Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
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Friday, January 27, 2017
Farina Dream of Destroying Progressive Central Park East 1 Comes to Fruition As UFT Remains Silent
[Principal] Garg received poor marks on the DOE’s school survey for her first year at CPE 1, with a 45 percent approval rating. That compares to an average 95 percent across the city. In five out of eight categories for “effective leadership,” no teachers rated her competent.
The school, founded 41 years ago by legendary educator Deborah Meier
with a distinct philosophy that favored collaboration with teachers and
parents, has long been hailed as a model in the progressive education
movement.
“It’s a school that is falling apart. It is chaotic, incoherent and
rudderless,” said Kenya Dilday, parent association co-chair and the mom
of a third grader.
Parents say that more instructional support is needed for the
200-student school where 11 out of 17 teachers are new since last year.
“We are listening to the concerns of this school community and
providing support to ensure we are meeting student and family needs,”
DOE spokesman Will Mantel said.
This is a great piece by Amy Zimmer that exposes the Farina regime. The only problem is that it makes the DOE look incompetent when in reality the destruction and chaos at Central Park East 1 was and is intentional. Remember other top performing schools like Townshend Harris and La Guardia where these type of principals have been installed.
The principal of CPE 1 is a Farina Hit Woman sent in to destroy the schools. Garg should get a bonus for accomplishing her mission. The first step is to drive out the established teachers (10 of whom Garg had investigated and one sent to a rubber room). The 11 new teachers who were hired by Garg must love her.
At what point do we hold the Farina led DOE accountable for the outrages? And where is the UFT?
Kindergarten Applications Plummet at Once-Coveted School Amid Controversy
Central Park East Mixed Chorus performed at Carter Burden Center for Aging on January 21, 2015.
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DNAinfo/Sybile Penhirin
MANHATTAN — East Harlem mom Kaliris Salas-Ramirez had to wait a month to get off the waitlist and score a spot just to tour Central Park East 1 when visiting elementary schools for her son two years ago.
This year, the school at Madison Avenue and East 106th Street had barely enough parents to fill the tours. At a recent evening open house, “literally one parent showed up,” Salas-Ramirez, now co-chair of the parent association. The small and diverse lottery-based school — considered the
forerunner of progressive public schools in the city — garnered more
kindergarten applicants per available seat than any other school in the
city for the the 2015-2016 school year, according to Department of Education data. Nearly 570 families listed the school as one of their 12 choices on
their kindergarten application, vying for just 30 seats. That breaks
down to about 19 applicants per seat. But that was before Monika Garg took over as principal last September, touching off a revolt from long-time teachers and parents who claim she is not supporting the school’s progressive foundations of inquiry-based, child-centered learning. This year, according to school insiders, roughly 280 families
applied. That’s still a high number given the dearth of seats, but it’s
half the number of families who applied in 2015. “It really has been heartbreaking to see a school like CPE I that has
such an incredible reputation and amazing teachers be destroyed in a
year,” Salas-Ramirez said, noting that parents who did tour have
expressed grave concern about the new leadership. After the school community launched a petition last year to oust Garg, tensions are still high at the school.
In five out of eight categories for “effective leadership,” no teachers rated her competent.
Parents say that more instructional support is needed for the
200-student school where 11 out of 17 teachers are new since last year.
A consultant came in September to observe, parents said, but there
was no follow-up. Another consultant versed in progressive education
arrived this month, after families pleaded with the DOE to send more
help.
“There is structure with progressive education,” Salas-Ramirez said.
“That’s why you need mentorship and leadership, teamwork and
collaboration. You have to be so intentional in the work. You have to
direct the conversation of these children in a way that get kids to have
an ‘a-ha moment’ without you telling them what it is.”
The school, founded 41 years ago by legendary educator Deborah Meier
with a distinct philosophy that favored collaboration with teachers and
parents, has long been hailed as a model in the progressive education
movement.
With its focus on social emotional development over a more
test-centric approach, the school has drawn a lot of families — across
East Harlem’s District 4, Harlem’s District 5 and the Upper West Side’s
District 3 — who opt out of the state’s standardized English and math
exams.
Yet, while the number of students who sit for the test remains small,
they typically outperform citywide averages — until last year.
The scores of the children who sat for the tests fell below the state average for the first time ever — and that was after Garg instituted a test prep program and teachers have been implementing a more “hybrid” traditional/progressive model, according to parents. “It’s a school that is falling apart. It is chaotic, incoherent and
rudderless,” said Kenya Dilday, parent association co-chair and the mom
of a third grader.
“We feel that the many new teachers could well turn out to love and
excel at CPE1’s particularly pedagogy. But as of now, they are
confused.”
Dilday fired off a letter to Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña
complaining of various problems with the school's leadership, including a
$100,000 grant application that the principal said she filled out
through the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. While all other schools that applied were awarded the grants, CPE 1 was not, Dilday said.
The Borough President’s office told parents it never received the
application, and the principal told parents that she applied but
couldn’t find the school’s name on the drop-down menu for the
application, so she filed it under Central Park East High School. This year, Dilday is taking over the responsibility of filing the application, she said.
“The parents are working so hard, the teachers are working so hard,”
Dilday said. “It’s a sad place now, but maybe one day it will be happy
again.” Garg did not respond to a request for comment. DOE officials said the superintendent was continuing to support the
school, noting the progressive education consultant who was recently
dispatched there.
“We are listening to the concerns of this school community and
providing support to ensure we are meeting student and family needs,”
DOE spokesman Will Mantel said.
As
a result of her actions, more than 1/3 of veteran staff members are
leaving the ... and maintained by a large group of concerned parents at Central Park East 1.
I was in attendance the night that about 100 parents came with their signs and voices to ask the Panel for Educational Policy to remove the newly installed principal who was wreaking havoc with the school. Now I concur with Norm. This was a well functioning school that was well attended and people were fighting to gain an acceptance letter. Parents said they were traveling great distances to attend this school. That night three mothers who were medical doctors spoke highly about the school. Now I thought it was disgraceful that these three mothers had to take time out of their important work to come and tell this Panel about the deteriorating conditions at the school. The point I took away from this was if these three mothers who had attained some of the highest levels of education thought that this was a good school for their children, well I would take their opinion quite seriously. The Panel nodded and Chancellor Farina said she would dispatch someone to see about the situation. But, of course, all this energy was in vain and the school has descended into disorder. I suppose this is Common Core on the macro Level. All schools will be exactly the same. The dysfunctional schools shall rise to the minimum level of functionality and the successful schools shall fall to that same level of minimum level of functionality.
Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating). Or because your comment is irrelevant or idiotic.
I was in attendance the night that about 100 parents came with their signs and voices to ask the Panel for Educational Policy to remove the newly installed principal who was wreaking havoc with the school. Now I concur with Norm. This was a well functioning school that was well attended and people were fighting to gain an acceptance letter. Parents said they were traveling great distances to attend this school. That night three mothers who were medical doctors spoke highly about the school. Now I thought it was disgraceful that these three mothers had to take time out of their important work to come and tell this Panel about the deteriorating conditions at the school. The point I took away from this was if these three mothers who had attained some of the highest levels of education thought that this was a good school for their children, well I would take their opinion quite seriously. The Panel nodded and Chancellor Farina said she would dispatch someone to see about the situation. But, of course, all this energy was in vain and the school has descended into disorder. I suppose this is Common Core on the macro Level. All schools will be exactly the same. The dysfunctional schools shall rise to the minimum level of functionality and the successful schools shall fall to that same level of minimum level of functionality.
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