Co-Posted with Concerned Advocates for Public Education
The appointment of Cathie Black as chancellor, someone with no qualifications for the job, is a critical important turning point in the history of the Bloomberg administration. Why?
It has provoked a firestorm of controversy, with the rest of the city waking up to the way in which the mayor's uses his money, power and influence to disregard the normal rules of civil conduct. This editorial in El Diario is good example of the widespread disgust.This citywide moment of clarity has occurred previously only two times before: when Bloomberg fired three members of the PEP who disagreed with him right before a critical vote, and when he announced his intention to overturn term limits.
Parents and education advocates have long known and their kids have long suffered from the way in which the mayor behaves as though the public schools are his personal fiefdom to do with whatever he wants, regardless of what research shows and how parents, educators, and the advocacy community feel. Finally, New Yorkers as a whole are realizing the damage represented by his autocratic behavior. It is a critical moment of time that we must act on immediately, by joining together to reject this appointment and the abuse of power it represents.
How?
1. First sign onto the letter below, written by civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and Michael Meyers, director of the NY Civil Rights Coalition, and join us in a press conference tomorrow, Sunday Nov.14 in front of Tweed. The letter clearly shows how the mayor's selection of Black, done in secrecy and without any public process, is inconsistent with the principles of equal employment which have governed candidate searches in the public and private sector for more than three decades -- to ensure that qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds were fully considered before making a final choice.
If you'd like to sign onto this letter, just send your name and any affiliation you like to classsizematters@gmail.com before 10 AM tomorrow morning. And please join us tomorrow, Sunday at Tweed at 1 PM; bring your kids if you can!
2. Then sign the NYC Kids PAC petition at http://tinyurl.com/2fmstgt
Even if you've signed onto other petitions already, please sign this one as it doesn't just sit there, it automatically sends messages to all the key education policymakers in Albany, including Commissioner Steiner, who will make the final decision as to whether to approve Ms. Black's waiver. As of this morning, it has nearly 1200 signatures, and had generated over 10,000 emails to Albany in 2 1/2 days.
3. Attend the PEP meeting Tuesday night at Brooklyn Tech and make your voice heard! Come at 5:30 PM to sign up to speak; and join the movement in opposition to the mayor's abuse of power. For directions, go to http://tinyurl.com/2998gq7
And please forward this message to others who care about NYC children and the future of our schools.
Read letter to Steiner at the CAPE blog
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