Disillusioned Parent Pulled Daughter from Girls Prep Charter - another hedge funded scam

.....because of their personal guilt over what minorities must endure in order to make it in life in their twisted, unfair system, they think they can go into 'the hood' and save the little poor children. Much often, they alienate themselves from the community and establish schools that fence themselves off from the community, thinking that parents are too poor, uneducated, or tired to deal with their children's progress at school. .....I mentioned "corporal punishment" and they dismissed it as "enforced exercise". ... My daughter and her peers were being "emotionally abused" at the hands of this administration....Girls cannot burp, sneeze, cough, feel sick or lean against their chairs because they will be punished by taking points away (merit system). Girls cannot raise their hands to ask questions - they have special hand signals for bathroom, water, pencil, one on one, tissue, etc.). From the beginning the girls have been put in numbers (like a jail system) and must travel that way or get penalized.--My daughter's education for the last two years was non-existent..... former Girls Prep parent

This was sent to me in Feb. 2012 and I found it in my draft folder. Since I did a piece on Girls Prep charter the other day (picked up by Chalkbeat) where they threatened parents who picked up their kids late that they would drop the kid off at the local precinct and call ACS. So much crap about this charter has been coming in over the last 24 hours I can do a month-long series.

Hi there: My name is ------- and I just saw your video. WOW! I totally agree with you, but there is one thing the public needs to know about the Charter Schools that nobody seems to be addressing at these hearings and it is very important:

I will start by introducing myself. My name is ------ and I am the mother of a wonderful 6th grader, who ATTENDED Girls Prep for 7 years, since the very first day it opened its doors until December 22, 2011. I had to pull my daughter out of that school as it had transformed itself into a "boot camp" with children being trained to be robots. The elementary school has not been affected with this plague, yet.

My daughter and her peers were being "emotionally abused" at the hands of this administration. The principal is a liar who labeled, and in writing (in the girls records) classified almost an entire classroom as "bullies", my daughter being one of them. Bullying is a very serious accusation with many consequences. If my daughter is labeled as a bully just because the principal feels she could do this (no accountability) and I saw the proof, in writing along with some other parents that does not even constitute the "notion" of bullying then my daughter's future is at stake. What if someone asks to see her records? I had voiced this and all they said "it is for GP eyes only" - I don't care, it shouldn't be there. The principal and administration want the girls to feel, and be seen as these horrific kids.

Girls cannot burp, sneeze, cough, feel sick or lean against their chairs because they will be punished by taking points away (merit system). Girls cannot raise their hands to ask questions - they have special hand signals for bathroom, water, pencil, one on one, tissue, etc.). From the beginning the girls have been put in numbers (like a jail system) and must travel that way or get penalized. In the beginning of the year I spoke up about the girls constantly being threatened and made to go up and down the stairs as punishment, carrying all their books with them as they were not given a few minutes to go to their lockers to swap books all day long. I mentioned "corporal punishment" and they dismissed it as "enforced exercise". I fought for this school, tooth and nail, when they were trying to find a home as I BELIEVED that they had my kids best interest at heart; that they would deliver on the elite education in a nurturing environment that was promised, but no they didn't. My daughter's education for the last two years was non-existent. My girl has never done an ESSAY, BOOK REPORT or any other WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT that I remember doing when I was in school and if they did, the teachers never checked/corrected any spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors....to them, it was more important that they see "what they are thinking". In the real society, nobody is going to care what they they if they can't spell correctly, or don't know how to use the grammar and punctuations correctly.
> The teachers are mean and scream in the girls faces, and in my daughter's case were told by the teachers that they "don't care". I have many stories but you can get an idea by reading this article of what goes on: (pay close attention to the comment #5 - I am so sure this was done by a staff member, but in either case it was done from their view - how dare they perceive us like that). http://eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/amid-headlock-allegations-parents-complain-about-disciplining-at-girls-prep/
> Have you seen the parent reviews: http://www.greatschools.org/school/parentReviews.page?id=8287&state=NY The big kicker is that Eva Moskowitz's husband, Eric Gannis is on the board at GP. This school is spiraling down and out of control. Use it as an example as to what happens when the kids get to middle school, the voices of the parents and students are non-existent. I would not want to subject any kids to this - it is clearly emotional abuse (you should hear the stories). A teacher had already left the school by mid-October, 5 or 6 students had left by the beginning of October and 3 or 4 more pulled out on Dec. 22, 2011. Many of the girls are not allowed to use the bathroom and have had "accidents" in the classroom. They've gone as far as suspending students who scurry out of the classroom because they just cannot hold it anymore while the teacher makes them wait purposely or ignores them. They do not want to soil themselves, out of sheer embarrassment. Parents are not notified when the kids have in-school suspension, and on many occassions haven't been notified when incidents occur within school walls. Incidents that occur are covered up, denied at school meetings, and parents are told it "never occurred". They do this to make the child/parent look wrong, so they can save their own a--.

The list goes on and on, and MANY parents are NOT coming back next year. At one point I whole-heartedly supported charter schools, excited about their new ideas and innovations. Yet, I have been let down. I do not support the disrespect and mistreatment towards our children, and the alienation of all parents. Charter schools are supposed to be unique, "innovators", a different approach towards education. Those qualities went out the window after charter schools started taking on such harsh punishment, and even weaker academics. For some reason, because of their personal guilt over what minorities must endure in order to make it in life in their twisted, unfair system, they think they can go into 'the hood' and save the little poor children. Much often, they alienate themselves from the community and establish schools that fence themselves off from the community, thinking that parents are too poor, uneducated, or tired to deal with their children's progress at school. The 'ambitious' staff works around the clock in order to reform and act like The Saviour. Somewhere, there are good schools in which children can learn and have fun simultaneously. I do believe that there is a way to teach the wild child. I don't like the way some charter school children are treated because adults with power want more power, praise, and money for turning things around. It doesn't seem to be about the children. They gave power to the wrong people. If this could help in your battle to stop these "monsters", please feel free to reach out to me at ------ so we can discuss. I hope that we can stop all these charter schools that are spreading like wild fires, because it has become clearly proven to us that our needs are not their concern. In fact, charter schools have got it twisted...forgetting that they NEED US more than we need them.

Girls Prep Charter Takes Kids Not Picked Up on Time to Local Precinct, Threatens Parents with Administration of Childrens Services

Girls Prep can order these for Pre-k

Girls Prep has figured out a way to start the school to prison pipeline in pre-k. Children first in the world of charters.

Girls Prep Charter Suffers Financial Scandal

I love the smell of a good charter school scandal early in the morning.

Anna Phillips has a piece at Schoolbook today that is worth checking out.
We know that money can also disappear in public schools. But there are more oversights. Charters where public money is placed in private often lightly regulated hands are subject to all kinds of abuses. This one is interesting for the ties that bind.

On the board is the wife of Spencer Robinson, the billionaire's son who started PAVE in red Hook at PS 15, the only good that came out of this is the activation of the amazing PS 15 crew which includes Julie Cavanagh). Lots of hedge hogs support Girls Prep --- nice management by the Board of Directors.

Note that the alleged scam artist, Christina Garcia-Coleman, the network’s managing director of finance and operations, is also a trustee at the Spence school where Bloomberg's daughters went.

Financial Improprieties Alleged at All-Girls Charter School Network

• Girls Preparatory Charter School of the Bronx
• Spence School

Jan. 30, 2012, 3:12 p.m.

By Anna M. Phillips

A New York City charter school network has told parents that it is a victim of theft by “a senior member of the finance and operations department,” who it says used the network’s credit card to spend tens of thousands of dollars on personal items.
In a letter sent Friday to parents of students in the three Public Prep charter schools, Ian V. Rowe, the network’s chief executive, and Bryan Lawrence, the board chairman, wrote that they had discovered “financial irregularities,” but that all but $1,000 of the money would be recovered through insurance.
“Just given the context of stories about charter schools and financial issues, we decided to be proactive and let folks know that this person has resigned,” Mr. Rowe said Monday. “Believe me, I’m very upset that it occurred, but we did catch it, and the person resigned, and the schools are not affected.”
Public Prep operates three all-girls charter schools in the city, two in Manhattan and an elementary school in the Bronx.
Mr. Rowe said the network’s staff detected problems in early January. He would not specify how much money was missing.
He said the network was asking the district attorney’s office to investigate Christina Garcia-Coleman, the network’s managing director of finance and operations.
Ms. Garcia-Coleman resigned on Jan. 23. According to her biography on the organization’s Web site, she was also a board member of the network’s Bronx elementary school, Girls Preparatory Charter School of the Bronx, and resigned from that as well.
The Web site of the Spence School, a private all-girls school in Manhattan, also lists her as a trustee.
E-mail and phone messages left for Ms. Garcia-Coleman were not returned.
Here is the letter that was sent to parents:

FEB. 4- STATE OF THE UNION: TIME TO FIGHT BACK Register at: http://stateoftheunionconference-estw.eventbrite.com/


See Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

NEW VERSION: Educational Dysfunctionality and Discrimination in the World of Bloomberg/Klein

Discriminatory and Destructive Precedents Set PS 15 and PS 188/94 State Education Commissioner Appeals

Cross posts with CAPE (http://capeducation.blogspot.com/) and
GEM (http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/)

Joel Klein disregards decision by State Ed Commissioner regarding Girls Prep charter school expansion while students with autism are forced to move. As outrage mounts, he reverses himself. But the controversy over basic decisions to favor charter schools while discriminating against special ed children won't go away.

We updated the video after Klein declined to use emergency powers to move the autistic children - for now.

And we now have commentary to go along with the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCYJRj4sMTk


Discriminatory and Destructive Precedents Set PS 15 and PS 188/94 State Education Commissioner Appeals



Over the last week we have heard and seen tremendous outrage over Chancellor Klein’s evoking of emergency powers, disregarding Commissioner Steiner’s ruling in the PS 188/94 appeals case. Local and State politicians have had no fear, and have minced no words, making clear their opposition to Klein’s abuse of power in evoking an emergency clause to allow Girls Prep Charter to stay in the PS 188 building despite the impact on the children with Autism at the school. Klein has recently backed down from this position, now stating he will not use emergency powers, but rather look for an alternate place, for at least a year, for Girls Prep Charter School. In a press statement the DOE continues to claim that there is more than enough room in the PS 188/94 building and maintains not a single child with special needs will be displaced. The DOE’s lack of understanding for and consideration of children with special needs continues to be astounding. For both schools, and for potential co-location sites across the city, what has been lost in the fray over these process and power positions, are the destructive and discriminatory precedents set in Steiner’s decision to dismiss the PS 15 appeals case completely, and his ignoring of the merits in the PS 188/94 case he supported.

Both appeals targeted two distinct areas of complaint. First, that the DOE did not follow proper procedures as dictated by the change in school utilization portion of the Mayoral Control Law, particularly in terms of meeting the standard and intention of the law regarding the Educational Impact Statements, which was further defined by the Mulgrew decision. Secondly, both appeals made substantive complaints, detailing how the DOE made arbitrary decisions when it came to building and space utilization and allocations; largely ignoring the needs and legal mandates of students receiving special education services as well as disregarding the space needs of all students.

The DOE was required to respond to the complaints laid out in the parents’ appeals, and their claims were shocking. In their responses the DOE charged that even though the law requires outreach efforts to maximize public notification and input, they are not required to provide Educational Impact Statements to parents other than through the internet, email and principal notification. Steiner’s agreement with these claims now limits the DOE’s burden to notify the public. Considering many of these co-locations are targeted in isolated, lower socio-economic, under resourced neighborhoods, the majority of parents and community members will not be notified of potential co-locations and the impact on their children, as was the case in the PS 15 community.

Further, regarding Education Impact Statements, the DOE claimed they were not required to specifically outline a space plan for the co-located schools or detail the impact specifically. Steiner agreed with this logic citing the PS 15 EIS stated there may be some impact on enrichment programs and non-mandated services, but that the DOE felt there was more than enough space in the building and that a space plan would be created later with the schools’ building council. To be clear, Stiener used a document of questionable validity to justify his ruling. For this and many other reasons, these justifications are unacceptable. This decision flies in the face of the Mulgrew decision and permits the DOE to provide vague and self-serving assessments and justification of school space and impact. Under this decision, Educational Impact Statements must only state the DOE’s assessment of available space in the building (based on faulty utilization and instructional footprint allocations) and claim that there is enough. They are not accountable for in any way explaining where affected programs will go. For PS 15 this has meant the loss of a science lab, special education office, and several classrooms forcing multiple out-of-classroom providers (mandated and non-mandated) to share space, often at the expense of student privacy and optimal learning conditions. It has meant loss of enrichment and the down-scaling of intervention programs because there are no rooms in the building that are not programmed throughout the day, including the cafeteria, gym, and auditorium. None of these specifics were required to be included, according to the DOE and Steiner, in the EIS, and apparently none of these losses are considered significant enough to define the DOE’s judgment as arbitrary. One wonders if Steiner, Bloomberg, or Klein would have allowed these impacts on their own children.

Among the litany of alarming assertions by the DOE, upheld by Steiner, none is more striking than the claim that designated space is not required for special education related services and that stairwells and hallways are perfectly acceptable spaces for students to receive related services. Steiner did not even address the substantive issues regarding these claims in his decision. His only attempt to address the parents’ challenging the merits of the DOE’s co-location proposal was to say that he, “…could not conclude that the (DOE’s) decision was arbitrary…(because the) DOE denies the assertions and contends…the building can support both schools.” For students at PS 15 this will mean speech in the backs of classrooms or in shared classrooms and physical therapy, occupational therapy, vision and hearing therapy in hallways, stairwells, and corners contrary to the students’ IEP mandates. Is this putting Children First, or Charters First?

In the DOE’s appeal response they state, “Sharing space is central to New York City’s strategy for school improvement.” This “strategy” sets up a competition for scarce space and resources where special education students will apparently be on the losing end. As we have seen in multiple co-location proposals, PS 188/94 included, special education children can simply be moved and shuffled around to benefit charter school access to public school buildings. It begs the question: what was the intention of the state law allowing charters access to public school space for lease? It is doubtful the intention was to take utilized space away from existing public school children in order to provide essentially free space and significant start up cost savings to charter schools.

The claims by the DOE in both appeals cases, and the written decisions by Steiner, leaves parents, and teachers, at odds with the DOE, while they try to advocate for the services their children need and deserve. Destructive and discriminatory precedents have now been set by these appeals: the DOE can engage in a public hearing process where no one is actually heard and meaningful consideration is not given. In the PS 15 case alone, there were over 1,700 written and oral comments given opposing the continued co-location in the building, contrast that with less than 200 in favor of the proposal, yet the proposal was approved and upheld with no regard for the true impact on PS 15 students, particularly the special education population at the school which makes up over 30% of the student body. The precedent has been set that no significant attempt to notify the school community is required, nor is any consideration for the delivery methods that would best serve the community in question. The precedent has been set that Educational Impact Statements need only explain what may be affected in a school due to a co-location with a claim by the DOE that surely, there is enough space no matter what the students, teachers, parents, or the numbers show. The precedent has been set that space need not be allocated for special education services and children can get these services in hallways, stairwells, and in the backs of classrooms regardless of health and safety hazards or what would be the optimal learning conditions for the child as dictated by their IEP. The precedent has been set that space for intervention and enrichment programs, the kinds of programs that every child deserves, do not require allocated space.

Much must be done as a result of these appeals. Policymakers on the local and state level must improve legislation regarding change in school utilization laws and the law that allows charters access to public school buildings. Changes must be made to the DOE’s bluebook utilization formula and instructional footprint to include proper space allocations for our children, particularly children with special needs. Ultimately however, the only truly meaningful policy decision to protect public education and our children will be the termination of mayoral control. Unfortunately, our politicians have not had the courage to stand up to Bloomberg and the wealthy forces behind the education deform movement and take any meaningful action, instead they have lined their coffers with hedge fund and charter school money and allow these discriminatory practices and policies to continue at the expense of our children.

Parents and teachers must unite and fight the forces that seek to dismantle public education, which is happening at the expense of our neediest and most vulnerable children. Make no mistake, what has taken place at PS 15 and at PS 188/94 will now be precedent for far reaching education policy in this city. With the charter school cap lifted, we will see a growing number of co-locations and we will continue to live in an era of governance by lawlessness, where dysfunctionality and discrimination are common place, where charters and profiteers come first instead of our children and where mismanagement and neglect of real public schools become the hallmark of this Mayor’s education reform agenda.


------
Is it your time to get involved? Join other resisters to ed deform.  Come to the Panel for Edcuation Policy meeting tonight at Murray Bergtraum HS - 411 Pearl St. (see sidebar for details). Sign up at 5:30 for speaking time.

Is Wall Street Journal Ed Reporter Barbara Martinez Really Steve Brill in Drag?

Leonie seems to think so:

Pro-charter spin by WSJ; very Steve Brill-esk, unfairly comparing the test scores at Girls Prep to PS 188.

Why not compare them to the autistic kids, while you're at it?

About Girls Prep "The girls are mainly black, Hispanic and poor. Some live in homeless shelters; many live in public housing near the school. "

Really. How many homeless kids at Girls Prep? As of the latest available data, 5 out of 218, or 2%

How many homeless kids at PS 188? 46 about of 406 --11%.

How many LEP at Girls prep? 2% How many at 188? 17%

How many free lunch at Girls Prep? 50% how many at PS 188: 97%!!!!

When are these reporters going to check their facts!

But the test scores at Girls prep are better; so perhaps those PS 188 and autistic kids deserve to be on the streets.

Klein Loses On a Charter

Chancellor's Powers Appear Weakened

By BARBARA MARTINEZ

See: Wall Street Journal Biased Story on Girls Prep

Revised: Educational Dysfunctionality and Discrimination in the World of Bloomberg/Klein

Update: Aug. 15. 9am - Following this bouncing ball is getting tough.


We've pulled the original video and added new footage. It will be released Monday morning.


Comment by Lisa Donlan:

AFC filed a request for a stay along w/ their compliant on March 27th, a good three weeks before GPCS held their admissions lottery that admitted the new students now part of this emergency.

DoE countered that no stay was necessary since nothing would be done before the summer.

This is not an emergency - it is the total failure to plan for a loss, as opposed to the autocratic cramming their way down everyone's throat that the charter and DoE big cheese are accustomed to under mayoral control.

This is the result of 8 years of  tyranny w/ no checks, no balances.

At the first set of checks- as determined by 6 judges and the NYS Education 

Commissioner- DoE evokes emergency powers.

This is not quite over- DSoE has reserved the right to call this an emergency if this new last minute plan does not work.

Rather than having 6 or more months to make a plan B the DoE and GPCS now have less than a month to solve this emergency of their own making.

Update: Aug, 13, 8:30pm
Reports coming in that Klein backed down due to threat of an injunction by Advocates for Children. See links and comments below video.


UPDATE: Aug. 13, 6PM
Our video is out for 2 hours and Klein reverses course. What power!
NY Times:
Klein Reverses Course on Girls Prep and Emergency Powers

Posted Aug 13 4pm

Joel Klein disregards decision by State Ed Commissioner regarding Girls Prep charter school expansion while students with autism are forced to move.


Special ed parents voice their displeasure at the machinations that discriminate against their children in favor of charters.



REVISED VERSION GOING UP SUNDAY

Rachel Monhan in her 2nd story of the day tells us about the Advocates For Children threat.

On Leonie's listserve:

Ellen comments:
Although I can give AFC a lot of credit for taking on this issue please remember it was parents, lead by Jessica Santos PTA President of the school for youngsters with autism (P94), who contacted AFC. Her name is on the appeal to Steiner and on the response from Steiner. Without a parent who had the good sense.... and nerves of steel... to contact AFC, this action could not have occurred.
The P.R. spin the DOE has been trying to work in the public arena, that rabid anti-charter school and pro-union types, were the cause of all of this ruckus is so off-putting. A parent started the action. Others joined in.
But, like many other NYers, I am waiting for the other shoe to fall. Where will the Space Cadets strike next?

Dee says:
I read an article saying that AFC had threatened to go for a restraining order.  I'm thinking the NYCDOE knew its position re the "emergency" was a loser.  It hadn't mentioned any emergency in its papers opposing AFC's original petition to NYSED/Steiner.  Klein started saying he'd use his powers due to an emergency immediately after Steiner's decision came down.  NYCDOE may have essentially lost its right to claim there was an emergency because it hadn't cited it in the original papers and couldn't demonstrate any real emergency which had arisen so shortly after Steiner's decision came down.

It might have been faced not so much with another litigation, but rather, essentially being held in contempt of Steiner's decision because there was no real emergency.  To be found in contempt isn't good, but to be found in contempt re the welfare of a program for children with autism would be a total p.r. disaster.

NYCDOE is probably going to wind up in a lot of trouble re forcing disabled kids to receive related services in closets, open hallways, and the like as it is.  This might have been a straw that would break the federal overseer's back, so to speak, and ... NYCDOE could face losing a lot of federal $ if found in contempt.

Dee Alpert

Girls Prep Principal/CEO Miriam Lewis Raccah resigns

A letter dated June 30 was sent to all Girls Prep parents informing them that Miriam, Founder of Girls Prep and CEO of PublicPrep has resigned. Cristina Garcia-Coleman, the Managing Director of Finance and Operations will serve as the Interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a new CEO.

Interesting news in the light of the request to SUNY for charter modification. Girls Prep and PAVE are controlled by the same forces. Spencer Robertson's wife is on the GP board.

For background check this post at Norms Notes:

The Interlocking Directorate: Girls Prep charter r...

Excerpt:

In the 7/31/09 renewal application to SUNY the cover sheets lists a management co ( CMO) at it is: PublicPrep ( contact- MLR (Miriam)
on p. it explains that founding principal Nakia Haskins left in the middle of the 2006-07 school year and that MLK was acting Principal.

p. 11 explains how in 2008 the founders of GP established a CMO to oversee the growth of a network of schools 9 GP LES, their "first replication ES", GP Bronx and the proposed MS extension.

PPN will be governed by its own Bd of trustees, led by CEO MLR who will provide extensive support/oversight.

During the next charter MLR will transition form former position as Exec Dir to become CEO of PP.

No changes to 2004 By Laws

PP incorporated in 2008 .. will officially launch in 2009 w/ opening of GP Bronx and proposed MS at GP LES, creating the first complete PP K-8th academy.

More: The Interlocking Directorate: Girls Prep charter r...

Slogans for Rally Girls Prep Expansion on Lower East Side Today

Hope some of you might drop by today's rally and hearings to try to protect some endangered Lower East Side schools from overcrowding by having charters foisted on them. (As their press release says, next time it could be you.) See blog post below this one.

Some slogans for home-made posters.

Save our neighborhood schools!

Whose schools? Our schools?

PS 188/94 united and growing together

NO more separate and unequal

All kids need room to grow

Don't starve our schools

We need MORE 6:1:1 Middle School seats

DOE Dictator on Education

OPP Office of Poor Planning

What is PC about GPCS?

Different is not less

Community= protects the most vulnerable

Robbing Pedro to pay Paula?

ELL’s and IEP students need schools too

188 – last LES community-based building on Ave D /Houston

Girls Prep Charter Invasion: The Battle for the Lower East Side Begins NOW

In case you didn't know, the same money is behind Girls Prep as is behind Pave in Red Hook with Spencer Robertson's wife being on the board. As is true with many charters, kids are bused in from outside the school zone. Graphics added by Ed Notes and are NOT part of the press release.

GEM and CAPE will be there to support our colleagues. Will you?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Councilwoman Mendez, PS94 (D75) PS/MS 188M To Protest New NYC DOE Girls Prep Charter Plans

- New DOE Proposal for Girls Prep Charter Middle School to Squeeze an additional 300 students into the PS 188M building at the Expense of District One Students-

- New Proposal Hurts PS 94M and PS/MS 188M -

- 4:30pm Protest, 5:00pm Press Briefing, and 6:00 Public Hearing will be on

Thursday, February 11 –

- Parents from District One Invited. Your School May Be Next!-

February 10, 2010, New York, NY – New York City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and the Parent Association Presidents of PS 94M and PS 188M today announced that they will speak out against New York City Department of Education’s revised plans to allow the Girls Preparatory School (“Girls Prep”) to expand. The new middle school will take more space inside the PS 188M building which Girls Prep currently shares with PS/MS 188M and PS 94M (a District 75 school). This plan does not address NYCDOE-identified shortage of space for District One’s Special Education students requiring 6:1:1 classrooms.

The 4:30pm protest and 5:00pm press briefing will precede the 6:00pm public hearing -- all scheduled for Thursday, February 11, 2010 at PS 188M to discuss this revised plan. People who wish to sign up for the hearing can do so from 5:30 - 6:30pm that evening.


City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, whose district includes the PS 188 building, said: “This plan causes a serious disruption to two schools that overwhelmingly serve low-income neighborhood youth. The expansion of a charter school should not come at the expense of any student, but especially those who face special challenges in a District 75 school.” She added, “I strongly disagree with the Department of Education’s (DOE’s) assessment that these buildings are underutilized. I fail to see how the additional classrooms necessary for Girls Prep to expand to include a middle school could be physically accommodated in PS 188. Nor can I support the sacrifice of educational quality and spacing needs at existing schools in order to make that happen.”

“PS/MS 188M, a K-8 school, and Girls Prep Charter Elementary School have developed a good relationship over the past few years. But we do not have space for another middle school with 300 students, said Yvonne Walker, PS/MS 188M Island School Co-PA President. She added, “Our school has very high numbers of special education students. Right now, we do not have space for the Individualized Education Programs (IEP)-mandated services like Speech & Language Therapy, Counseling and Occupational Therapy. Right now, our children eat in the Lobby. Right now, we do not have adequate gym space, and afterschool space. It’s frustrating for us as parents. PS/MS 188 was praised by Chancellor Klein in his Principal’s Weekly Memo as a high-needs school that not only earned an “A” on its Report Card, but has excellent arts and technology programs. Yet, the addition of a new Middle School in this building jeopardizes the programs that led to this success. What’s horrifying is the plan will put more people in the building than the Occupancy Certificate allows. For all these reasons, our parents are outraged at the DOE’s plan to add a Middle School with 300 students into our building.”

Jessica Santos, PA President and School Leadership Team Member of PS 94M – a District 75 school for children with special needs and whose children at the PS/MS 188 building are all autistic, said, “Our students are different but not less. Special education students deserve the same space and resources as their peers have in order to receive a proper education. We are against the new DOE plan to add 300 more Girls Prep Middle School students into our building especially at the cost of essential services and enrichment opportunities that are mandated on our children’s IEPs. These kids need the technology lab, sensory room and inclusion with general students in order to improve and strengthen their learning and social/emotional growth.”

For more information, please contact:

Jessica Santos for PS 94M, jessicaasantos@aol.com or (718) 664-7345

Yvonne Walker for PS/MS 188M, sheable1967@gmail.com or (917) 653-6755

Barbara Sherman for Rosie Mendez, bsherman@council.nyc.gov or (212) 677-1077

Additional Information

Written comments with respect to the NYCDOE revised proposed plan can be sent to D01Proposals@schools.nyc.gov. 52 Chambers Street Room 320 New York, NY 10007 Telephone: (212) 374-0209 Fax: (212) 374-5588. Oral comments can be left at (718) 935-4415.

Girls Prep Charter, Hedge Funds, and Space Wars in District One

Sunday's NY Times had an article called "Scholarly Investments" which talked about Hedge Fund millionaires and billionaires and the push for charter schools, mentioning some of the charter invaders we have been covering: Harlem Success, PAVE and Girls Prep.

The Tiger Foundation, started by the hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson, provides a large chunk of financing for several dozen charters across the city. Mr. Robertson’s son, Spencer, founded his own school last year, PAVE Academy in the Brooklyn, while his daughter-in-law, Sarah Robertson, is chairwoman of the Girls Preparatory Charter School on the Lower East Side.

Ahhh, synergy. And good cash flow.

Still, Mr. Curry has been “knee deep in educational issues” since his 20s, he said. He co-founded two Girls Prep schools and is head of the board of the newer one, in the Bronx. The schools are “exactly the kind of investment people in our industry spend our days trying to stumble on,” Mr. Curry said, “with incredible cash flow, even if in this case we don’t ourselves get any of it.” The reference is to the fact that New York State contributes 75 to 90 percent of the amount per student that public schools receive.

Of course hedge fund characters love charters. We're paying for most of them and they get to raise private funding so they can pay Eva Moskowitz $370,000 a year. "These guys get it," said Moskowitz. They sure do get it. And Moskowitz makes sure to get her share. Why doesn't the reporter question the logic of us paying up to 90% of the costs and charters using the extra money coming in to pay such high salaries and who knows what other perks? These sharks aren't only in this for the kids. Edu-business, indeed.

The reporter, as we usually find, mentioned the tainted Caroline Hoxby (see Ed Notes' Nov. 13 Hoxby Hocked) study on charters in NYC outperforming public schools:

A study released in September by researchers headed by Caroline M. Hoxby, an economist at Stanford who is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, concluded that on average New York City charters outperform local schools. But another study by a different group of Stanford researchers last summer suggested that nationally the numbers are muddier.

What's muddy is the press' insistence on harping on Hoxby despite the flaws and questioning why the data munchers in hedge funds would be so enamored of faulty data.

Make a wish, Mike

And then there's this weak-kneed comment from our fearless UFT leader Mike Mulgrew:

“I think it’s all good and well that these people are finally stepping up to support education,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, referring to wealthy hedge funders. “But I would wish they would do it in a more foundational way, a way that would help all the children instead of just a small group.”

Mike has got to be kidding. Stepping up to the plate? Sure, to kill any remnant of teacher unionism.

Below find reports from parent activists Lisa Donlan and Leonie Haimson regarding Girls Prep charter school and the impact of its attempt to grab more space on the schools and students in District 1 on the lower east side. Sorry but the chart of D. 1 demographics did not come out and trying to fix it did not work. Email me if you want a copy.

From Lisa:

The hedge fund-spawned Girls Prep Charter in District One recently mentioned in a number of news stories wants to add on Middle School grades, by pushing 300 additional seats into one of the local "underutilized" ( offers small class size and more than 3 cluster rooms for enrichment for several hundreds of students) school buildings.

if we compare the demographics of GPC and the schools being targeted for space, it seems that the GCP is not equitably serving students in the local community despite the legal mandate to do so.

GPC serves NO ELL students, offers no CTT or self contained classes and serves no BOYS in a district whose students arew 12% ELL on average and 23% special education ( CTT/SC) and 8% SETTS ( push in pull out)

District One is an all choice district that allows any family to apply to any school in the district.

There are currently a dozen middle school options available to all District students, including the GPC students who are largely from out of district.

see below portions of the DoE's memo:

To: District 1 CEC

Fr: Community Superintendent and the Office of Portfolio Planning

Re: District 1 – Scenarios around Space Needs

Date: November 15, 2009

The following memo outlines the needs as identified by the Department of Education (DOE) in District 1 and the process by which the DOE has engaged with all schools to understand more information about school needs as well as the available space. The memo also outlines potential scenarios to meet these needs. This is a follow-up to the September CEC meeting which underutilized space was discussed.

District Needs:

1. Girls Preparatory Charter School of New York (“Girls Prep”), a charter school currently serving grades K-5 with two sections per grade, is in need of space for their middle school. The Girls Prep middle school will serve grades 5-8 with three sections per grade. Girls Prep is currently housed in M188. There is sufficient space for the K-4 elementary school in M188, but the current configuration of the building does not have enough space for Girls Prep to serve its middle school grades long-term. At scale, Girls Prep requires 10 sections for its K-4 elementary school and 12 sections for its 5-8 middle school (22 total sections).

Available Space

The original list of buildings discussed at the September CEC meeting was as follows:

· M015 (houses P.S. 15 and D75 program; hereinafter referred to by building code “M015”)

· M020 (houses P.S. 20; hereinafter referred to by building code “M020”)

· M056 (houses Henry Street School for International Studies, University Neighborhood Middle School, and Collaborative Academy of Science, Technology & Language Arts Education; hereinafter referred to by building code “M056”)

· M137 (houses P.S. 184; hereinafter referred to by building code “M137”)

· M188 (houses P.S. 188, Girls Prep, and D75 program; hereinafter referred to by building code “M188”)

Since September discussions were held with all principals, Network Leaders, SLTs, and building surveys were conducted of M020 and M137 to understand the space and the current situation in each of the building. Based on those conversations and surveys the following buildings were removed from consideration for having space:

· M015- Given the standard instructional footprint that allocates cluster space there is not additional space in the building for a new program or school

· M056- Due to the high need Special Education population located in the building and the existing programmatic needs in the building it did not make sense to add another organization into the building

Furthermore the following building was added to the list as potentially having space:

• M025 (houses School for Global Leaders, Marta Valle Secondary School, and Lower East Side Preparatory High School; hereinafter referred to by building code “M025”)

GIRLS PREP CHARTER

On its website, the school makes extraordinary claims regarding its success and rights to public school space:

http://www.girlsprep.org/

Girls Prep Closes the Achievement Gap for Latina and African-American Students! Number 1 school in District 1! The results are in! Girls Prep students excelled on this year's English Language Arts exams. 98% of our third graders and 92% of our fourth graders met or exceeded standards. These scores place Girls Prep as the second highest scoring charter school in New York City! We are thrilled that our girls scored so well on the assessment! These results are just one amazing outcome of years of collaboration, hard work and thoughtful planning. Parents, students and teachers, please take a moment to congratulate yourself, each other, and the third and fourth grade students. Save Girls Prep are parents and supporters of Girls Prep Charter School who believe every child must have equal access to a quality education. Girls Prep's ranks among the top 1% of NYC public schools, traditional or charter, in terms of the achievement of its students.
Save Girls Prep believe all children in District 1 should have access to a high performing school such as Girls Prep. Charter Schools are Public Schools and have every right under NYS Law to share space in a public school building.

On the website GPC also offers transportation to parents to the December PEP meeting to make a show of strength for their cause.

---

Let's repeat Lisa's statement we extracted earlier in this post:

Yet, if we compare the demographics of GPC and the schools being targeted for space, it seems that the GCP is not equitably serving students in the local communityt despite the legal mandate to do so.

GPC serves NO ELL students, offers no CTT or self contained classes and serves no BOYS in a district whose students arew 12% ELL on average and 23% special education ( CTT/SC) and 8% SETTS ( push in pull out)

District One is an all choice district that allows any family to apply to any school in the district.

There are currently a dozen middle school options available to all District students, including the GPC students who are largely from out of district.

DISTRICT 1 SELECT DEMOGRAPHICS 2009

	District One	P.S. 184	Girls Prep	P.S. 188	P.S. 15	UNMS	CASTLE	HSISS	P.S. 20
Total enrollment	11,653	640	263	400	235	180	292	525	590
% Charter Students	11%
SC Classes		0	0	1	3	2	2	3	3
CTT Classes		1	0	6	1	2	3	1	5
IEPS	23%(ES) /29%(MS)	2% = 11 stds	8%	21%		36%	27%	30%	16
SC/CTT	15%(ES) /21%(MS)	.7%= 5 stdts	0	15%	18%	20%	21%	22%	10%
% ELL	12	5%	0	16	21	15	7	15	18%
% Title One	80.1	77.8	68.0	92.6	96.5	89.6	80.8	69.9	97.1
#/ %STH	4%		4=2%	51stdts =13%	24stdts =11%	6=3%	3=1%	9=2%	3=.5%
% in district			43
% out of district			57
% Hispanic	48	5%		64	58	65	62.3	58	60%
% Black	19	6%		33	30	26	18.5	28	10%
%Asian	19	80%		3	8	2	15.1	10	26%
%White	13	7%		1	3	6	3.4	3	2%
%Am Indian	1	.9%		0.3	0.5	0.4	0.7	0.4	.7%

Sources and References:

- DCEP 2009-10, p.5, author Sarah Kleinhandler, school district improvement liaison

- ‘Girls Prep at a glance’, author Miriam Raccah, executive director Public Prep

- 8/10/2009 ATS snapshot K students D1

- DOE D1 K-8 Special Ed Percentages base on 2009 projections (08/04/09)

- D1 poverty percentage, author Jean Mingot, budget officer Manhattan integrated Service Center 10/26/09

- School portals DOE website Aug. - Nov 2009

- ATS website 10/23/09

- STH report from ATS 09/22/09, author Cecilio Diaz, Office of Youth Development Manhattan ISC

Lisa Donlan

CEC One

Leonie follows up with: more reasons to reject expansion of Girls Prep: lack of space

More on District 1:

1. The total student population is growing faster in D1 Elementary school buildings between 2007 and 2008 than any other district in the city, according to DOE’s blue book data (which include charter schools already housed in their buildings).

Total student population in elementary school buildings is up 4.1% -- by far the fastest growth anywhere.

(Second fastest growth is D25 at 3.9%; D 20 at 3.2%; D 24 at 3%, D26 at 2.9% and D28 at 2.5%, all in Queens, then D31 Staten Island at 2.4% and finally D2 at 2.3%.)

2- Gened/CTT/G&T Kindergarten enrollment increased in D1 by 10.9% between 2008 and 2009 (not even including charter schools), according to the DOE class size reports. (They are tied with D5 as second fastest Kindergarten growth in Manhattan).

3- Kindergarten class sizes are up 22% since 2007 – probably the sharpest increases in the entire city. Now, more than 51% of Kindergarten students in D1 schools are in classes of 21 or more.

Their schools simply don’t have the space for this expansion, unless in the future they want class sizes to continue to increase even more sharply and/or kick out their preKs.

Meanwhile, the small classes and the access to preK were probably the main reasons that achievement in District 1 schools improved more than any other district in the state between 2001 and 2008, according to the DOE’s own calculations.

For the DOE power point showing this, check out http://www.scribd.com/doc/20954070/New-York-City-School-Performance-October-2009

Rather than further damage the opportunities of students in D1, the lesson should be that whatever D1 is doing, the rest of the city desperately needs: more space, so that schools can provide smaller classes and more preK, not less.

Leonie Haimson