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yes we did derail it and we will continue to. the voices of parents have been ignored for far too long, this mayor and chancellor feel they can manipulate and PR their way through their destructive reforms… well, we have had enough! there will be changes or their will be growing civil disobediance, this is only the beginning.

And if this is what happened in during a Summer evening, when schools are off, it can be considered the small droplets of what will become a major downpour of protests and civic activism that will take place this Fall…. as the Supreme Leader and the Great Leader attempt to ram destruction of Public Schools to its peak, through the crumbling facade of achievement that they themselves pushed… 

The amount of charters that will be approved to be pushed into large/small schools that were set up for failure, will definitely increase, as will the push back.

It really serves cocky Supreme Leader for life, that the underclass and the ignored are slowly awakening to the Kool Aid that they have been forced to drink for the past 6-8 years, and once the effects of these Kool Aid propaganda wear off, their side effects will be massive protests.  

After all, how would people who have very little and are facing the brunt of the economic downturn in NYC feel when they have been “had” and had backed public schools upheavals in order to achieve nothing for their children, while well to do Wall Street types have camped at Tweed and had their interests protected so bluntly by the so called, “People’s Mayor?”… Of course the only people who he favors are the economically connected.  

At the risk of injecting some reason and balance into these boards, let me get this straight: parents brought bullhorns to a public PEP meeting, ran around shouting and demanding that the entire meeting accede to their immediate demands, and then someone let their kid go up on stage in the middle of it all, as some kind of symbol?

Well, contrary to what CEJ might think, it doesn’t speak for all parents, students, and teachers in the city, and life before Bloomberg and Klein was not some kind of Elysium where teachers were left alone to teach and students could learn. CEJ certainly has some good ideas, and I’m all for organizing and having a voice, but let’s call this what it was: a blatant play for attention. I’m sure tomorrow’s papers will validate the decision to bring the bullhorns and deal the child-on-stage card from the bottom of the deck.

The Times already has the story online. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17test.html
Back in January I went to the huge PEP meeting in Brooklyn. You know, the one that rubberstamped the closing of the 19 schools … the one GothamSchools called a Brouhaha. It truly was. There was a HUGE crowd there that night, very LOUD, very anti-Klein and anti-PEP.. it was quite wonderful to be there to be honest. That night I heard that the PEP Committee was planning on bolting if the crowd became too disruptive. The crowd was really only disruptive and rude to Klein and the panel wound up staying (not really listening.. but sitting there) .. until the wee hours of the morning. Was this one worse? Louder? More threatening? I’m curious about why Klein and the panel left. I’d like to see some video.

They walked off because the crowd was making so much noise the panel couldn’t be heard. Then the people started making the points they were not allowed to make as part of the item dealing with testing. There was no threat, though with most of the PEP when they see rowdiness like tonight, they look like they may cry. Poor babies, wasted time riding the limo there. So they came out to try again and were shouted down again. WHat is the reason to hold a PEP at all if all the public gets to do is watch power point Presentations – what presentation technique. They should have had the audience do Turn & Talk.

There wasn’t a drop in test scores because of the quality of instruction. There was a drop in test scores because they can’t keep going up and up and up every year. They have to push them down once in a while in order to show “improvement.” Parents want accountability, but as along as they keep buying into the “test scores must go up every year or it is a failure” mentality they will continue to be manipulated. Bloomberg likes that people are getting mad that the scores went down, because this way when they go up over the next few years he can reap the political benefits.

Mr. Sanchez,

How are teachers to blame and parents are not?  I work in a very poor area filled with welfare mothers (absentee fathers) that do not work.  The few children that are nurtured from birth are ready for school.  Sadly, most of the children my colleagues and I deal with are neglected from day 1.  How am I to blame?  What do I do when these parents ignore my phone calls, refuse to come to conferences, won’t sign homework or even wash their child’s clothes?  How do I catch up a child that has been ignored for years on end – a child that is not read or spoken to?

You said:
“ Parent involvement is more that shouting into bullhorns. It’s daily reading with your child, its trips to museums and libraries, its discussions about the violent and sexist music poisoning our kids, it’s decisions to spend on books, and learning instead of fashion and video games, its modeling speaking with respect. All this my mother did with a 5th grade education, and the exhaustion of a cleaning woman.”

Do you realize that the vast majority of parents out there do not do any of these things?  

What do you think of the boy that has gigantic diamond earrings and $300 sneakers, but not a single notebook?  As his teacher, I do not judge, and I give him a notebook that I paid for.  What happens to the notebook?  It winds up in the trash after the child has destroyed it.

How are teachers to blame???  Good parents are wonderful, but in all of my years of teaching, I have come to understand that they are not the norm.

Kudos, CEJ!

I hope that this is just the start of a dedicated wave of civil disobedience. Klein and co. have had it coming for a long time now.

I am away for the summer, so I was unable to be there last night. I am so proud of all those who participated tonight and look forward to joining you at every single PEP meeting until we get these criminals away from our children and end the abuse. You are all champions!

The corporate assassins are finally having to face the growing wrath of the people. Kids are being used as pawns to elevate the status of so called reformers, who essentially care nothing about the working class of this city.I applaud the courage of those activists who have the interests of new York’s students at heart.

Those of us who teach high school know that the tests have been too easy for years. We see kids coming into high school mostly with 2s and 3s and see how unprepared they are. In my school, more than 70% of the 9th grade failed at least 2 major subjects. What took the state so long? They’ve known this for a long time but waited until after the mayoral elections. Politics as usual. That’s why these parents are angry.

Roma,

“Why is Joel Klein still chancellor?”

Because accountability is for the little people.

Or, as Alan Simpson, co-chair of Obama’s Social Security Commission (aka The Cat Food Commission) revealingly said about SS recipients, “the lesser people.”

If anyone is interested, below are the links for the 4th grade curriculum at Spence (where the mayor’s daughter went to school) and the Lower School curriculum at Sidwell Friends (where Obama’s daughters attend).

Take a peek and ask yourself whether they and their fellow parents would stand for the dumbed-down, fraudulent test prep regime that is forced on “other people’s children” and their teachers.

http://www.spenceschool.org/program/curriculumdetail.aspx?pageaction=ItemView&linkid=18

http://www/sidwell.edu/lower_school/academics/index.aspx

The spin is on.  I was listening to NPR this morning and the news reader said that charter schools have better reading scores than district schools.  Is this true?  I thought charter results were just as dismal as regular public schools.  Perhaps I didn’t understand correctly.

At every PEP meeting, since they were formed as per the governance law, parents, teachers, other organizations that deal with children, are disrespectfully ignored.

There are three PEP members who are always on the side of the community: Patrick, Ana, and Dmytro. They understand the plight of the every parent in the community and are truly concerned about the educational welfare of the children. But that’s only 3 out of the 13 members who are transparent, concerned and will not be puppets nor will they rubberstamp proposals that will affect the children.

You see the PEP are following the letter of the governance law by having these public meetings, by presenting the PEP’s proposals, by allowing people to speak, and by sitting there to hear (not listen) to the communities’ issues and concerns. Then at the end of the meeting, they make their decisions as per the puppet master.

I noticed that no where in the law does it say that the PEP would need to care for the children, to take to heart the parents’ concerns, to make fair decision that’s will provide the best services for each school, to show that they have no hidden agenda, and importantly, to show respect to the parents who voice their concerns and frustration about the test scores that are as bogus as a $3 bill and as biased as a two-headed nickel. The parents, children, teachers, and the community at large are nothing else but “Children of a Lesser God”.

Don’t ever assume that the other 10 PEP members have feelings and care for the children. Stepford PEP members are very obedient to their puppet master and they’re spineless, too.

I guess you can’t boo them at a parade…or a meeting. There goes our “accountability”!

See the videos of the PEP I am putting up at ed notes and you tube. Here is the first one:
http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/08/parents-close-down-pep-commentary-and.html

re: Administrators SHOULD BE the example of what should demonstrated in the classroom (as far as management) AT ANY MEETING.

I haven’t met an administrator who is an example of anything other than their best interest. Get rid of the principals from hell, then their flunkie ap’s. And for God’s sake, get rid of ARIS.

This is the first PEP so disrupted they couldn’t hold it. This won’t be the last though expect some extraordinary measures in the future to keep this from happening. Like holding it at the North Pole.

Another video is up.

More PEP Video – PEP members walk off the stage to taunts and jeers of parents, followed by parents holding their own meeting

Before I get to the video, I want to comment on Beth Fertig’s coverage on WNYC. Was I at the same meeting? First the estimate of 50-60 parents is half of what is reported in the NY Times and Daily News. It’s like BloomKlein report test scores.

Then comes this:

“Normally, the public waits until the end of the meeting to speak, after all other topics have been discussed. But the 50 or 60 parents who attended the meeting at Murry Bergtraum High School in Lower Manhattan didn’t want to wait that long.”
“Whose schools? Our schools!” they chanted, as the panel’s chairman David Chang stated, “We have to do something. This is disorderly.”Despite his pleas, the parents continued shouting for about half an hour.

Oh, poor David Chang, who is a pathetic creature of BloomKlein.

And oh, those spoiled parents. Can’t wait till the end of the meeting after countless power points drive people into a death sleep?

There is no “normally” at the PEP. The public is often offered a chance to comment after an agenda item. And when requests and demands from the public are made they often give in. Not this time, though. They only wanted their spin to be spun and hopefully the press would leave before parents got to speak.

Notice no mention that the testing agenda item was never advertised, nor were people allowed to sign up for that specific agenda item before the meeting – since it was kept off the public agenda – and were forced to sign up for the general discussion (I know- I had #3). In fact when we walked in we were somewhat shocked to see that testing would be on the agenda.

Nor is there a mention that PEP member Patrick Sullivan made a request that parents be allowed to comment. Such requests have often been honored in the past.

The DOE shills get two paragraphs while Sullivan’s eloquent response is ignored.

So much for the so-called “liberal” press.

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-pep-video-pep-members-walk-off.html

Roma,

Yes, charter schools tests scores were still hire than district schools. All school scores were lower, but charters still came out above district schools on the whole, including a few schools that received 100% proficiency. You can see the report on Gotham Schools that came out about two weeks ago.

More of the boilerplate nonsense that invalidated their ‘procedural’/rammed through the throat school closings meetings in January will be quite useful for another lawsuit if they do not really follow through with what they are expected to do according to the NYS Law about decisions related to Public Schools.  

Just looking at the ineptitude show by more of the underlings for the Supreme and the Dear leaders for all these years, they will gives us more of the same nonsense from last year, in this upcoming year.  It is after all, extremely difficult to ‘attempt’ to be something entirely different that you were in for the longest.  

So, they should continue doing the same and continuously ignore the voice of the community, see how that works out in court.  

Even the corrupt politicians that have lined the pockets of The Supreme Leader, have all of the sudden realized that their game with feeding a different story to their communities and at the same time work against them and for the greedy Wall Street types that dominate Tweed and City Hall, means political suicide.  

The Supreme Leader (Bloomy) will not waste precious $$$$ buying the muffle that keeps these politicians quite IF, they begin to voice their opinions…as it has happened to Sharpton.  

PEP, is a farce that flies at the face and at the dignity of the regular NYers that expect due process.  

I wonder what the Supreme Leader underlings think when they hear people talking on the mike.  
David Chang and other Supreme Leader appointees have no spine or courage and if they think they will be able to taut their participation in the PEP as a stepping stone for better things, they better think again.  

Watching the thuggish and infantile behavior of the bullhorn-provisioned audience members on the videos posted at Ed Notes On-Line, I am left with all kinds of questions: Did many of the audience members want to reduce the obsession with testing and measurement, or did they want to see the tests made more challenging and rigorous? Were they angry that their kids were being measured by tests at all, or were they frustrated that the tests were not indicative of their real proficiency? Were they angry after they logged on to ARIS to see that their kids achieved a low level this year? And, if so, did many of the audience members really think their kids were actually doing better in school because they had gotten 2s or 3s for many years running, and now were getting 1s and 2s?  And if they didn’t think this, were they just really upset that someone finally spelled out their true proficiency level for the record?

Moving on: Did many of the audience members think that their kids’ teachers were responsible for such low levels of proficiency and performance? And did they think they should therefore be held to account for this? If not the teachers, then who do the audience members think is responsible for the low scores — for the “75 percent” of kids who require remediation during their first year at CUNY schools, as the spokeswoman for the disruption announced through her bullhorn at the end of the meeting?

The bizarre echo chamber that these comment threads have become, with their “Supreme Leader” and CAPS LOCK hysteria, seem to imply that the fault should be laid wholly at the feet of the chancellor and the mayor. To which I reply, as a middle school teacher who works at one of the 15 lowest-performing schools in math for the 2009-10 school year (according to GS’s number-crunching): are you kidding me?

David k.
The whole education reform movement is bizarre. Instead of the money being spent in schools, like the one you are working, to reduce class size,it is spent on charter schools that are not accountable to anybody, and to competitions (RttT) of questionable efficacy. The DOE under Bloomberg and Klein are using a slash-and-burn method to basically destroy public education rather than to improve it.

Why does everyone (Gotham Schools, the Times) say that parents were protesting the “drop in test scores”? Parents weren’t angered by the fact that scores “fell,” they were angered by the fact that they are MEANINGLESS: when testers arbitrarily change from year to year what they mean by “proficiency,” and then use these phantasmal changes to close schools, reward and sanction teachers and administrators, award school placements, de facto alter curriculum, the scores become a simple political pretext, not a measure of reality–indeed, a lie. Test scores improved during an election year and then fell a year later–surprise. Our kids lose and the politicians win.

Roma, I think you nailed David, I wonder how is condescending attitude works with his supposed middle school students’ parents?

His comment is revealing: “To which I reply, as a middle school teacher who works at one of the 15 lowest-performing schools in math for the 2009-10 school year (according to GS’s number-crunching): are you kidding me?”

I believe you are kidding us. Let’s see now David. You feel the Chancellor and mayor are not to blame. But they feel you and your colleagues are one of the major reasons for the failure of your school. Clearly as an ed deformer you should get up and be held accountable. Or maybe it is your colleagues and not you? Or your principal? Let us know what you are doing about this awful situation. I won’t hold my breath.