to try & PAVE, I mean roll it’s way through the PS 15 building.

You wouldn’t take your sick child to a new hospital without meeting with doctors, speaking with specialists, and questioning/investigating what’s going on – So why are you doing this with your child’s education? Get involved, ask questions, visit the school, sit in the classrooms, read your school’s charter and find out what is REALLY going on! TRANSPARENCY is a right to all parents not a PAVE option.

Do the Right Thing. Fight the Power. W-A-K-E Up!

Perhaps PAVE Academy would like a space overlooking the junction of the Harlem River, The East River, and the Long Island Sound. In fact, the surrounding area was dubbed “Horn’s Hook” in 1646. They might like this! (since they seem to be so set on establishing their school in a “Hook”.) In fact, guess what? There is a building on the site that is currently UNDERUTILIZED! It’s called Gracie Mansion. How about it? WE’LL HELP YOU PACK.

Shhh, many many PS 15 kids have gone to college and are even in executive positions. This is a fact. Pave says their kids go to college. Well, how many have gone so far? A big fat ZERO. So, it is a nice goal, we all would love to see that, but for them to say this, as well as other charter schools, the charter school mantra, “All our kids go to college” SO DO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL KIDS! Shhh, yes, even the ones from PS 15. shhhh. And so will the kids that left Pave to come back HOME to PS 15.

Abandon Ship & PAVE Parents: It’s amazing how a mayor & chancellor can allow a charter school to knowingly take in students who have special needs, then not provide the services that they need according to their IEP. Isn’t this against the law? Or do they just bank on the parent’s ignorance (not having the knowledge) to the Special Education system & their rights as a parent of a child with a disability? Look up the laws. IDEA.

Last week at the supermarket, I overheard a parent speaking (in spanish) to another parent about PAVE. One parent said she was going to send her child there next year, and the other parent got really disgusted and told her that she was better off sending her child to the zoo to learn – she said PAVE lied to her about what they could do for her child who had an IEP. They told her they didn’t have the services or smaller class size her child needed, but she could still keep her child at PAVE and just had to give up or waive her rights to basically say “It’s okay that my child isn’t going to the services, special education teacher, and smaller class size they need,” just send them to PAVE.

Hello PAVE: 2 teachers in a classroom with 20+ students is NOT the same as a classroom with 12 students, 1 Special Education Teacher and an assistant. There is a reason why some students actually NEED a smaller class size. Tricking or with-holding information from a parent to make the best informed decision for their child is disgusting!

How the heck does a school do that? Don’t they have to have a special education coordinator or principal who is overseeing all of this and making sure parents are informed and students are getting what they really need, not just what the school wants (which is their extra special education state money)? Don’t they have morals? A conscience? What if this were their own children? But then again, would they send their children to PAVE? How many PAVE staff have children enrolled in PAVE?

If PAVE is good enough for the families of Red Hook, then it should be good enough for a millionaire’s kids! Just like Bloomie & Klien, PAVE staff children probably have their nannies take them to their elite schools that don’t steal space from community schools.

What a bunch of LIARS! You lied to the community about how much time you would co-locate. You are still lying to your current PAVE parents… lying to the parents your are trying to recruit and steal from PS 15 and the new school in PS 27′s building…. lying to yourselves if you think the Red Hook Families are going to put up with much more of this… and probably lying to your own staff to make them believe in your manuer as one blogger above said.

Why do you think the Daily News and other reporters never quote any PAVE teachers, your PTA or other parents? Because none of them will lie for you! When will the PAVE parents wake up and take their kids back to a real school that actually cares about its children and their families!

I would imagine it being hard to decide. If you go to Pave, you will receive the smooth talk of salesmen. If you go to PS 15 you will see a hard working “REAL” public school. But it is good that you are reading and researching. Please read the history of PS 15 and see what PS 15 has fought against. Also, read what the DOE and Pave has said they would do? Will they ever do it or was it all lies? Many at PS 15 know the lies first hand but you must find out for yourself. Sorry this is hard for you but until the lawsuits (one by PS 15 Parents and one by the UFT) are settled against Pave/DOE, I guess you may want to seek elsewhere. I will say again that PS 15 is a great hard working school and one that has gone through and is suffering greatly under the extremely sad state of mayoral control of the public school system and the Obama crush of ALL teacher unions in America. Why teacher unions across America are doing nothing is beyond comprehension. Teachers and school staff were once Americans, we have families and needs, we pay taxes, but now we are Public Enemy No. 1 of the Obama/Bloomberg administrations. Excuse me for going off on a tangent. All the best to you and your decision.

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: “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?

I’M A PROUD PARENT OF A SCHOLAR AT PAVE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL. I’m also a citizen of the United States Of America, Land of the Free (Democratic Country). I’m sick and tired of all the insults, bad publicity, discrimination, bias, etc… I have chosen PAVE as my daughters school because I only want the best for my daughter and that is PAVE. No one is going to tell me what is best for my daughter, because only I know and only I will choose. I LOVE MY DAUGHTER MORE THAN LIFE and my goal in life is to provide and choose the best for her. My daughter is involved in many activities. My daughter has been in PAVE for two years since it’s opening and they have been wonderful years for her. She has excelled beyond my expectations. I still can’t believe how advanced she is. My daughter entered PAVE in the first grade, not knowing how to read and now she reads at an advanced level. I’m very proud of my daughter and her accomplishments thanks to her wonderful TEACHERS. The Administration and Teachers are WONDERFUL. MR. ROBERTSON IS A WONDERFUL PERSON W/A HEART OF GOLD!

Wow, Luz-Proud PAVE Parent: The Ripper must have either paid or promised you something to say that. Or you are just that blind? Having degrees and being certified in things means you went to school; it doesn’t mean that you can see through the goofy smiles and lies of people like the PAVE leaders.

It must be wonderful to have a lying school leader with a “heart of gold” and dedicated teachers who don’t even come out and speak on behalf of their “great school” that they believe in. Were you at the recent PS 15 PEP meeting? Did you see all of the PS 15 supporters? Hardly anyone was there from PAVE. And those that were there either left and didn’t want to be a part of the lying or were being disrespected by their own PAVE leaders. One guy from PAVE even argued with one of his own parents and told her that “she could take her child to another school if she didn’t like it.”

Who tells a parent that? What kind of school leader with a “heart of gold” would even have someone on their staff who speaks to parents that way. If that’s how he feels about his own students & their parents, I can only imagine what the PAVE leaders say and do behind closed doors when no one is around!

This is probably what they think of all the PAVE parents… “just bring your children ($$$) to our school and do what we say and say what we want, but if you don’t like it then go somewhere else. We can always replace your child with some other poor child from the Hook”. It’s not like any of their children are going to PAVE are they? If PAVE is a “public school” like they say, then why don’t any of the staff’s kids go there? Do you really want your child in a school where the
staff won’t even put their children? Lies, Lies, and more lies…. The goofy rich Ripper and his prejudiced staff must go!

The last comment from “Poor Son of a Billionaire” hit the nail on the head. I’ve seen this guy at these hearings and he can barely make one audible, intelligent, truthful sounding statement about his school. What a bumbling bafoon! And to think the PAVE parents support this kind of mockery of a “quality school” for their children? Looks like a big bag of smelly manure to me. Between his bumbling statements and the other racist guy’s comments to parents (I’ve heard there have been MANY), I can’t believe this school administration hasn’t all been fired! What a bunch of rich snobs who are so blind they can’t see their own prejudices…. is that what money does to people?
If this is how they run the school in the public eye then I wonder what they do behind closed doors? Imagine all the unethical, things they say and do when no one else is around…. Where is the accountability? Who holds these people accountable for any of their actions? The founder won’t fire his friends… just keep making excuses for himself and others. Does the Mayor, Chancellor and Board of Trustees know what’s going on? Where i sthe union when you need them… this school needs a union or someone to fight for these families and teachers? UFT, Advocates for Children, somebody…. come save PAVE!

How can the Pave teachers and parents support the lies? That makes them a part of it and shows what these people are all about.

Where is the UFT? Can’t you hear the silent cries of the NYC charter school staff? They won’t (can’t) speak up because they will be fired if they do… or made to feel like they are the few and not the many who feel that way. Charter schools know who to hire: young college grads who are exstatic to even have a job; Teach For America drones who have no choice where they are placed – happy to even have a job; or friends of theirs from rich Uncle Ripper’s side of the family.

Those that are fresh out of college are working at their first job, so they “can’t” speak up. Others just “go along,” and do what theyr’e told. Sounds familiar? Plantation-Like to me. Besides, if the staff doesn’t like it… they can be replaced just like the students & their parents. Everyone is just a means to an end. A number. A test score for state funding. It’s what pays for the summer homes in the Hamptons… the delivered groceries from Fresh Direct, the Private Schools and Nannies. These rich, prejudiced charter school administrators are no different than the DOE bureaucrats who are stealing money from the city… except they aren’t held accounatble for anything because the Mayor, Chancellor, and the Boards of these schools are all in it together.

Wake up parents… do you really want your children in these unethical sess pools who line their pockets with your child’s state funding money? I never really knew what prejudice & privilege were until I started learning more about PAVE Academy. What a shame! All at the cost of these children!

As a former PAVE parent I hope this rumor about another PAVE isn’t true. I was smart and took my child out of PAVE as soon as I saw the old principal, and office manager leave & other teachers not returning. Look at all the new people that are there now – what does that say about this school when so many different people are coming and going? I can’t believe the mayor would even consider allowing Spencer to open another school when this one is such a joke and science experiment at the expense of the Red Hook children.

Most of the teachers talk down to the kids and yell at them like they’re worthless. The new office manager is extremely ghetto, and unprofessional and speaks to kids and parents as if she’s in the street. How on earth anyone with common sense has her in a front office greeting people, let alone answering the phone is beyond me. The other guy in charge acts so prejudiced and has said things to parents and kids that are clearly racist and out of line but nothing was ever done because he’s still there doing the same things.

Has anyone even looked into why all the other staff members left? I know many of us are from Red Hook, but that doesn’t mean that we should be treated like dirt and spoken to any way the people at the school feel. I hope that people in other communities are paying attention because if PAVE comes to your neighborhood it will be the WORST thing for the community. Just look at all the lies Spencer has told and the problems it has caused Red Hook.

If you still have your kids at PAVE, then you better start going to the school more and asking your kids what’s really going on. These teachers and staff could be doing and saying anything to your child and you never know.

Wake up Red Hook! Just because a school has computers and smart boards doesn’t mean that it’s a good school and the people there are doing the right thing for your kids.

Thank goodness for the law and the truth.

Pave and the DOE was served an appeal to the illegal PEP vote last month once again by the PTA and I believe with the assistance of Advocates For Children.

Will Pave tell their staff and parents about this?
Yeah right, like they did the last public meeting at PS 15…NO.
What a joke and the disgrace of NYC and the corrupt DOE under Bloomberg.

When will Pave parents wake up? Everyone else has! Outside auditors, Advocates, local politicians.
I guess they have to sink with the ship and take their kids down with them.

Pave makes PS 15 feel dirty.

Dear Enslaved Teacher,
Although I’m happy you chose Red Hook to come & teach, I offer my condolences to you for choosing PAVE. Having worked in Red Hook for over 6 years, I know the joys and pains of teaching and the pains seem miniscule in comparison to how you & others describe PAVE to be. Often times I have seen PAVE staff looking stressed, hiding behind oppressed smiles… some even leaving the building crying or consoling one another. Teaching is a rewarding career and to think that a “public school” would have people feeling this way day after day is disgusting!

It’s unfortunate that your school’s administration lured you to work there with false promises and even sadder yet, that they continue to lie to the community about their “space sharing” and unsuspecting incoming parents who think that PAVE is the only way to “prepare their children for college success.” My school has been doing great things with our students for MANY years and many of our children have gone on to college, the Armed Forces or become business owners in Red Hook!

Hopefully you will be able to find another school who be able to utilize your talents and respect you for the great teacher I’m sure you are. Just in case you’re wondering… my principal is a great person to work for and would be happy to have you at our school! Not to mention that there is job protection to prevent such oppressive unhappiness. Gook luck to you and all of your colleagues!

I’m sorry to admit it, but alot of what people are saying about my child’s school is true. This is why I’m taking my child out after the end of the year. I have been to the school and seen with my own eyes how some of the new teachers treat some students (not mine, but some of the older ones). The principal and other administrators know because I heard parents complaining and nothing gets done. It’s like they don’t care because we’re from Red Hook or something. Last year it wasn’t really like this but then everyone started leaving and new people came and so many things have changed. Parents barely know the new principal and she doesn’t even get involved with the kids except to yell and punish them and take their recess away. At least Mr. Burk knew who the parents were and had a good relationship with us and our kids. Then they have this new office lady who is so rude and acts like she is straight from the ghetto. Ms. Tiffany was good because she knew how to treat people with respect and made us parents feel welcome. All the good teachers left and then Mr. Spencer hired all these new people who don’t even know how to work with kids from our community.

It felt good when I first met Mr. Spencer and he made me believe that I was making a good choice by putting my child in PAVE, but then I started really listening to some of the things he and Mr. Cooper were saying and doing and felt like a fool because I spoke up for them and PAVE when other people were talking against the school.

My child has received a good education there but that’s also because I am involved in my child’s life and check up on everything that goes on. I feel bad for the kids whose parents don’t come to the school and know what’s going on because a lot of kids could be falling behind or just passed along and their parents won’t even know. I am lucky that my child had good teachers for the 2 years they were there, but there’s no way I’m keeping my child there for the next grade with what I have seen and heard.

“ENSLAVED TEACHER” is a fake post from a P.S. 15 teacher or parent. With only 20 or so staff members at my child’s school (and no union/job protection as many of you have stated over and over), do you REALLY think one of PAVE’s teachers would post such a thing? Some teachers may be unhappy and wish to leave however, I know that not one teacher feels “enslaved”. The teachers are very happy and are treated very well by the administration. Sure there are day to day struggles but there will be difficult days at ANY JOB!!!!

ENOUGH with the posts directed at the teachers. ENOUGH with the posts directed at Spencer and other administrators. Your real anger should continue to be directed at the DOE. Spencer and the other staff members of PAVE did not choose to co-locate at P.S. 15. Do you REALLY think that they enjoy the hostile environment and the awful day to day interactions with the NASTY teachers at P.S. 15? The armbands, the silent treatment…it all needs to STOP. As a parent, I have seen it with my own eyes. It’s disturbing. All of you teachers at P.S. 15 are supposedly teaching because you care so much about children. Direct your energy and effort towards your teaching and leave Spencer and the other administrators and TEACHERS of PAVE alone. They want to be out of “YOUR” building faster than you can imagine.

To the current PAVE parent–I am sorry you feel the way you do about PAVE. It is a wonderful school. I’m sorry that your child has been yelled at. You should hear the way some P.S. 15 teachers speak to their students.

To the pave parent – you really still believe that spencer will put up a building? That is very sad then since spencer has been working on this business for several years, way before we all ever knew about him. He planned his attack and who to pay off especially, 10 million to the doe, money to PS 15′s after school program, money to red hook rise, money to the justice center. Now we recently learned of the huge tax break that is available for people like spencer when they invest into poor neighborhoods. Pave parent, your child is part of his business that is all. Why do you think he hounds the people of red hook, it is not your interest he has in mind or your child’s. This is a money making scheme the rich have and it is disguised so perfectly as choice. Who does not want choice in their lives? It is just a perfect scenario. Meanwhile, the PS 15 community suffers, becomes more divided, more resentful. You are part of that, like pave’s teachers. You are the sad, fooled part of the scheme. Hey, did you ever hear, “All Our Kids Go To College?” That is a funny line. What do they tell the kids and parents who were kicked out of pave or left? We thought, “All Our Kids Go To College” was for all their kids. Well, the ones that made it back to PS 15 will probably go to college. As for pave students, the only college they may ever go to is the room names many, if not all charters schools give their classrooms. Pave at this time is a failing school experiment. Pave copies as much from PS 15 as they can, including carnivals and so much more. So you really think your child will be in a building built by pave? Wow, how sad for you and the pave parents. Spencer knows as much about building a building as he does running a failing school from the corner of pave’s office on the computer all day. But he delivers pizza well.

It’s so nice to see that PAVE tried to hide the funk of their lies and trickery by decorating the staff bathrooms. Unfortunately smart people can still see through spencer’s take-over plans. No matter what mints and pretty sprays you leave behind it’s all still a masquerade and PAVE still pollutes PS 15′s clean air with it’s foul smelling lies and oppressive sweat shop administration.

Closing the Achievement Gap: Charter School Special Ed Stats (Posted on Gotham Schools)

Since charter schools are by lottery, IEP students, like all general ed students, enter the lottery & if picked are enrolled at the school. Unlike traditional DOE schools, some, not all charter schools do 1 of 3 things:

1. Counsel an IEP student out (depending on the disability)

2. Allow the students to stay – even if the disability really does warrant a more restrictive (12-1-1) environment. *Getting extra $ for a student the school KNOWS would thrive in a different setting.

3. Change the student’s IEP to reflect an environment that would be equal to what the charter school can actually provide (CTT, SETTS, etc).

All three options are a GROSS negligence and diservice to the child and their unsuspecting family. My DOE school has received many “IEP transfers” from the charter school we co-locate with and the parents all stated that the charter school knew up front what their child’s IEP stated but claimed it could offer the same or better if they “waived their rights to placement” so the child could stay at the charter school without the school being penalized for being “out of compliance.”

The parents of course want what they feel is best for their child, and seeing 2 teachers in every classroom, new smart boards and technology, figures that their child is better off in this environment not realizing that their child’s IEP was written with their child’s needs in mind which is why CTT, 12-1-1 or a D75 type setting was put on the IEP in the first place.

Most charter schools may mean well when it comes to children with special needs, but if they really want to level the playing field in public education, then no matter the school’s philosophy or mission – all new charter schools should have a self-contained, real CTT or bridge class on EVERY grade in addition to their general ed classes. That would partially demonstrate equity with regards to special education students in NYC and transparent accuracy in the data that is reported to the city & state education departments.

The other thing charter schools can do is hire experienced, qualified social workers & special ed staff and provide adequate SPED training to their entire staff to be better equiped to address the varied needs of our city’s special education population. Charter schools will only be able to cousel out and pass along but so many children with IEP’s.

I was just talking to a friend of mine who is taking her child out of PAVE to put them back in PS 15 (where they should have never left) because of all the crazy things that happen there. Staff members yelling at kids and speaking to them like they are nothing. I visited the school one time during the day with my friend and saw a female teacher yelling at this second grade boy. I couldn’t believe how he was just crying and no body did anything to stop her. Then I heard that the kids are going to the bathroom on themselves because the teachers don’t let kids go to the bathroom and some teachers be telling them they can’t drink no water they have to just drink their spit. This is crazy. Doesn’t this school have a principal or somebody there to make sure this wasn’t happening? My friend doesn’t even know who the principal is. This has never happened to my child at PS 15. I wish someone would do that to my child. I don’t understand how these pave parents could keep their children in this school with people abusing their kids like this. The kids aren’t getting beaten or anything, but this is still abuse. If I did this stuff someone would be calling ACS on me! At least my friend is smart enough to take her kid out of PAVE and put them back in a real school where people care.