It was a charade. From the beginning, when she realized that the vast majority of attendees were unsympathetic to her pitch, she obviously decided to have it shut down - doing her best to cast the blame on us.
She started with three parents from UWS Success extolling the wonderful experiences of their children in Kindergarten and the "terribly under performing" schools their children were saved from. As if that baiting of the public school teachers and parents in the crowd was not enough, one of the presenting parents started to directly engage the audience. For example, he asked whether anyone had ever witnessed actual classroom space be taken from public school kids by Charters. That immediately set off a contingent of PS 15 parents whose children have actually suffered exactly that fate as PAVE Academy has expanded in the building.
Eva then got up and complained that prospective parents were being deprived of the opportunity to hear a presentation of the Cobble Hill Success Academy's education program. But first, she said, she had to explain "the backstory". She then went out about the the terrible public school education she had received as a child growing up (in Manhattan D5, no less) during the Seventies (aside - at Stuyvesant High School??!!!!) She then went on about her career on the City Council and her failed campaign for Manhattan Borough President and how she lost because she had antagonized the UFT. That followed her recounting how she had three(?) children including one with special needs. That precipitated a snort of skepticism by one of the MS 447 parents - whereupon Eva loudly complained of being hissed at for having a "special needs child"
Throughout all of this, the crowd was growing increasingly impatient. As Benjamen Greene (President of CEC-13) called out, they wanted to "hear about the program" already. Eva petulantly responded that "you can't tell me what to say" and then abruptly "closed" the meeting.
To give you some idea of her true agenda, there was an opened film screen in the front of the room. Yet, despite presence of multiple film crews laboring at Eva's behest, there was NO SIGN OF A PROJECTOR anywhere to be seen.
In your experience, have you ever seen a pitch by these folks that was not accompanied by a film or at least a PowerPoint presentation? That small details tells you everything you want to know about the sincerity of her appearance.
_________________________
Jim Devor; President, CEC-15
See Ed Notes earlier report: Eva Shut Down By Parent Leaders in Cobble Hill - M...
8 comments:
She most likely never intended to stay for the entire meeting if she was going over to the North Side right after. She must delight in getting communities in an uproar and then blame them for not listening to her pontificate.
I hope you are getting your film out there to all the PTAs in her targeted districts!!
I was there, along with other teachers from the School for International Studies; and teachers from the other affected schools, I'm sure. Her "presentation" was beyond disingenuous and what I especially despised was how her lackeys felt the need to verbally attack the schools that they are proposing to invade, as though they know anything about us. My heart is heavy today.
It is time to Occupy Eva's Residence!
That woman will stop at nothing. She is truly a delusional, power hungry witch!
I am an unaffiliated parent who attended the meeting hoping to get some information on the charter school.
Unfortunately, the non supporters chose to disrupt the meeting in such a way to both embarrass themselves and waste my time. I'm sure other parents attending the meeting for the same reason feel the same way.
I hope won't delete my post, but wouldn't be shocked if you didn't post this.
From my point of view, this is completely inaccurate. Eva didn't shut down her meeting, it was the anti-moskowitz crowd that didn't give her or anyone a chance to speak.
So while you may relish in the fact that you and your peers used thug tactics to run the Success Charter folks out of the room, you did yourselves a grave disservice and embarrassed yourselves to a number of concerned parents.
I came to learn about Success Academy, I left with a completely different perspective of why NYC Schools are in shambles.
It's truly unfortunate that there is nowhere in our current system of education where the voice of knowledgeable and concerned parents and teachers can take place. There is no one truly listening or inviting parents to be a part of a dialog, a discourse, or the planning of what is or will be the future of their children, and most schools are running on fear of closure as their m.o.s
No one will really involve us as those most intimately involved in our children's lives. Instead, we are force fed policies without concern from the DoE, or sold a divisive, slick, self-serving alternative called Success Charter. For those of us who have been studying this issue for a while, we have lost patience in both, able to see through the smoke screen all too clearly. For those who believe our public schools are in shambles because of the actions of a caring few who spend off hours trying to find ways to do this better, you are so sadly wrong. If you were to realize that as parents, you are being played by both sides, and the end-game is not to better educate your children, you might become enraged as well.
It has been almost 10 years of Mayoral control that has failed our children royally, and now a Charter School industry is being given cart blanche and the red carpet treatment all over the city at our expense, and we are to remain silent? I don't think so.
We may not have a polished act, a slick brochure or have billions to throw around. We may not be able to snap our fingers and move an entire community out of the way to make way for what they "claim" is better. But we do have hearts and souls, which is surely lacking in the former. The concerns and passions of the activist teachers and parents who are at their wits end can no longer be contained. To watch this system devour our children as if they were commodities on the stock market is a disgrace. We cannot nor will not sit by and allow this to happen any longer. And for those who would like to see this done more gracefully, why not consider actually getting involved, or at least informed? Jumping from public to charter is like going from the frying pan into the fire. And if you don't want to get your hands dirty, there is always private school, because taking public funds and public property and making private profits out of them is likely to become a very messy business.
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