Leonie Haimson Blasts Mayor/Tweed on Parent Survey

Yesterday, those of who participated in the focus groups asked other parents to return the new parent survey, due to be distributed this week, with its questions crossed out and a suggested statement on the top saying “We want real parent input – as well as smaller classes, less testing, and new priorities at Tweed to deal with the real problems in our schools.” (You should of course feel free to substitute whatever sentence you like about what our schools really need to improve.)

In response, the Mayor said at his news conference yesterday that those of those of us who are calling for real parent input into our schools only want to “subvert the system and sit around and complain and not make it any better.”

I want to make it perfectly clear that none of us who participated in the focus groups were ever out to “subvert the system.” We volunteered in good faith and spent many hours over two days, to provide realistic and relevant suggestions so that this $25 million survey could be meaningful and useful. We were explicitly told that our suggestions would determine the questions asked. Instead, most of the issues we cared about were censored, for no apparent reason.

Moreover, those who signed our letter include members of CECs, President’s councils and other active, engaged parents who work hard every day, for no pay and little recognition to try to make this system work better for our kids. Not one of them can be called a slacker or a complainer. We were all extremely disappointed that our input was ignored – and that specific questions were omitted about class size, overcrowding, the amount of testing and test prep in our schools, the curriculum, the principal’s attitude towards parent input and involvement, and/or whether there is a functional School Leadership Team in the school.

Read Leonie's full report with links at:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/