The politics behind closing a "C" rated school that claims to outperform 9 out of 10 schools in the area. Scandal-plagued politicians connected to school may have spurred closing to forestall future embarrassment over how political connections helped get the charter school. Did Walcott, who comes from a part of Queens where he would be well aware of the activities of these politicians, decide to cut the cord before more scandals emerge? Does Walcott know something will come out soon?
Today's front page
article in the NY Times on the closing of Peninsula Prep Charter School in Rockaway might leave some people scratching their heads given the fact that up to now a serial killer who wanted a charter from Joel Klein, who was the authorizer, could get one. A charter school would have to be outrageous in its actions - like Williamburg/Believe Charters (
Williamsburg/Believe Charter with Slimeball Leader Eddie Negron - Charter Revoked) which we wrote about the other day or Ross Global run by celebrity/socialite Courntey Sales Ross in the past (
Ross Global Charter to be Closed Along with 11).
For the first time, New York City is closing a charter school for the offense of simply being mediocre.
The announcement this week that the city planned to shut
Peninsula Preparatory Charter School, a seven-year-old elementary school in Far Rockaway, Queens, was unusual by any definition. Since 2004, the city has closed only a few of its 142 charters that have opened — schools that are publicly financed but privately managed, and are a source of competition for traditional schools.
But as more of the city’s charter schools have matured, reaching the five-year renewal mark, the
Education Department has become increasingly impatient with weak-performing ones. With the closing of Peninsula Prep, which had received a grade of C on each of its last four progress reports, Chancellor
Dennis M. Walcott seemed to be signaling that the city’s 136 charters will now be held to a higher standard.
More unusual, the Times piece left out the fact that State Senator Malcolm Smith was the founder of the school and despite denials of still having connections to the school, people in Rockaway believe his influence is still felt. (I saw a tweet from one reporter the day the closing was announced that Smith had given the school a $100,000 in earmarks and speculated about the fate of those funds.) What does happen to this money --- I say give it to PS 215 in Far Rockaway which the DOE is trying to close despite starving the school of resources.
I emailed Anna Philips who wrote the piece and she pointed me to her
Schoolbook article the other day where she wrote:
Despite its political connections, Peninsula Prep struggled from the outset. Originally located in a Far Rockaway middle school,
it moved into a complex of trailers near a large real estate development owned by one of Mr. Smith’s campaign donors, leaving its students without a gym or playground. For the last three years, it has received C’s on its progress reports from the city.
But what the article doesn't say is that both Smith and Meeks have been embroiled in scandal, with the
Times (
State Sen. Malcolm Smith Tied To Scandal-Scarred Charity)
doing a major piece on Smith in October 2010 (see below the fold for entire article which makes no mention of the Smith connection to PP Charter) which opens with this:
 |
| St. Sen. Malcolm Smith |
Federal prosecutors are investigating a nonprofit group founded by Mr. Smith. They subpoenaed records in February 2010 from his office detailing funds he has directed to community groups over the last decade. Some of the group's employees were also Mr. Smith's aides in Albany.
The article paints a picture of a failed businessman and a shady politician. The staff of an embattled Queens nonprofit overlaps closely with the
payroll of state Sen. Malcolm Smith, one of the charity's founders. At
least four workers at the New Direction Local Development Group—which is
under federal investigation and allegedly fleeced Hurricane Katrina
victims out of about $30,000 raised on their behalf—have also worked for
Smith at a time when the politician gave the organization about $56,000
in state funds.
Yet Smith was shown political favor by allowing him to open up a charter school. I thought it interesting at the time that this article made no mention of the charter school connection. And the fact that both articles by Anna made no mention of the Smith scandals make the paranoid in me work overtime. But if you click the Malcolm Smith link in Anna's Schoolbook piece it takes you to the Times article about the scandal. Anna is a meticulous reporter and makes it her business to know everything there is to know about education in this city. Having to click to make that connection makes me think that the NY Times editors were concerned about making the obvious connection to scandal in an article about the charter. Why mention Smith (which I view as Anna's way of leading the dog to the bone) without openly mentioning the scandals?
Smith's pal Gregory Meeks, who was on the PPrep Board, Congressman from the east end of Rockaway is also under scrutiny. Meeks was mentioned the other day (
Edul Ahmad Accused of Defrauding Guyanese Immigrants)
(See below for a few quick hits from a google search on Meeks.)
I agree with Anna's speculation that charters will get closer scrutiny to try to stop the growing scandals that in the long-run threaten the charter school movement. Given that most of these schools perform no better than public schools and many perform worse, the question of why create a dual system with wasted resources will continue to be raised. Thus you see charter school slugs who make a living off charter schools -- people like Michael Duffy and James Merriman -- quoted in Anna's article.
I feel that Peninsula Prep Charter is a special case for closing and not necessarily a sign of closer scrutiny due to the scandals engrossing Smith and Meeks (and their mentor Floyd Flake, whose scandalous behavior was also profiled in the NY Times -
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/nyregion/18flake.html?pagewanted...
Jun 17, 2010 – The Rev. Floyd Flake, an influential New York pastor, had a role as both seller and buyer of church-owned buildings.
vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com/2011/.../welcome-to-rev-floyd-flakegate...
Oct 9, 2011 – Posted:2:04 AM, October 9, 2011. New York political kingmaker and religious leader Floyd Flake rakes in the cash -- and leaves wreckage ...
Dennis Walcott is from a corner of Queens where he knows full-well these politicians. I would bet he is not happy about these scandals and is sensitive to how they may come back to bite Tweed in terms of authorizing a charter school controlled by these guys.
So in my mind these are the politics behind closing a charter school that under normal conditions would not face closing.
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By the way, Peninsula Prep had it's own record of tossing kids as you can see in this piece in the local Rockaway paper The Wave (where I write a column):
ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../wave-reports-peninsula-prep-academ...
Apr 9, 2011 – The motto of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy charter school on Beach 111 ....
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Parent at PPA writes to Leonie
But to be fair, here is an email from a parent at the school sent to Leonie Haimson pointing to the conflcit this school is causing:
I am a follower and supporter of your work for a very long time.
However, the last few years my child has gone to a charter school which
(while being in contradiction with many of my political and
philosophical views on education) have put me into a much more pragmatic
position especially with the conditions of where I live, Rockaway. And
while I still support your fight for public education on the long term
an imminent problem has arisen for myself and 340 other families out here
in Queens: our school's charter has not been renewed and it will close
at the conclusion of the school year. This means that the children will
be pushed into their zoned schools in Far Rockaway and Arverne, NY where
9/10 schools performed WORSE than our school that is being closed down.
This, of course, using the same dreaded standards that the DOE used to
justify our school's closure, in essence telling our community that PPA wasn't good enough but the inferior (by
their standards) and underfunded local public schools will now have to
take in 341 new students. Obviously this will affect class size and
student-teacher ratio as well for the local schools.
I'm reaching out to you in desperation to see if you could put me in
contact with any local activists that could join forces with our parents
in protesting, picketing and shaming the DOE for this move. The parents
feel betrayed and we have sensed that our best bet is to get outside of
the system. I think that although the charter issue may be different than those
of traditional public schools, we all face challenges from the same
failed policies.
I too am conflicted about working with this parent but I think it would be the right thing to do even Mona Davids sent a rep out to meet with the charter to assist them but they weren't interested.
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blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/congressman_gre.php
Apr 15, 2010 – Things are getting so bad for scandal-plagued Queens Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks that he had to acknowledge on the House ...
www.nypost.com/.../meeks_passes_the_bucks_on_scandal_...
Mar 16, 2010 – Gregory Meeks ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about ... Meeks passes the bucks on scandal (video) ...
www.nypost.com/.../in_sticky_wicket_MCWvLcM7JPkoKN7nOoKf...
Dec 25, 2011 – A Queens scandal that threatens to engulf Rep. Gregory Meeks has an unusual collateral victim — the US Cricket Team.
nlpc.org/stories/2010/07/.../new-york-papers-scrutinize-meeks-‘frien...
Jul 21, 2010 – New York Papers Scrutinize Meeks Loan Scandal Figure ... Gregory Meeks (D-NY), is today scrutinized by the New York Times and New York ...
thelasttradition.blogspot.com/.../democrat-gregory-meeks-changes-st...
Mar 15, 2010 – Gregory Meeks claimed that "every dime" raised by a charity he ... It's the biggest scandal the legacy media purposely does not report. Why do ...
www.rockawave.com/.../Meeks_Scandal_Impacts_US_Cricket_Team...
Meeks Scandal Impacts US Cricket Team. 2011-12-30 / Top Stories. By Howard Schwach. Congressman Gregory Meeks has been enmeshed in scandal for ...
hiphoprepublican.com/.../us-rep-gregory-meeks-passes-the-bucks-on...
Mar 18, 2010 – Embattled U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about the gone-missing ...
topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/.../gregory_w_meeks/index.html
... W. Meeks. Commentary and archival information about Gregory W. Meeks from The New York Times. ... N.Y. Senate Leader Tied to Figure in Loan Scandal ...
NY Times piece on Smith below
