GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The stalemate in the State Senate appears to be ending in dramatic fashion today, with the distribution of power returning to how it was 31 days ago, at least numerically. That means senators can now get to work on everything they’ve ignored for the last month, including mayoral control, which officially expired last week.

Crain’s New York is reporting that a deal in Albany will have the Senate approve the Assembly’s bill now, but add amendments later:

Key Senate Democrats, notably Democratic conference leader John Sampson, want a few more checks on the mayor’s power than are provided for in the Assembly bill. But the Assembly has already adjourned for the summer, and senators don’t want to wait to renew mayoral control, which expired June 30. …

Amendments passed subsequently by the Senate would require Assembly approval, but an Albany insider says assurances have been received that the lower chamber would accept some modifications.

The bill probably won’t be discussed tonight. But when it is, the Senate is likely to push for increased parent involvement, Crain’s reports. “A vocal constituency” is still pushing for fixed terms for school board members, the report says.

Randi Weingarten’s participation in a press conference today beside two groups who’d like to see changes in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s mayoral control bill doesn’t mean that she’s going to fight for those changes, too. Weingarten is being overall “very positive” about the bill, a union lobbyist in Albany told me.

“It would be very unlikely that we would oppose, because we think there’s so much good in here,” the lobbyist in Albany told me. “It would only be whether or not to issue a memo in support.”

Weingarten is still hoping that a parent initiative will get added into the law, and she met with lawmakers today to promote the idea, the lobbyist said. She and the other two groups are asking the state to fund a separate organization or initiative that would give parents a voice in the policy discussion. The idea is similar to one Weingarten endorsed in a speech last year, when she urged a community coalition that had fought budget cuts to become a permanent organization.

The clarification of her participation follows confusion among lawmakers about exactly where Weingarten stands on mayoral control, a state legislator told me today. (more…)

Here’s a good barometer of the mood this morning among parent activists who were fighting mayoral control, via an e-mail I just got from one of them:

We parents feel like we’re being sucked down a vortex here.  Any chance you would consider calling assemblymembers and asking them point blank if they support fixed terms for the PEP?  A week ago that looked like it was in at least.  Please, please, please?

Silver’s plan, announced to lawmakers last night and leaked to the Times, does not include fixed terms for members of the citywide school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy.

Another sign of growing frustration: Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters and a leader among the parent activists, has these frank remarks about teachers union president Randi Weingarten in a City Hall News interview this week:

CH: What do you make of UFT President Randi Weingarten’s change of heart about mayoral control?
LH: I find it very disappointing. I don’t think she’s looking out for the real interests of the teachers, who overwhelmingly in surveys have expressed their dissatisfaction with Joel Klein and the current system. They are as concerned as parents with overcrowding, excessive class sizes and the fact that our schools are being turned into test-prep factories. This is really diminishing their ability to do their job effectively, and they have expressed that in many ways, in many forums.

Other parents criticized Weingarten’s position on mayoral control last week.

Meanwhile, Billy Easton, a director of the Campaign for Better Schools, remains optimistic. “There is no bill yet; there is still time to fix some of the shortcomings,” Easton said in a statement e-mailed out just now. The statement says Silver’s plan fails to strengthen the citywide school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, and fails to add in enough parental involvement.

Image from the DOE's Parent Link Web site

First it was principals, then it was teachers, and now parents are next in line to gain access to ARIS, the Department of Education’s data warehouse.

Each school will give parents passwords to log into the Parent Link section of ARIS sometime “between now and the end of the school year,” according to DOE spokesman Andy Jacob. Once logged in, parents will be able to monitor their child’s test scores.

The department is planning to hold a press conference tomorrow to debut Parent Link, ARIS’s previously missing puzzle piece, Jacob said. But the site is already up and running, and it appears that at least one school has given parents their usernames and temporary passwords: A commenter on Insideschools reports having received a password to access Parent Link — and finding that some of the information there was incorrect. (more…)

While lawmakers in Albany battle over how much to limit the mayor’s control of the public schools, a City Council member from Brooklyn is zeroing in on another part of the city school system he wants revised: the parents’ “bill of rights” — which apparently exists! Bill De Blasio, who is running for public advocate this year, is using the bill of rights to illustrate his argument for a “bottom-up” rather than “top-down” approach to improving public schools.

The current version of the list, created by the Department of Education and published on the department’s Web site, includes five rights that parents have (the right to file a complaint, the right to “be actively involved”) plus seven responsibilities (they must send their children to school “ready to learn,” they must keep track of their children’s performance, they must treat educators with respect).

The version drafted this week by Bill de Blasio, a City Council member from Brooklyn, outlines 10 rights that would give parents much wider latitude to participate in policy-making (plus the crowd-pleaser right to a “reasonable approach to cellular phones.”)

De Blasio has been telling supporters that he would improve the city schools by using the public advocate’s office as a kind of organizing arm of government that would empower parents to get more involved in improving their schools — and to supply them with the information required to do that.

De Blasio explained his position at a recent fundraiser in Harlem tied to education issues that I attended, where supporters brought toys to donate along with cash for the campaign and De Blasio’s two children, both public school students, made an appearance.

Here’s the full bill of rights, below the jump: (more…)

A group of parents is sharply criticizing the Department of Education for backing away from its decision to shut down struggling neighborhood elementary schools, saying Mayor Bloomberg should “take a hard line” and turn over the buildings to be used as charter schools.

The parents, who are zoned to have their children attend two of the schools that would have been closed and replaced with charter schools, said that they want the mayor to shut the schools down because the schools are dirty, dangerous, and filled with teachers who are “just there for a paycheck.”

“I live across the street from 194,” one mother, Melissia Daley, wrote of P.S. 194, a Harlem elementary school that would have been closed under the city’s original plan. “Although it’s a zoned school and very convenient for me and my child, I wouldn’t even try to put my child in there because the children are well behind in grade.”

“If they are closing 241 to put a better school in its place, then they should do that,” one parent, Martinique Owens, said, of another Harlem school, P.S. 241, in a similar situation.

Their statements came in a press release issued this afternoon by a spokeswoman for the Harlem Success Academy network of charter schools, Jenny Sedlis. Two Harlem Success schools were planning to become the sole occupants of the P.S. 194 and P.S. 241 buildings after those schools closed. Those schools will have to continue sharing space with district elementary schools next year. (more…)

After a long wait, a commission of parents led by outspoken critics of the Department of Education is unveiling its own proposal for how to change mayoral control. In testimony delivered to the Bronx Assembly hearing on mayoral control this morning, parents painted an ideal picture in which parent voices would gain power while the mayor would lose it.

Their proposal is topped off by a radical answer to the question of how to change the Panel for Educational Policy — the effective citywide school board — that would both strengthen the powers of the board and reshape who sits on it. The board would include just three mayoral appointees compared to six parent representatives, plus a City Council appointee, an appointee of the public advocate,and four expert members selected jointly by the board.

The commission is also proposing a stronger role for the CEC elected parent councils in each district. A key complaint about Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership has been that parents are not included in decision-making about the schools. Some have criticized the DOE for not consulting those councils when choosing to open and close schools, as is required by law.

Lisa Donlan, a commission member from Manhattan and the president of a CEC, testified that the state should create an “ombudsperson” role who would have the legal authority to advocate for parents when they aren’t comfortable advocating for themselves. This role addresses the DOE’s Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, which Freeman called “a way of distracting [parents], but not a way of helping them.” (more…)

Parent councils that are meant to serve as watchdogs over public school districts continue to be so understaffed that the Manhattan borough president is recruiting volunteers online.

A member of Scott Stringer’s staff contacted GothamSchools today to ask for help finding volunteers to fill two slots on Manhattan Community Education Councils. Those councils were created in 2002 by the same state law that gave control of the city’s schools to the mayor, to ensure a forum for parent input in the new governance structure. The law gives CECs oversight of districts’ academic and financial performance, zoning, and education and capital plans.

Finding volunteers could be difficult. In 2007, Stringer himself released a report, titled “Parents Dismissed” (pdf), that cataloged council members’ dissatisfaction with the level of training and support offered by the Department of Education. A survey conducted by his office found that 71 percent of council members had seen a colleague resign during the school year out of frustration.

That frustration has persisted through changes in the DOE’s parent outreach initiatives: Right now, 26 of the city’s 34 councils currently have vacancies, according to the DOE’s press office. Altogether, there are currently 66 openings for parents who want to get involved. Thirteen of those vacancies must be filled by borough presidents, and the Public Advocate has another slot to fill. (Borough presidents are actually permitted to appoint people who are not public school parents, the only way non-parents can join the councils.)

Interested in joining a CEC? Contact your district’s council for information. Below the jump, information from Stringer’s office on how to apply for the Manhattan spots. (more…)

Arlene Ackerman speaks to parents in Philadelphia. Photo by April Saul, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Parents who say they don’t get enough input into what happens in the New York City schools might like Philadelphia’s new superintendent.

As part of her research for a new strategic plan she is drafting for the Philadelphia schools, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is convening a series of community meetings to get ideas and answer questions (and anyone can help set up a meeting).

She held her first monthly roundtable with about 200 parents last week, who asked about everything from field trips to improving communication with non-English speaking parents.

She’s also meeting with parents in their homes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

But some parents want to see even more of her:

Judith Jackson, whose grandchildren attend Wakisha Charter, wants more access to the superintendent – did she ever think about one-on-one, open-door sessions?

“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Ackerman, who noted it as a good idea. “I wonder: Do I give everyone five minutes? Do I do it on a Saturday? I’ve got to think about it.”

Via Philadelphia teacher-blogger Christopher Paslay.

Some of these tips could work in New York City: involve grandparents, hold an online auction, try this Yahoo-powered search engine that pays the school a penny for every search.

And here’s an auction item that could really counteract coming budget cuts, if pulled off in the city:

8. Reserved parking spot for a family for the school year

Does your school have limited parking space? Take the stress out of daily drop-offs and pick-ups with reserved parking for a year! The winner of this items will be designated a prime parking spot reserved solely for the use of their family. You’ll be the envy Caravans everywhere!

The envy of caravans — and teachers.