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Hazel Dukes, the president of the NAACP of New York, said last night on NY1 that she supports charter schools but wants equal conditions for children attending district schools.

In a television interview last night, the president of the NAACP of New York insisted that she does not oppose the opening of charter schools or the closure of failing schools — even as she defended her organization’s role in a lawsuit that would reverse planned school closures and slow charter school growth.

Speaking to NY1 Inside City Hall host Errol Louis, Hazel Dukes said that she only wanted district schools to have the same conditions as charter schools, which she praised. “Let’s make it an equal playing field,” she said. “That’s not hard to do. We can do that with the stroke of a pen.”

She added, “My motive is not to keep any failing schools open. My motive has never been to say that teachers who can’t teach need to be in schools. My motive is two things: justice and equality.”

Hazel Dukes said she her goal wasn’t to prevent charters from opening but that the process was hurried. The biggest effect, she said, was overcrowding in school buildings, which she said has a disproportionate — and negative — impact on district school students. ”Mr. Louis, tell me why all children can’t have the same amount of library time. Tell me why all children can’t have access to a playground,” she said.

The lawsuit, which the NAACP co-filed with the United Federation of Teachers and a host of elected officials and parents, aims to halt the closure of 22 district schools and plans to co-locate 20 charter schools inside district space. City school officials have said that a victory could disturb high school admission plans for the fall, and charter school leaders have said that, without the city space that they were counting on, they would not be able to open schools that children already plan to attend. (more…)

• More than 110 high school principals are asking the state to bring back January Regents exams. (Times)
• The NAACP’s national head says the city’s situation is the fault of past leaders, not parents. (Daily News)
• Local NAACP head Hazel Dukes is standing by charged comments about charter parents. (Daily News)
• The Daily News says Dukes’ comments follow other controversies for her and are bad for the NAACP.
• Competition at private schools has some families paying hundreds of dollars an hour for tutoring. (Times)
• A foundation has donated $3 million for the city to use its anti-bullying curriculum in 850 schools. (NY1)
• The UFT gave out more than $1 million in scholarships to 250 graduating high school seniors. (NY1)
• Research by two Young Women’s Leadership Academy students is helping an endangered fish. (WSJ)
• Bronx teachers anxious about nearing “restarts” and other changes got together for drinks. (Daily News)

• A Newscorp executive argues that the NAACP is defending its members, black teachers. (WSJ)
• A teacher who has criticized Bloomberg-style ed reform explains what she does favor. (GS Community)
• NAACP local president Hazel Dukes and charter school parents are on Inside City Hall tonight.
• Introducing another education reform movement with revolutionary ambitions: PreK-3. (Hechinger)
• A turnaround principal says the most crucial tool in his arsenal is staffing freedom. (EdWeek)
• A teacher at Rhode Island’s infamous Central Falls HS explains why she quit. (GoLocalProv via JJ)
• More background on the growing market for technical help evaluating teachers. (EdWeek)
• Leonie Haimson urges the state not to approve a charter school with real estate ties. (NYCPSP)
• New York is one of 10 states that have spent between 75 and 90% of federal stimulus funds. (Ed Money)
• Upper Manhattan parents are working with police to promote school safety. (Insideschools)

Chancellor Dennis Walcott met with parent coordinators and leaders of Parent Teacher Associations yesterday.

Chancellor Dennis Walcott met the parents last night at a panel session with PTA leaders and parent coordinators that gave him a chance to demonstrate his oft-stated commitment to community outreach.

Walcott also previewed a new survey, called the Chancellor’s Family Feedback Form, that he said will be released later this month.

A flier handed out to parents describes the survey as an opportunity to “Tell us what information about your child is important to you and how you’d like to get it.” The flier advertises a web site for the survey, FamilyFeedback.org, which is not yet live.

Asked for more detailed information, a Department of Education spokeswoman said that the survey is still being developed.

The announcement came as several attendees complained to Walcott about the challenges of getting a response from school officials. “What resources do parents have when principals don’t respond?” one woman said.

“What’s the chain of command here if we have a problem?” asked another attendee. (more…)

A few days ago during eighth period in a 90-degree classroom a student cheerily said to me, “You like your job, don’t you?” I asked her what made her think that and she said that it was because I never seem grumpy, and because I always seem happy to be in class with my students talking about math. It’s true that the students are my favorite part of the job. I have strong negative feelings about the system in which I work, particularly the fast and furious experiments that are being done within it, but after three years I am not even close to sick of the kids.

On my most recent and far-too-distant post about the premiere of “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,” the documentary film by the Grassroots Education Movement, one commenter said he knows what I’m fighting against, but asked what I am advocating for. The problem is that there is so much rapid change going on in education right now that if one doesn’t see privatization and union busting as the answer to our education woes, one has no choice but to join the fight. All of the energy that activist groups put into this defensive stance could without question be going instead into some amazing transformations, but at the moment that is not the case.

The answer to the commenter’s question, of course, is that I am advocating for my students. They are the only reason I teach or became involved in activism and my commitment to them informs the decisions that I make about the advocacy work I choose to do. When I write of standing against the excessive use of standardized tests, it is because I have seen its effect on what my students are being taught, on their engagement, and on their concept of learning and knowledge. When I write that the union is not doing enough, it is because I know they could be an incredible force for social justice in our schools and our communities.

But if my time were not being spent trying to divert the freight train of corporate reform, what kind of real reforms would I be pushing for? Here are my top four: (more…)

• The first court date in the UFT and NAACP’s lawsuit against the city is June 21. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP’s Hazel Dukes told a charter school mom that she is “doing the work of slave masters.” (Post)
• The city may have shut Chinatown kindergartners out of their school to fit Tribeca children there. (Post)
• City Council members are continuing to push cuts in consultant spending to save money. (Times)
• Teachers at MS 217 at Queens say gains could be undone by impending overcrowding. (Daily News)
• A mother was arrested for assaulting an officer who barred her from Brooklyn’s PS 288. (Daily News)
• Police arrested a teenager who they think helped steal laptops from PS 73 in the Bronx. (Times)
• About 600 teenagers attended a low-key “anti-prom” hosted by the New York Public Library. (Times)
• A Gates foundation-funded report urges hiring authority for Los Angeles principals. (L.A. Times)
• Some scientists say schools should work more on developing perceptual learning skills. (Times)
• A chain of charter schools associated with a Turkish religious group is growing in Texas. (Times)

The city and teachers union have two weeks to prepare arguments in their battle over school closures and charter school co-locations, according to an agreement hammered out today between both sides and the state judge who will preside over the case, a union official said.

That means that school officials will have to wait to learn whether the judge, Paul Feinman of the state supreme court, will grant the teachers union the temporary restraining order it requested. The order would immediately halt school closure and co-location plans even before the court decides whether they are ultimately illegal, as the UFT and NAACP charged in a lawsuit last month.

Lawyers for the education department did not immediately respond to confirm the details, but UFT spokesman Dick Riley said both sides are due back in court on June 21, when Feinman is expected to hear their arguments.

In the meantime, the sides agreed on basic terms similar to what the plaintiffs seek out of the restraining order. First, the Department of Education is required “to maintain student records” and “school choices for all students involved in schools in the litigation,” Riley said.

Second, any current construction underway as part of co-location plans must cease immediately.

It’s not clear if any such projects have begun, since the last day of school isn’t until June 28. Requests to confirm the agreement details with the Department of Education were not answered tonight. (more…)

• A review of “Waiting for Superman” and its counterpart: teachers aren’t magicians. (Teachers College)
• Families will receive public pre-K offers on Friday, the Department of Education says. (Insideschools)
• Tomorrow night, Steve Brill presents on “how to bring outstanding teaching to scale.” (New America)
• NBC’s Education Nation Philly stop awkwardly coincides with a tremendous budget crisis. (Notebook)
• Rick Santorum’s education views: pro-choice, says public school system too industrial. (Campaign K12)
• Denver official on improper credit recovery reports: “we are actively investigating the claims.” (EdNews)
• Cato: California’s best charter schools don’t get the most philanthropic support. (Joanne Jacobs)
• The market for building teacher evaluation systems appears healthy. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Even B+ students have to take remedial courses in college sometimes. (Community College Spotlight)
• Good resources for learning about the four federally approved turnaround models. (Ferlazzo)

Screenshot of the campaign page against the UFT/NAACP lawsuit (click to enlarge)

Michelle Rhee’s new advocacy organization is jumping into the fight between the NAACP and charter school families with a new email campaign that has been flooding elected officials’ inboxes since Friday.

The campaign targets elected officials who co-signed a lawsuit, along with the teachers union and the NAACP, demanding that the Bloomberg administration halt its plans to close struggling district schools and replace them with charters.

Students First, which Rhee founded last year, sponsored the campaign, titled “Tell NYC Officials: Don’t Decrease Charter School Space.”

“Remove Your Name from the Charter School Lawsuit,” reads the subject line in the identical emails, which has been sent to the dozen officials listed as plaintiffs in the suit. In four days, more than 550 emails have been sent from people from all over New York State.

“New York needs more quality public school options,” the email reads.

“That is why I ask that you remove your name from the lawsuit that threatens to close several existing charter s ychools [sic] and to prevent others from enrolling new children. This action is tantamount to condemning thousands of kids to failing schools who otherwise would have an opportunity at a great education.” (more…)

A new challenge to the Educators 4 Excellence group comes from an unlikely source: a school administrator who says he agrees with many of the group’s positions.

In a new post in our Community section, John Galvin, the assistant principal at I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, targets the group’s requirement that people who attend certain E4E events sign the group’s “Declaration of Principles and Beliefs.” Galvin writes:

If you want to sponsor events that are closed to the public and only open to your members, that is your right. However, if you want to engage the public in debate and to test your ideas to the widest audience possible, then it makes no sense. It raises questions about the motives of your group and the commitment of your group to engage in honest debate with those that agree and disagree with you.

Galvin describes attempting to sign up to attend the group’s panel last week on teacher evaluation, and then being disappointed to find out that, in order to RSVP, he had to click a button indicating that he signed on to the declaration. (Many of our commenters logged similar complaints.)

In an e-mail, Educators 4 Excellence founder Sydney Morris explained that teachers become members of the group by signing the statement. She defended the group’s right to hold private members-only meetings.

Her full statement: (more…)