SRO at overcrowded MORE meeting - dozen people waiting to get in

What an excellent, well-run meeting, organized by MORE steering committee. Well, I was sort of shocked. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, so many people tried to get into the MORE meeting, the guards had to stop people from going in -- only when someone left would someone be allowed up. A bunch of the usual participants didn't even come. MORE will have to consider a bigger space.

Who knew? And a bunch of new people too. The Cuomo ed deform program and the tepid UFT response has apparently spurred people to take some action. I never get too excited because we have been down this road before. There was so much on the agenda, the meeting went longer than expected -- but we still made it to the happy hour afterwards.

The key is will people not only come back but also become active participants on growing the movement. Parents connected to Change the Stakes attended as did some high school students and their recently rubber-roomed teachers from NYCLetEmPlay. I visited David Garcia-Rosen in the rubber room the other day and this is some story, which I will going into

David Garcia-Rosen

detail - teachers pulled from their schools because they took a personal day to take their kids on a trip - a trip they had approval for months ago but was cancelled on the orders of Farina because it is a political hot potato. David turned down a Farina job offer (bribe) at Tweed last year.

Can Farina actually turn out to be worse than Joel Klein? Wait till I report in more depth on this story. David and his crew brought the issue to MORE at the meeting and this one will have legs. If the DOE goes to a 3020a hearing it will be open and a circus.

The skinny: David, teaching in a small high school, saw that the breakup of large high schools in poor areas left the kids without decent sports programs as PSAL money kept flowing to the large high schools left intact (in more affluent areas) while small schools were starved. He started his own alternate sports league for small schools in the Bronx. And therein lies a tale. Here are some quick hits from a search to get those interested up to speed. 

Ø David Garcia-Rosen sent the first of a series of FOIL requests to the DOE this morning. Ø He will continue to do this until the Mayor appoints an independent ...
A teacher's crusade to bring competitive sports to small ...
ny.chalkbeat.org/.../a-teachers-crusade-to-bring-competitive-sports-to-sm...
May 9, 2013 - What David Garcia-Rosen started as a single-column spreadsheet has turned into a 17-page report and a mission to provide more team sports ...
Ed Notes Online: NYC Teacher David Garcia-Rosen Battles ...
ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../nyc-teacher-david-garcia-rosen-battles.ht...
May 28, 2014 - I ran into David Garcia-Rosen, who I met years ago at Teachers Unite meetings, at a UFT event at the Hilton recently where he was promoting ...
In Schools Where Sports May Be Most Vital, New York City ...
www.nytimes.com/.../in-schools-where-sports-may-be...

The New York Times
May 27, 2014 - In 2011, David Garcia-Rosen, a history teacher and dean at International, formed the small schools league, and International got its first ...