Video: Walcott Takes Heat From Parents, Teachers and UFT Officials at Contentious Closing School Hearing (PS 215) in Rockaway

"This is not a UFT chapter meeting."  ----Dennis Walcott to Queens UFT Borough head Rona Freiser at PS 215 hearing, Jan. 20.

The word doesn't match the image

The NYCDOE holds a closing school hearing for PS 215Q on a Friday night at 6pm. Chancellor Dennis Walcott is, surprisingly, present. There was a lot of anger and anguish amongst parents, teachers and UFT officials from the Queens office. 

The first person I ran into was Queens PEP rep Dmytro Fedkowskyj.
"Did you hear my statement?" Sorry. It must have been a wowser. Later I asked if he categorically supported keeping PS 215 open. "I'll examine the facts." Okay. Examine what? Either you view the Tweedies in good faith or bad faith. No examining necessary when it comes to the failed policy of closing schools other than in the most outrageous cases like Williamsburg/Believe Charters.

Lots of teachers and parents and union and politicians were there. At the end of the video that's local City Councilman James Sanders getting booed. (Some people view him as one of the worst CC people.) He jumped in to save what looked like his pal Walcott but I did not include his silken words designed to distract people in the video --- he gave the impression he would assess the situation but we know the score --- he will do nothing. If he feels community heat he just might say a few words in favor of PS 215 but won't put any political capital behind it.

Hey Walcott, there ARE NO MORE DECK CHAIRS LEFT

We were very surprised Walcott was there and a lot of heat was directed at him. His tune just doesn't vary and hasn't for a decade. A building could come down around his ears and he would say nothing's wrong --- think Italian ocean liner. Captain Walcott-Schettino is in charge of a ship that came aground under Joel Klein and is now listing badly while the Captain tells people to go back to their cabins.

Quite an interesting evening and I put together this 12 minute clip of a few highlights.

NOTE THE BAD BLOOD BETWEEN THE UFT  - QUEENS BOROUGH UFT HEAD RONA FREISER ASSISTED BY DERMOT SMYTH AND WALCOTT. ALSO NOTE MY INTERVENTION IN SUGGESTING THEY USE 'MIC CHECK" TO GET THEIR MESSAGE ACROSS AND HOW JUST USING THOSE WORDS STOPPED WALCOTT'S INTERFERENCE --- I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MIC CHECK USED AT A UFT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY.

And one more point. I felt the Rona showed some insensitivity in bringing up the 33 schools and how it was unfair to close a school that went from C to A while at a hearing to close PS 215 which got an F. If we are disputing the grading system as unfair we should be consistent.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOuvml9CXPA

Side note:
I got there late even though it was in Rockaway and I live 15 minutes away. Anna Phillips of the NY Times borrowed one of their cars to make the trip -- I told her PS 215 was impossible to find, especially at night,  and I get lost every time I go there during the day and if she came out early I would treat her to a Rockaway dive dinner and drive her there. But she got delayed at the office and then got trapped in a bad lane on the BQE so dinner was out the window and we did a rush over to the school. I dropped her off and had trouble finding a spot -- a sign of a big crowd. I parked blocks away (I won't go into details of the post-meeting senior moment when I couldn't find my car) and could hear cheering coming from the auditorium.

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