Press Ignores Inequality Issue and Charter School Political Manipulation of Parents and Students in NAACP Reports

Below are the links at Gotham this morning to stories regarding the NAACP suit. Most of them compare the numbers who turned out to the charter school protest compared with the much lower numbers who came to the press conference on Friday. Not one mentions that Harlem charter schools closed down for hours on the day of their rally and organized the parents and children who had no school to go to and were politically organized to attend the protest against the NAACP. A serious sign of omission in any story comparing numbers.

But worst of all, the massive testimony at the Friday press conference in front of Eva Moskowitz' Success Charter HQ pointing to the enormous unequal treatment of children was also ignored, receiving some mention only by NY1's Lindsey Christ.

The press should check out the video tape I put up - http://vimeo.com/24644676 - at the very least scroll through the 55 minutes and see how children are treated differently in charter co-locos, the main point of why the NAACP is involved.

UFT has TWO co-loco charters
Also note how the UFT is vilified as being against charters and co-locos but not one story mentions that the UFT has TWO charter schools in the East NY section of Brooklyn that are occupying space in public school buildings. Yes, the UFT has taken the hyprocritic oath. But where is the press on that angle?

Also note national NAACP head Benjamin Jealous defending the suit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-naacp-is-suing-new-york/2011/06/03/AG1W5PIH_story.html

Good piece except for: To spur the changes needed to help students succeed, we even stood with many of these critics when a Rhode Island district fired all the teachers at Central Falls High School.

• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
• State Sen. Eric Adams voted to increase charter schools but this year is suing to stop their growth. (Post)
• The Post says low attendance at the NAACP rally shows that its lawsuit involvement has little support.
• Stanley Crouch: The lawsuit shows the NAACP “has fallen” since its civil rights heyday. (Daily News)
• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
 

AFTERBURN
NYC EDUCATOR TAKES A SHOT AT JONATHAN ALTER:

Alter's been thoroughly refuted at the Public School Parents blog, both here and here, in Accountable Talk,  Salon, and in the ceaselessly observant Schools Matter.

READ IT ALL: In Good Company