Comments on: Thousands pack downtown Manhattan for charter school rally

By: Linds

Linds — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Hey Ellen… Here is a copy of the Charter Schools rules and regulations regarding facilities. Can you point out where it states that these Charter schools need to use their own space? 3. Facilities.

(a) A charter school may be located in part of an existing public school building, in space
provided on a private work site, in a public building or in any other suitable location. Provided,
however, before a charter school may be located in part of an existing public school building, the
charter entity shall provide notice to the parents or guardians of the students then enrolled in the
existing school building and shall hold a public hearing for purposes of discussing the location of
the charter school. A charter school may own, lease or rent its space. For purposes of local
zoning, land use regulation and building code compliance, a charter school shall be deemed a
nonpublic school.

By: Linds

Linds — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 04:15:00 +0000

A charter school is actually a public school. Get your facts straight. Additionally, why would you want to send your child to a failing district school?! These charter schools are giving ALL children an opportunity to succeed. It’s politicians who are indirectly saying your child cannot succeed and cannot be taught. Think about that before you protest against charters.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:30:00 +0000

No they don’t. The charter school law specifically requires charters to find their own space. In NYC charter schools are being used to bust union membership….and no, I am not a teacher nor am I a union member. This Mayor and his Chancellors have unilaterally decided to give charter schools space in public schools. That is is the gist of any lawsuit that would hold merit.
All of the current candidates for the mayoralty have said publicly that they support charter schools. Your comment about a mayor who signs on to the UFT platform is not reflective of their public statements and I don’t think there is a dark horse who is going to usurp any of their money or political backing.
As far as classroom time or even the length of the school year, my kids do more time in school than I ever did and so do their teachers.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:27:00 +0000

* their time

By: bee

bee — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:34:00 +0000

Still, better to have a mayor who will be fighting for the majority of the children, instead of just the charter children. If charter parents would spend there time fighting FOR our neighborhood and magnet schools instead of fighting against them, this would greatly benefit public school children. It’s really absurd to label honest criticism of charter schools and the issues that arise because of them, as “mythology.” People aren’t as naive as you think.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:26:00 +0000

So glad you enjoy my witty repartee.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:23:00 +0000

LOL – sorry your comments always make me laugh.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:19:00 +0000

you think anything having to do with charter schools and especially Eva Moskowitz is unacceptable, so at this point I find your opinion moot.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:18:00 +0000

First of all clarification: charter schools ARE public schools and have just as much of a right to the space as zoned schools. Second, if charter parents didn’t have to spend so much time fighting opponents who feed into the negativity and myths about us that the UFT and other anti-charter people spout, we would have more time to devote to helping ALL children have an excellent education in this city regardless of if they go to zoned or charter. As for our school dates, yes, 6/12 is our last day this year and we will be back on Aug 27th ( a week earlier than that for new students as well as some of the higher grades). We started on Aug 22nd this school year. Of course if you want to break down the hours our students AND teachers are actually in school vs the zoned schools we can do that too. And there is a threat on our schools – there are so many lawsuits ( tho several were dismissed this last week) and a constant attack on the educational choice we have on this city. A mayor who signs on to the UFT’s platform of essentially getting rid of charters ( I wonder if they’ll be closing their own too… or the ones run by the DOE) is a mayor who will not be fighting for all of our children.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Actually my child left school early to attend a rally for parent choice and the continued progress of his own education. As a tax payer myself I am in full support of my first amendment right to rally for what ever reasons I choose as do my children. And seeing as all of his end of the year testing is finished (in case you were wondering my 1st grader has tested at not only end of 3rd grade math level, and also at a 4th grade reading level… oh and he has an IEP for several services since so many of you opponents feel that we have no ‘special needs’ children – he is excelling in every subject in school right now, INCLUDING being on the chess team…. so there is that), his education was only enhanced by learning more about the educational fight here in NY as well as in the US in general. Because while my son did eat an ice pop and he did get a balloon ( which unfortunately blew away), we spent a great deal of the time discussing education reform and explaining the way politicians are elected in as well as what the unions are supposed to be there for and unfortunately we also had to discuss corruption, greed and explaining why adults are so against kids getting a quality education in this city because of the fact that they don’t want to share something that the PUBLIC owns? yes try explaining that to a 6 year old. My son received a lesson in his rights and in government yesterday, and this is the first time he has attended a rally about education reform ( he has been to the Occupy in the earlier days before the violence got out of hand, and we do hang out in union square and he actually does speak with many that are there about what is going on and why they are there, as I am raising an activist and a young man who is going to ask questions and fight for the ones who cannot fight for themselves) As for the corporate interests, yes because donating money to a NON-PROFIT PUBLIC school for whatever the reason may be (I’m guessing that it is either out of guilt for what many financial people have done to our economy and our children by default, or it could be because they want to ensure that there actually IS a generation of kids intelligent enough to run this world better than it has ever been run before and this is obviously NOT coming out of the regular public school system here in NYC) – then color me the hypocrite. I come from a union family, i am from a long line of blue collar workers and I will be damned if my kids have to worry about how they’re going to pay their bills because the education system has left them lacking the skills they need to make it in the world. I will not sit back and allow all of the kids in NYC be left to sit in the welfare system for the rest of their lives like generations before them. So yes, my kid left school 30 minutes earlier than usual yesterday…. and guess what? his homework was done, we read 2 books last night and he was STILL at school by 7:30 this morning.

By: BklynParent

BklynParent — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:51:00 +0000

I agree that children’s class time should not be overtaken by the political agendas of their parents and school administrators. However, this is certainly NOT a problem that is exclusive to the charters.

Teachers at my daughter’s traditional public school in Brooklyn have used class time to have students make anti-charter school posters. I think that’s appalling. My child is not a soldier in her teacher’s army. Plus, the teachers complain regularly about losing “teaching” time to testing. (I agree that too much time is spent on the testing.) So I have a hard time understanding how they DO have time to make posters for a pet cause.

The conversation around this topic is ugly and, more often the not, the behavior by the adults involved (on both sides) is immature, uninformed and destructive.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:25:00 +0000

I think it’s unacceptable.

By: bee

bee — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:23:00 +0000

Charters=public schools, is false.
Politicians, remember, there are far more REAL public school parents and employees than charter parents and charter entrepreneurs. Remember this when you’re trying to get votes.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:57:00 +0000

There is no threat to close your child’s school. The threat is to close other children’s schools so that private schools funded by public money can take over a public building with impunity.
It’s interesting to me that June 12 is the last day of class at the Success Academy. Will there be a summer program? and when does school begin again? late August?

By: Cocoa_ice2

Cocoa_ice2 — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Wednesdays are a half day for Success Academy schools. Upper West Success and Bed-Stuy success normally dismiss at 12:30, and the other schools hold dismissal at 2pm. The children were released THIRTY minutes early. I think that missing 30 minutes of school to protest the possible closure of your school is acceptable.

By: Cocoa_ice2

Cocoa_ice2 — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:09:00 +0000

By: Joseph Moses

Joseph Moses — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 09:26:00 +0000

In other words, your children left school early to attend a political rally funded by corporate interests. As a taxpayer, whose hard-earned dollars support your school, I object.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Speaking as a Success Academy parent, yes our children were released at 1:30 today as opposed to the usual 2pm release time for wednesdays ( generally our kids are out between 4 and 5:30 on mon, tues, th, and fri depending on the grade). The children were at the event because of the importance that the parents attend. Many parents were able to find sitters for their children, but not all of us could as our spouses had to work or we don’t have the baby sitting resources that many have. As for who paid for the entertainment for the kids and such, I cannot say, more than likely the organizers of the event used some of the PRIVATE funds that they raise each year and as per law they cannot use the public funds for such event ( of course I do not have access to the books, but this is where I feel the money came from). As for being taken away from their education today, they were not. As I stated they were released a half hour early ( this is success academy schools mind you, I do not know the hours for the others that attended) – our children have basically completed their end of year exams as friday is the field day for most of the schools and tuesday ( june 12) is our last day of classes. This was also educational for many of our children – just as the zoned school kids question why they have to share space, our kids ask ‘why do they all hate us so much?’.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:41:00 +0000

estimates of crowds reported by organizers are always inflated. I wasn’t there but I wonder, did that number include children?
where did they get the money for the buses, face painters, clowns etc?
if they are public schools, how can they flaunt the Chancellor’s regs that specifically exclude the use of students for political reasons
OMG…I forgot, Whitney Tilson paid for this..sorry, my bad.

By: Lurking

Lurking — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:02:00 +0000

Most NYC charter schools have longer hours and school calenders than DOE schools. They can go to a ton of rallies and it would not be considered “educational neglect” as long as the kids are in school for 186 calender days. Does that mean it is the right thing to do? Me says no. Using kids as pawns to further a political agenda seems downright creepy to me.