GW Bush — you besmirch everything you touch

GW Bush — you besmirch everything you touch

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School Closing Hearings Turning into Perfect Storm

School Closing Hearings Turning into Perfect Storm

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Data debunk Bloomberg administration claims of school failure and success

The New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg / Schools Chancellor Joel Klein administration is in an unprecedented fury to close down large high schools, called comprehensive high schools in the education field. The city is working to replace the schools with small schools, also called small learning communities. While the city has touted the small schools as the panacea for problems in education, academic studies and actual city data show that the city has not made improvements in students' performance.

The real "bible" for every education activist, whether the activist be a student, a parent or an educator should be NYC Schools Under Bloomberg, and Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know. (Lulu, 2009, ISBN 978-1-56592-479-6) It has contributions by academics, education activists and journalists, Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, Deycy Avitia, David C. Bloomfield, James F. Brennan, Hazel N. Dukes, Leonie Haimson, Emily Horowitz, Jennifer L. Jennings, Steve Koss, Maisie McAdoo, Udi Ofer, Aaron M. Pallas, Steven Sanders, Sol Stern, Patrick J. Sullivan and Andrew Wolf.

David C. Bloomfield, a professor of Education Leadership, Law & Policy at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, contributed Small Schools: Myth and Reality to the New York City Schools. The essay indicates how private foundation money has dictated public policy. During the 2000s the (Bill) Gates Foundation dispensed $100 million into the creation of small schools in New York City. That foundation has channeled money through intermediary private foundations, the largest of these being the New Visions Foundation, as the Gates Foundation channeled $61 million to the New Visions Foundation. (Bloomfield, p. 49, 50)

The city touted "college readiness" as the sure-fire product of these conversions. Yet, huge percentage of the school graduates require remediation courses when they enter CUNY schools. Bloomfield cited the following excerpt from a study, that shows that New Century High Schools (another of the private foundations that has reshaped New York City Schools):

Examination of the Class of 2006 graduates in the two groups of schools indicates that graduates of comparison-group schools were more likely to earn a Regents diploma or Advanced Regents diploma, however, than were NCHS graduates (67 percent versus 46 percent). When the unit of comparison is students rather than graduates, however, the difference is less stark, with 41 percent of comparison-group students and 36 percent of NCHS students earning a Regents or Advanced diploma. (Bloomfield, p. 53-54)

As Bloomfield noted, this difference indicates that the New Century school students performed worse than students in the traditional high school students, as measured by receiving a Regents diploma.
He added (p. 54):

Like their large-school colleagues, most New York City small schools graduates earned so-called "local Diplomas," rather than Regents diplomas; these are so deficient that New York Sate is eliminating them because they fail to meet accepted standards of college readiness. It appears that, counter to their stated mission, the small schools are putting graduation over education without the academic rigor that [small school] advocates claim.

Remember, we are ultimately concerned with the students' long-time interests; but Bloomberg / Klein have failed with these school conversions:

Small schools students, too, have suffered from their schools' focus on reaching the administration's self-defined benchmarks rather than providing a substantive, well rounded education preparatory to post-secondary [i.e., college] opportunities. (Bloomfield, p. 55)

From Diane Ravitch's introduction to the collection of essays:

In late 2008, the Gates Foundation announced that it was curtailing support for small high schools because its own research showed that students in these schools were mot making as much progress in reading or mathematics as their peers in large high schools.

(Ravitch, p. 3)
Bloomberg made the mission of transforming the schools with the goal of making students "college-ready." The facts show that his makeover of the schools has been a failure toward the goal of college preparedness.

Bloomfield noted a study indicating that the future of a new school school does not improve over the earlier large school "unless the academic profile of incoming students is improved, a DOE contrivance well documented by Jennifer Jennings [New York University sociology professor] and Aaron Pallas [Teachers College, Columbia University professor of sociology and education]." (Bloomfield, p. 55. He pointed to "Jennings writing as Eduwonkette, 'Why Has the Education Press Missed the Boat? The Case of Small Schools,' Education Week, vol. 27, no 39, June 4, 2008 and Jennifer L. Jennings and Aaron Pallas, 'Who Attends Small Schools?,' presented at the American Educational Research Association annual conference, San Diego, CA, April 13-17, 2009.")

The New York State Report cards indicate that small schools, broken from large schools do not perform better than the traditional large schools. I have presented performance on Regents tests. Now, I recognize that authentic sophisticated learning is more than performing well on a standardized test, the test performance comparisons provide a standard measure from school to school. It is interesting that the data of "the system" or "the education establishment" do not show the small schools as performing better than the larger traditional schools.
Let's focus on the two more difficult New York State Regents tests that are mandated for all students, the Global History test and the Living Environment test. The previous passing grade was 55; for the newest graduating cohorts of students the passing grad is 65. Students that entered the ninth grade in 2007 (the class of 2011) must pass four of the mandatory tests to receive Regents diplomas. (The mandated tests are English, Math, Global History, U.S. History and Living Environment.) Local diplomas will be eliminated, beginning with the cohort of students entering the ninth grade in 2008 (the class of 2012).

Let's look at a sample of schools that have been broken into smaller learning communities, and then let's look at larger, comprehensive schools:
(The New York State Regents test data come from: https://www.nystart.gov/publicweb/Home.do?year=2008)
*Sampling of small schools, created in the 1990s and 2000s from large schools:
*Erasmus Campus (in the former Erasmus Hall High School, Flatbush, Brooklyn) Business/Technology:
(This small school-within-a-school academy is itself moving to closure; it does not have figures for the latest available year, 2007-2008)
percentages of students getting 55 and 65 scores, respectively, on tests:
Global History, 2006-2007: 66, 26
Living Environment, 2006-2007: 76, 35
*Erasmus Campus Humanities:
Global History, 2008-2008: 64, 18
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 60, 20
*(in Erasmus) Academy for Hospitality and Tourism:
Global History, 2007-2008: 60 48
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 63 37
*(in Erasmus) High School for Service and Learning:
Global History, 2007-2008: 65 48
Living Environment: 80 62
*(in the former Andrew Jackson High School, Cambria Heights, Queens) *Business/Computer Application High School:
Global History, 2007-2008: 49 29
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 85 57
*Humanities and the Arts:
Global History, 2007-2008: 80 66
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 73 46

*Traditional, larger, "comprehensive high schools" in comparable communities, central Brooklyn and east-central Queens:
*Boys and Girls High School, Bedford-Stuyvesant:
Global History, 2007-2008: 69 62
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 76 44
*Clara Barton High School, Crown Heights:
Global History, 2007-2008: 68 35
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 75 56
*Jamaica High School:
Global History, 2007-2008: 66 52
Living Environment, 2007-2008: 71 48

So this settles the issue. It will be necessary to pass four of the Regents exams with at least 65 to get high school diplomas in a few years. By New York State's own requirements, the performance scores in the small schools are not stronger than those in comprehensive high schools in comparable neighborhoods. The small schools are not meeting the challenge. So, why is there the tremendous urgency to shut down comprehensive schools and replace them with small schools? The city is publicizing so-called failures of the comprehensive schools. Why are large schools over-whelmingly the targets? Why are they not treating the small-schools or the academies-within-the schools not receiving comparable scrutiny? As I have just documented, the small schools are "failing" by New York State's own Regents requirements. Even the private foundation that engineered the makeover for small schools (the Gates Foundation) has abandoned the trend of breaking apart large comprehensive high schools.

As I have noted elsewhere on this blog, large schools afford benefits of economies of scale: music, art, performing arts, physical education facilities, including full size basketball courts or competition-ready pools, diversity of foreign languages of study, electives in English and senior year social studies, honors classes and advanced placement classes. Conversely, as Bloomfield noted, "Because of their size, small schools usually lack diverse curricula; depth in specialized faculty, particularly in math and sciences; professional guidance and college counseling; another strengths of comprehensive schools." The break-up of schools entails undue uneconomical duplication of administrative staff, not the least of which is the hiring of multiple $100,000+ principals per school building.
This break-up of comprehensive high schools is a civil rights issue; the break-up of schools has not been forced upon white or Asian communities. These school-break-ups are not happening in Forest Hills, Bayside or Midwood. These school break-ups are exclusively in African-American and Latino neighborhoods: eastern Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.

Download leaflet for Jan 16 Emergency Parents' Conference on School Closings

Emergency parent conference on

School Closings

at the School of the Future
127 East 22nd Street, take the 6 IRT local to E 23rd Street
9:30 AM - 1 PM

Click on the image or here on this text for the leaflet / flier.

Norman Siegel, the renowned civil rights and civil liberties lawyer, is among a confirmed speaker for the event.
Contact Renowned New York City education critic and activist Leonie Haimson at
classsizematters@gmail.com or call her: 212-674-7320
or Event Co-Chair Monica Major at
majorm766@gmail.com or call her: 347-664-6712

Download flier for January 21 demo at Mayor Bloomberg's mansion

Download here the GEM / CAPE flier for the Thursday January 21 demonstration at
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's townhouse residence at 17 East 79th Street
on the block between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue

The demonstration will rally outside the mayor's mansion from 4 to 6:30 PM
Join us in support of the students, parents, and teachers
at the 22 school communities affected by the proposed closings & charter takeovers.

WHY AT HIS RESIDENCE?
Because Bloomberg is closing our schools
which are the lifeblood of our communities.
We need to bring this issue to where he lives!

WHY DO WE DEFEND OUR SCHOOLS?
Because these schools are remarkably successful,
given budget cuts, overcrowding and the high
needs students they serve.

WHAT DO OUR SCHOOLS
NEED? More support and greater resources! They
should not to be closed down and replaced by boutique or
charter schools that exclude our neediest children.

WHAT MORE CAN WE DO?
Put on the pressure! Call and email the Mayor,
Chancellor Klein, your State legislators, your City council
member and members of the Panel for Educational Policy
(PEP). For contact info, go to: nycpublicschoolparents.
blogspot.com


The coalition behind the demonstration is broad; the flier is drafted by the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) and the Red Hook, Brooklyn affiliate of GEM, Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE)
SPONSORED BY: The Emergency Coalition to Stop School Closings; including parents, teachers, and
students at PS 15k, Jamaica HS, William H. Maxwell CTE (list is in formation). For detailed information
about the rally, keep up to date at these blog sites: http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com,
or email: gemnyc@gmail.com, call 718-601-4901, or go to www.capeducation.blogspot.com.

Flier for Friday Wall Street demo

Join community and labor activists

as they protest mammoth giveaways to banks amidst slashing of MTA farecards to students, MTA transit lines and bus routes.

Assemble at Wall and Broad Streets, at the New York Stock Exchange,
on Friday, January 15, 2010, from 3:30 to 6 PM

Gotham Schools columnist calls for Independent Review of NYC DoE school closing steamroller

January 6, 2010, a Gotham Schools columnist called for an independent review of the Bloomberg / Klein Department of Education administration's school closure tidal wave.

Here is the column; I do not concur with 100% of the sentiments. The author does make valuable points; and it is encouraging that a sort of mainstream site, outside of the education defense community, is airing an articulate critique of Bloomberg's rabid haste against schools.

Leadership, Law, and Policy
January 6, 2010
David Bloomfield
Closing Schools: A Call for Independent Review
by David Bloomfield

To write that I am a fan of closing failing schools is to fall into the same bombastic trap now enmeshing the Bloomberg administration. Before the Mayor took office, I wrote about the need to take forceful action against these educational mediocrities. But the wholesale closing and opening of schools that the Mayor has embarked upon is not the answer.

Replacing schools does not necessarily improve education. In the Mayor’s hands, it has become a shell game that defers instructional problems until they reappear elsewhere, to be met again with a similar reaction. Meanwhile, the often lengthy period of the schools’ decline — until so drastically and unconstructively arrested — has harmed thousands of students.

Until now, the Mayor’s strategy has been largely immune to public opposition. The Department of Education announced its hit list with little or no prior warning, the better to keep critics at bay. The new school governance statute, however, has created a process for notice and hearings that — while imperfect — will subject this year’s target list to formal scrutiny followed by likely approval by the mayor-controlled Panel for Educational Policy. Students, parents, teachers, and their supporters are organizing to reverse the DOE decree.

This is a public scenario that DOE operatives — probably with the best of technocratic intentions — wanted to avoid. School-based opposition was identified as the Achilles’ heel of reform after the failure of Mayor Giuliani’s initiative to have Edison Schools take over a number of failed schools. Families at the schools voted against the move.

But Bloomberg still seems committed to playing a power game despite the new legal landscape and a public increasingly fed-up with his paternalistic mien. His is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory, with his PEP majority ready to work his will but giving rise to increasingly mobilized school communities that will oppose even justified closings.

This warfare could be avoided if the Mayor took a different, more conciliatory tack. What is needed — both legally and instructionally — is to articulate a clear set of standards for determining school closures, with thorough review of actions taken to avoid the disruption attendant to this last resort and the possible impact of closure on other schools.

The Mayor has created a sense that these closures are less than inevitable but, rather, part of a considered strategy to free up space in certain schools for charters and preferred small schools. Rationales for school closure are a moving target. Some are cited for low graduation rates — though other schools, not slated for elimination, are worse. Or the emphasis shifts to enrollment, or application rates, or whatever other metric might appear deficient either currently or over time. The data seem a pretext for closure and, like so many dominoes, set up a new round of schools predetermined for failure.

These actions give the appearance of illegal caprice: the inconsistent application of otherwise rational criteria so that the action is ultimately unpredictable and subject to whim. If indeed there is a hidden, consistent rationale for these decisions, then it is the Mayor’s obligation to reveal it. Keeping the public off-balance through secrecy is deplorable. This is a typical private-sector strategy based on the competitive edge of proprietary trade secrets. The Mayor’s people still haven’t learned that such tactics are inappropriate in a democracy where an informed public is a paramount, legally-enforceable value.

The more objective, transparent, and deliberative process of school closure suggested here has been used successfully in State registration reviews and finds favor in State law. Education Law § 402-a recommends district creation of an Advisory Committee on School Building Utilization six months before a scheduled school closing, with a clear set of factors for committee review. This is a more independent process than the current New York City formula and could profitably supplement it without sacrificing urgency.

So far, though, Mayor Bloomberg has refused to see the writing on the wall. His unexpected announcement shortly before the holidays, of almost two dozen school closures with a quickly scheduled series of required hearings prior to the PEP determinations on January 26 manifests a continued disdain for the spirit of recent statutory changes.

As a result, the Legislature should publicly contemplate buttressing the new but demonstrably ineffective requirements of Education Law §§ 2590-e(21), 2590-f(1)(w), and 2590-h(2-A) with mandatory application of Education Law § 402-a unless the Mayor recognizes that his policy of intentional opacity will no longer be tolerated.

The days of Oz and the application of naked, self-justifying power are over. If the Mayor is right, then he should step from behind the curtain and allow independent review of his decision to close each school.

Meet at Norman Thomas HS! (Jan. 11) Converge on Tweed Courthourse (Jan. 13)

Mobilize to defend public education in New York City!

Mobilize to defend teaching as a career!

If we do not defend schools under threat of DoE closure, hundreds more teachers will become ATRs (absent teacher reserve) this year!

Do Not forget the World War II German pastor's (Martin Niemöller) warning about ignoring the plight of oppressed groups,
before you become the next victim of the New York City Department of Education.

Attend Monday (Jan. 11, 2010) night's public meeting at Norman Thomas High School; see details in box in right panel, "Activism Calendar."

The following is a UFT memo, calling for a concentration of union reps upon DoE headquarters at Tweed Courthouse (south side of Chambers Street, between Broadway and Centre Street), on Wednesday night, January 13 (CTE pertains to Career and Technical Education):

As you are aware, the struggle over the DoE's plans to close twenty schools – including fifteen high schools – is growing. Last Thursday evening, there were turnouts of over 1000 people in opposition at two meetings – Columbus in the Bronx and Jamaica in Queens. A real grass roots movement against these closures has begun to emerge.


Reflecting the high priority of this struggle, we are once again holding a joint High School Committee-CTE Committee meeting this month. The High School Committee was originally scheduled for this coming Wednesday in Queens, but we are switching it back to the UFT's Headquarters in lower Manhattan. The DoE's Citywide Council on High Schools meets Wednesday at 6 PM at Tweed, and we would like to adjourn our assembly at 5:30 and head en masse to that meeting, which will be addressing the school closures. It would be ideal to have a powerful turnout from all high schools – not just those slated for closure – at the meeting.


UFT HIGH SCHOOL COMMITTEE – CTE COMMITTEE MEETING



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010



4:15 p.m.



UFT CENTRAL OFFICES

52 BROADWAY



DIRECTIONS:

WALL STREET STOPS ON THE ‘2,’ ‘3,’ ‘4' AND ‘5' SUBWAY LINES

BROAD STREET STOP ON THE ‘J,’ ‘M’ AND ‘Z’ SUBWAY LINES

RECTOR STREET STOP ON THE ‘R’ AND ‘W’ SUBWAY LINES


Refreshments will be served.

Should the Giants coach be put in the rubber room?

Teachers are at fault for everything. There is no responsibility assigned to the parents, nor to the students, god forbid. And a distractive culture, with an ever-rising range of electronic distractions, at home and in the classroom, consuming students' attention.
But we all want to throw teachers upon the bonfire.

With the ignominious defeat by the Minnesota Vikings, last Sunday, January 3, 2010, of one of local football teams, the New York Giants, we see the need to make some heads roll. Lets make some tough, hard decisions, put their feet to the fire, raise the bar, and leave no New York fan behind. This defeat is too demeaning to us. Some examples must be made!!!!!!!!!

The skill set in the Giants is deficient; let's make the right choice from our toolset: rubber room, cloaure, what else?

Vote in our online poll, the results will be channeled, magically, both to Joel Klein and to the national football commissioner.

DoE official gets boos at public meeting at Jamaica High

Live reports on WNYC radio (820 AM and 83.9 FM) of a public meeting, of tonight, Thursday, January 7, 2010, reported that the audience met the Department of Education representative's statements with boos. This was at a public meeting on the New York City Department of Education's plans to close Jamaica High School. The mayor and chancellor are feeling omnipotent as ever as they are set on closing nearly two dozen high schools. I concur with bloggers that think that there should be a coordinated fight-back against these closures. As a Bronx-oriented blogger, JD2718, wrote, "A school-by-school campaign would involve a strategy whereby each targeted school would create its independent case for not being closed. I understand the desire to do this. If I was in one of the schools, I would try. But I see the danger that school could be pitted against school."

Earlier today the member-supported radio station uploaded a long text article with positive photographs of the school, murals behind students, and a large pool.

Let's make sure to support the city's comprehensive high schools, by making a similar show of support for a large high school, this coming Monday night, January 11, 2010, at 6PM (with a rally preceding at 5 PM). Come to the meeting at Norman Thomas High School at 111 E 33rd Street (and Park Avenue). (Transit info in side-bar at the right.) Organizers in the movement to defend New York's schools are mobilizing to make this meeting the center-piece for a city-wide meeting.

Print this Grassroots Education Movement flyer on the issues surrounding the massive, class- and race-skewed pattern of school closures.
Come to Monday, January 11's meeting!

List of Jan. rallies planned for school closing protests, by school

From NY Indypendent online:
NYC School Closings Draw Heated Protests on a Bitterly Cold Day: Community Activists Claim Department of Ed Targeting People of Color Neighborhoods for Privatization Schemes
By John Tarleton
From the December 31, 2009 issue | Posted by John Tarleton , Local | Email this article

Parents, educators and community members rallied in the freezing cold outside Tweed Courthouse late Monday afternoon to protest the Department of Education’s (DOE) recently announced plan to close 21 more public schools in 2010 including 15 high schools.

“They dropped a bomb on the schools without any notice,” said William McDonald a Queens parent and a leader of Save Our Schools Coalition (SOSC), a group that opposes the school closings. “The principals didn’t know. The teachers didn’t know. The parents didn’t know.”
Tweed Courthouse, located in Lower Manhattan, serves as headquarters of the NYC Department of Education. PHOTO: Flickr-CC
Tweed Courthouse, located in Lower Manhattan, serves as headquarters of the NYC Department of Education. PHOTO: Flickr-CC
The closings primarily target schools (see full list below) in predominantly people of color communities that serve a disproportionate number of high-needs students. Vanessa Sparks, a former member of the District 28 Community Education Council in Central Queens, cited the closing of Jamaica High School as an example. While the predominantly black Jamaica HS is slated to be closed after serving as a pillar of the community for 117 years, Sparks said schools in whiter, more affluent neighborhoods like Forest Hills and Kew Gardens with similar records of academic achievement remain unscathed.

“They don’t play the same game with every community,” Sparks said, referring to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DOE Chancellor Joel Klein.

About 20 people turned out for the rally which was organized by SOSC. Many of those present expressed concern that the school closings were being carried out to facilitate the expansion of privately-run charter schools.

“They are using kids as pawns to privatize the schools,” said Monica Harris, president of the P.S. 20 Parent Teacher Association in the Lower East Side, which is locked in a battle to prevent the expansion of a charter school that would come at the expense of P.S. 20 and another public school in the neighborhood.

Elizabeth Bouiss and Joseph Occhiogrosso, both teachers at John Dewey High School in Bensonhurst/Coney Island came out to show their support. Bouiss said DOE directives have made it increasingly difficult for teachers at Dewey HS to “carry out the school’s progressive mission”, which emphasizes empowering students to make decisions regarding their educational experience. Dewey HS is not targeted for closure this year but Bouiss worried that it could be targeted in the future, especially given the DOE’s record of breaking up big schools and turning them into clusters of smaller, specially themed schools.

McDonald said protests would continue during the next month as the Panel on Education Policy (PEP), holds public hearings at each of the schools slated to be closed. The 13-member PEP, which replaced the old city school board in 2002, will vote on the DOE proposal on January when it meets at Brooklyn Tech High School in Fort Greene. Despite the fact that Mayor Bloomberg appoints 8 of the Board’s 12 voting members, the demonstrators vowed to fight to the end.
“January 26 will be ground zero in this fight,” McDonald said.

Here are the dates and times for upcoming hearings at schools designated for closure:

5-Jan 6pm School for Community Research and Learning HS 1980 Lafayette Ave, Bronx
5-Jan 6pm Academy of Environmental Science and Renaissance Charter 410 East 100 Street, Manhattan
6-Jan 6pm Frederick Douglas Academy III (6 -8) 3630 3rd Ave, Bronx
6-Jan 6pm Beach Channel HS at Beach Channel HS
7-Jan 8pm Columbus HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 5pm Global Enterprise HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 6pm Paul Robeson HS 150 Albany Ave, Bklyn
7-Jan 6pm Jamaica HS 16701 Gothic Drive, Queens
8-Jan 6pm Choir Academy of Harlem HS 2005 Madison Ave, Manhattan
11-Jan 6pm Norman Thomas HS 111 E 33st, Manhattan
11-Jan 6pm Kappa II (6-8) 144-176 East 128 st, Manhattan

11-Jan 6pm Alfred E. Smith HS 333 East 151st, Bronx
12-Jan 6pm William H. Maxwell Vocation HS 145 Pennsylvania Ave, Brooklyn
12-Jan 6pm Business, Computer Applications and Entrepeneur HS 207-01 116 Ave, Queens
13-Jan 6pm Academy of Collaborative Education (6-8) 222 West 134 St, Manhattan
13-Jan 6pm PS 332 (k-8) 51 Christopher Ave, Bklyn
13-Jan 6pm School for Academic and Social Excellence (6-8) 1224 Park Place, Brooklyn
14-Jan 6pm New Day Academy HS 800 Home St, Bronx
14-Jan 6pm Metropolitan Corporate Academy 362 Schermerhorn St, Bklyn
19-Jan 6pm Monroe Academy of Business Law HS 1300 Boynton ave, Bronx
26-Jan 6pm PEP meeting Brooklyn Tech High School
Source: Ed Notes

Petition to protest the MTA card cut-off of NYC students

Click here for an online petition against the MTA's cutoff of transit MetroCards for New York City school students.