WAGPOPS Brilliant Expose of Citizens of the World Charter Ponzi Scheme

Falsely inflated demand for charters exposed: The evidence that these two proposals put forth representing the demand for more elementary charter schools is preposterous.  

The proposals point to the New York Charter School Center’s data of 4,000 children on waiting lists at various charter schools in District 14, using self-reported data gathered by survey from charter school operators. Additionally, the data is pooled -- without delineating the waiting list by each charter school, the grade level of the applicants, or where the applicants live, these numbers are meaningless.....

We believe that there is a place in public education for charter schools, but Citizens of the World is bastardizing the original intent of charter schools. We have a district wide model for school choice in place. 

We are deeply concerned that our children will be fodder to what appears to be a ponzi scheme on the part of their developing CMO to use our New York City funds to pay backtheir debts in Los Angeles, opening more schools with more start up grants based on inflated projections, and enrolling more and more children in order to stay afloat with a financially unsustainable model.

We recognize that parents with children who are not yet school-age are unfamiliar with NYC DOE schools and are easily seduced by a campaign that maligns public schools generally. These parents have been led to believe that the glossy brochures, Power-Point presentations, and expensive marketing are offering something different, new, and special. Not only are the “dream schools” these parents have been sold already open (and under-enrolled) in our district, but our local elementary schools offer even more of what parents have expressed as desirable than these proposed charter schools.CWSNY1 and CWSNY2 are poor copies of our existing neighborhood schools.The CWSNY1 and CWSNY2 proposals are an insult, not just to our neighborhood public schools, but to the NYC DOE that developed mandates which these twoproposals pretend to be unique and proprietary to their individual schools. CWSNY1and CWSNY2 have nothing to do with providing “high-quality public school options for families,” and everything to do with politics.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools (WAGPOPS) is a group based in District 14 that is doing great work.  Eva Moskowitz' husband, Eric Grannis, wants in on the action. WAGPOPS is trying to stop him and wrote a 45 page document to SUNY, the authorizing agent. Really, though long, this is a must-read document. The kind of work the UFT should be doing -- if the leadership weren't on the wrong side of the fence (see the article in the NY Teacher about how wonderful co-locations can be.)

Here is the link http://www.scribd.com/gemnyc/d/94382088-WAGPOPS-Letter-to-Suny-Opposing-Citizens-of-the-World-Charter-Schools and I'm embedding it below for the lazy ones.WAGPOPS Letter to Suny Opposing Citizens of the World Charter Schools


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