Do you have 50 grand to be a Dream sponsor?
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Dear Friends,
I hope that you will join me on Thursday evening at 6:30pm for A Night At The Zoo: Graduation Gala
at the Central Park Zoo! We are honoring former New York City School
Chancellor Joel Klein and our first graduating class of Democracy Prep
seniors, all of whom have been accepted into four-year colleges and universities!
Tickets can be purchased here for what promises to be an absolutely amazing night. Even if you are unable to attend, please consider making a donation or sponsoring a teacher to attend.
A contribution of any size means a great deal to our scholars and will
help support our alumni so that they can fullfill our Democracy Prep
mission and succeed in the college of their choice and a life of active
citizenship! |
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I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!
Seth
Founder and Superintendent
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8 comments:
The graduation gala is for college scholarships for our alumni. We don't get a dime of public money for that, which is why we need to raise private funds. For our K-12 program we get $3,000 less funds than traditional schools do according to the IBO report. Because 100% of our seniors averaged 15 college acceptances each, we have a bigger need for scholarships. It amazes us that you and others are so blind-with rage that you don't even want our scholars to be prepared for success. Truly unbelievable norm.
Mayor Mike has now budgeted over $150 million of SCA construction money for the BUILDING OF CHARTER SCHOOLS. Shouldn't this money be going to build public schools?
Your "scholars"? What do you call the "scholars" you toss back into the public school pool? In your co-located invasions, teachers at public school are older and black. DP teachers were young white. Nice message you teach your scholars: racism and apartheid. You got so much money go get your own buildings. How fast can you say: arrogant shit?
I am more stunned about the price of the tickets to send 5 teachers. I really don't know who would have $1,000. So if someone purchases a table at $10,000 will teachers be the one sitting at the table for free, at least!
I truly feel that price is outrageous. Students who graduate from the public schools and they're accepted into an ivy league college don't have fund raising but receive scholarships from those colleges. So why is DP having to fullfil their dreams with this exorbitant graduation gala?
P.S. I wouldn't even spend a dime on Klein. You will not get your money's worth.
How apropos that the event is being held in a zoo.
This school is parasitic. The administration is in bed with powerful politicians who help them to make land grabs on prime real estate in the city. In return, DP succeeds at getting students to pass standardized tests which make the mayor look good. The students DP accepts, however, are the pick of the litter. They recruit only students with high scores and take fewer English language learners and special needs students than a normal public DOE school. DP may do a good job for their selective students (who BTW would probably excel in any school setting) but what about the others that get further ostricized and left in the dust.
Currently, DP is slated to co-locate with the Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center, a successful adult education center that has been in existence for over 40 years. The center is one of the biggest of its kind and offers an array of free classes to adults in need. Why would the mayor or the DOE allow DP to come in and downsize an important and, I repeat, highly successful community institution? DP has politicians eating from its hands, but its hands are bloody from the thousands of victims it leaves in its path.
My public school in Harlem takes in the students Democracy Prep kicks out. All of the students kicked out of DP are in serious crisis. While these people at DP and supporting DP pat themselves on the back, my public school struggles to meet the intense and complicated needs that DP didn't care to work with, all while my public school's budget gets cut and we lose support staff. To kick these students out, rather than support them with the millions of dollars you raise is mistreatment and mismanagement at best. Really, it is plain and simply abusive!
Please don't generalize about all public charter schools. As with most things, public charter schools run the gamut from terrible to terrific. Some are doing amazing work serving high-needs students and maintaining very low student attrition. Your criticisms would be more legitimate if they were informed and specific, rather than sweeping generalizations. The great schools - public and public charter - should be celebrated by everyone. The underperforming schools - public and public charter - should be held accountable for improving their performance, again by everyone. If Democracy Prep is in the second category (and some of the criticisms, especially student turnover, are apparently legitimate), then it should be scrutinized and held accountable.
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