Nothing like disenpowering parents to stimulate a lack of interest and we won't get into the shameful performance of BloomKlein (see the NYC Parent blog for more) in the fiasco of removing just about any input from parents, but some people are still trying.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2009
Media Contact: Morgan Pehme
Tel. (646) 861-5048
press@powertotheparents.org
Deadline for Parents to Run for Education Councils is Tomorrow
Only 24 Hours Left for Public School Parents to Register to Represent Their Kids, Community
Midnight, March 19th, is the deadline for public school parents to register to represent their children and local school district on NYC’s Community and Citywide Education Councils (CECs). Although many parents have applied to run for a CEC seat, there are still District schools that have yet to put forward candidates.
CECs were formed in 2003 to replace the City’s school boards. CEC members advise the Department of Education on issues impacting parents and schools like instructional programs and zoning.
“You can register online to be a CEC candidate for your District in a matter of minutes at www.powertotheparents.org,” explained Jeff S. Merritt, Founder and President of Grassroots Initiative, the New York City-based nonprofit organization partnering with the Department of Education to recruit and assist CEC candidates.
Parents who have any questions about applying to run for a CEC seat are encouraged to call the election’s toll-free help line immediately: 1-877-NYC-VOTE and to look at the www.powertotheparents.org website to get answers to frequently-asked questions.
For a quick explanation of how to run for the CEC, parents should watch the Public Service Announcement at www.powertotheparents.org/info.html. Media and community activists can also embed the PSA on their website using the code below.
For more information about the elections or how to run for the CEC, log on to powertotheparents.org or call 1-877-NYC-VOTE.
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Written and edited by Norm Scott: EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!! Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
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1 comment:
You stage meaningless, straw vote elections in a city with amorphous (shall I say, non-existent) community identification as regards its public schools for positions on boards that have no meaningful purpose or power, that seek activist parents but robs them of the option to serve as officers in their children's PTA's/PA's, and that probably 80% or more of the public (including parents of public school children) has never heard of, and you're surprised that there might be low rates of participation and turnout?
I'd recommend to the Mayor, Chancellor, and a few others at DOE that they read Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's novel, Seeing, a fabulous story of a city where citizens turned out to vote only to submit blank ballots in massive numbers. His story fits the CEC election situation "to a tee;" but in the DOE, it's reality being stranger than fiction.
Steve Koss
That’s because DOE focused on the straw vote as the mechanism for the people’s voice to be heard (it’s hard to convey irony in an email, so let me point out the obvious: it’s an oxymoron).
But they forgot to draw up a plan to publicize the elections in places where parents actually are and sufficiently in advance for busy people to get the message.
Paola de Kock
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