GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The entrance of Brighton Beach's William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School.

Is the school being closed, or is it staying open?

Parents repeated variations of that question often over the course of a two-hour-long meeting Department of Education officials held at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School Monday evening to detail the city’s plan to overhaul the school.

The answer, they were told, was more complicated than a matter of semantics.

“This school is not being closed,” Aimee Horowitz, the school’s superintendent, told families, teachers, and the School Leadership Team in three meetings at the school over the course of the day.

But she also said a new school with a different name would be opening in the building in the fall, and just half of Grady’s current teachers would remain. Those are the conditions of the school improvement model known as “turnaround,” she explained.

Mayor Bloomberg announced earlier this month that the city would use turnaround at 33 struggling schools so that they could continue receiving federal funds even if the city and teachers union do not agree on new teacher evaluations. Since 2010, Grady had been undergoing a different federally mandated overhaul process, “transformation,” which relies on changing leadership, bringing in extra support services, and experimenting with longer school days and new teacher training.

The details Horowitz outlined were puzzling for several of the 40 parents and students who crowded into Grady’s cafeteria to learn about the turnaround plan.

“First you say in your speech that the school was going to do transformation. And then as you go on you started saying things like, this is going to be a new school. So where are we, which one should we believe?” said Ade Ajayi, whose son is a junior. “A lot of things are going to change. Teachers are going to change. We don’t even know if the name is going to be the same.” (more…)

A top Department of Education official butted heads with a parent this morning over the credibility of parent advocates, suggesting that advocacy groups do not reflect the views of “real parents.”

The dispute took place during this morning’s “On Education” panel, which GothamSchools co-hosted.

During a back-and-forth with Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch over the success of mayoral control in New York City, the DOE’s typically reserved chief academic officer, Shael Polakow-Suransky, said the complaints of parent advocacy groups are not as credible as the surveys the city collects on parent satisfaction.

“Ninety-two percent of parents report that they are getting really good service each year from their schools,” he said. “I would urge people before categorizing stuff based on the voices of politicians or specific parent advocacy groups that may not have had their needs met, to really look at the data about what real parents are saying.”

On the panel, William Thompson, a former city comptroller and prospective mayoral candidate, raised his eyebrows and appeared startled by the comment (1:55 in video). (more…)

The city schools are likely to be heaped with praise tomorrow when Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announces this year’s progress report grades. But a dearth of low grades could actually turn out to be a double-edged sword for Klein.

When the progress report initiative was first announced, Klein said the grades would be used to determine which schools to close. This year, if the chancellor decides to close more schools, he could find himself in the position of arguing that his own accountability system did not accurately reflect a school’s shortcomings.

The grades are also sure to add to the scrutiny currently being given to the test scores that account for most of each school’s grade. The vast majority of a school’s progress report grade — 85 percent — depends on its students’ scores on state math and reading tests, with the bulk of that based on how much each student’s scores increased since 2008. (The remaining 15 percent of each score is based on attendance data and the results of surveys given to parents, teachers, and students.)

Under this formula, this year’s citywide jump in test scores could give rise to a significant jump in progress report grades. Indeed, we’ve heard from several sources that most elementary and middle schools are getting very high grades, and only a handful are getting failing grades. (more…)

When City Council Member Bill de Blasio criticized the Department of Education’s bill of rights for parents as being too limited last week, it was the first many of us had ever heard of such a document. Now, just a week later, the document has expanded, ballooning to an eight-page list of 57 enumerated rights divided into four sections. That’s up from five one-sentence rights published on a single Web page.

A spokesman for de Blasio said school officials alerted his office to the new bill of rights yesterday, the same day the document appeared on the department’s Web site. In a statement, de Blasio said he is encouraged by the expansion, but not satisfied.

The new version outlines a litany of specific rights for parents, including the right to receive their children’s full instructional schedule, the right to have meetings about their children’s educational record, and the right to communicate with teachers. The original bill of rights, which is also still published online, in English and a slate of other languages, was more vague, affording parents the right to things like “a free public school education” for their children and to “be actively involved in the education of their children.”

The new version does not include one of de Blasio’s recommendations, though: the right to attend a zoned school in their neighborhood. De Blasio called that omission “troubling.” His full statement is below the jump.

UPDATE: A spokeswoman for the department, Nicole Duignan, said school officials have actually been working on the expanded document for two years. She said the family engagement and advocacy office built it “based on input and experience from parents who wish to play an active role in their children’s education.”

“We always welcome ideas and suggestions from elected officials to promote and improve parent involvement in our schools,” Duignan said.
(more…)

Learn NY, the group lobbying the legislature to renew mayoral control, today sent out a second message to parent e-mail lists. The message addresses concerns from parents who’ve been wondering why they should support mayoral control if they don’t support the mayor’s education policies.

Answers Learn NY, in the e-mail (reprinted in full below the jump):

These are fair discussions, but I would like to state that I am not here to champion or defend specific policy decisions that the mayor has made. But the fact that parents are holding the mayor directly accountable for the changes in our schools highlights the key issue for those advocating for the renewal of the law– for the first time, we have a line of responsibility: the schools are accountable to the mayor, and the mayor is accountable to us.

We are all, now, education voters. Just as much as our next mayor is responsible for keeping the streets safe and providing city social services, the mayor’s job description now includes education and there is a clear obligation to insure that our schools improve.

Learn NY’s first message to parents (and parent bloggers) was introductory. The full e-mail is after the jump. (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.

Classes aren’t just for kids in New York City. The Brooklyn Borough President’s Office is teaming up with the DOE to offer a new “Brooklyn Parent Academy” for two weeks this month, with seminars focusing on advocating for children with special needs, helping children with math and reading, dealing with bullying and gang violence, and the DOE’s new middle school initiatives. Register by tomorrow for the workshops, which begin Oct. 16.