WAVE Editor Howard Schwach on State Senator Malcolm Smith's Ties to For Profit Victory Charter School and its $750,000 Slice of Public Money

In this article published last Friday, my editor at the Wave, former long-time teacher Howard Schwach, nails Malcolm Smith and his ties to Peninsula Prep Charter School, the connections to the Victory Charter School chain, and builds a bridge to what seems like a political decision to close Beach Channel HS to make room for Smith's charter.

Don't you love the use of the corporate term "divested"? Hmmm, what exactly did he divest? Not interested in moving into the Beach Channel building, Malcolm? Make a public divestiture by declaring you will oppose moving the charter school you founded into BCHS building even if it's the last building standing.

You might ask your self whether the UFT has supported Smith in his election campaigns - don't know off hand, but I bet they did. Which just goes to show that this den of thieves all lie in the same bed. Why does it take a community newspaper to expose these guys when the UFT had a fully staffed newspaper that should be doing this kind of work all along. But the UFT doesn't really want people to know about the political crew they play footsie with.

Question Smith’s Ties To Local Charter School

By Howard Schwach

State Senate President Malcolm Smith, who represents Rockaway in that body, says that he has divested himself from the local charter school he founded in 2004.

State Senator Malcolm Smith (center) joins children and officials of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy in cutting the ribbon for the school’s new home in Arverne By The Sea. The ceremony took place in September of 2008, four years after, Smith says, he divested himself from the school. “Senator Smith has been completely divested from any involvement in the governance or the administration of the [Peninsula Preparatory] school for about four years,” his Albany spokesperson Austin Shafran said recently.

Shafran’s comment was in response to questions of Smith’s involvement specifically in the Peninsula Preparatory School (PPA) in light of the fact that he recently earmarked $100,000 in public funds for the school. In addition, his stated goal is to double the number of charter schools allowed by New York State.

Although Smith was the founder of the school, and an original board member, Shafran said, Smith divested himself in 2004 when he was named the Senate Minority Leader.

Tai White, the local spokesperson for the senator said last week, however, that Smith remains “involved and active with the school.”

When White was asked if Smith has a financial interest in the school, she told a Wave reporter that somebody would get back with a comment, but no comment was forthcoming by press time, nearly a week later.

While Smith says he is not involved with the school, in 2008, when the PPA moved from its temporary home in Far Rockaway to several trailers set up on Beach 67 Street in Arverne By The Sea, Smith was front and center in the ribbon cutting ceremony, the only politician who was so honored.

There have been questions about the school from the first, and those questions have deepened over the years, and especially over speculation that the phase-out and closing of Beach Channel High School is part of a political plan to clear the school to make room for a PPA high school component.

Smith’s office denies those allegations.

When the PPA was chartered with Smith as its founder in 2004, it shared space with Middle School 53 in Far Rockaway.

Within a year, however, the state began renovating a building on Foam Place, right next to MS 53. Shortly thereafter, the PPA quietly moved into that building.

At the time, The Wave questioned the genesis of the money used to renovate the building, but no answers were forthcoming, either from the state, Smith, or the school.

From the first, the school, which is a private non-profit charter run by public money, has been administered by the Victory Schools, a for-profit organization that administers many public charters in New York City.

Records show that PPA pays Victory more than $750,000 a year.

Records also show that in 2006 and 2007, Smith received a total of $12,000 in campaign contributions from Seven Kilnsky, who founded the company.

No recent donations from Kilnsky to Smith were recorded.

A company spokesperson told Daily News political reporter Kenneth Lovett that the donations were meant as a show of support for Smith’s pro-charter stand.

Sources say that PPA pays no rent for the trailers in Arverne By The Sea, and that the school will one day move into a new building in that development, a building that the developers must build with their own money as part of the contract they signed to get the land for development.

Experts say that, as long as Smith has no financial stake in PPA, there is nothing illegal about his involvement and his steering money to the school he founded.

The president of the state’s teachers union, however, thinks that, while probably not illegal, Smith’s involvement shows that special interests are driving the recent move to double the number of charter schools, which generally do not fall under union contracts.

Busy Day(s)

It's been a busy week and my head is spinning.

Last Tuesday - the PS 15/PAVE public meeting. Weds the DA and a final meeting at Norman Siegel's office where we found out that the morning ruling that the city had lost its appeal of the decision giving us the right to march on Bloomberg's side of the street was reversed that afternoon and another hearing would be held on the day of the rally at 11 am. By 2pm we found out the 3 judge panel had reversed the ruling and we were back to marching on the south side of the street across from Bloomberg. That actually made it easier for us since we only had to cross the street once instead of walking and crossing in a constant circle.

Well, as I reported all too briefly in these posts
One Big PARTEEEE at Bloomberg's

Protest at Bloomberg Home

we all had a wonderful time and lots of bonding went on between activists and people who were just dipping their toe into activism. I saw lots of people I hadn't seen in a while. Check out the video links in my posts and the pictures on the GEM blog.

Then we found out that the police had taken photos (why the cops needed to take pics is beyond me, since we post them ourselves) and Norman Siegel called a press conference today over that issue. I got there late for reasons I will go into later but David Bellel was there to tape. See the sidebar for the links to the 3 part event.

And then there was the Jets this afternoon with our gang of 3 where I ate as much junk food as I could cram in. In the midst of this this was a major robotic weekend with the final 2 borough qualifying events and on Saturday I visited the Queens tournament at Aviation HS and today before the press conference, CCNY at the fabulous Shepherd Hall. I found out that a major NYC politician has a child at one of the competing schools in Queens and I was introduced and got to chat a bit.

On the home front, we are in the midst of birthday season with cousin Dan on Jan 24th (26), my dad on Weds. (92) and my wife on Jan 25 (^%$%). Cousin Rachel follows up on Feb 4 (24). So we started the gala celebration on Friday by picking up our orthotics (did you know SHIP pays $200 each?) and then off to the Museum of Natural History to use the super passes a former robotics coach who works there gave me before they expire next week. We did Imax and the space theater and the Silk Road- all for free. I love super passes. Then dinner on Columbus Ave.

Sat night was the play "Billy Elliott", with really good seats and it was worth the money. We saw the new kid who is from Australia. Can he be even 13 years old and have so much talent? This was a real show, not those phony musicals, with a solid labor story in the background of the destruction of the British mine workers union by Helen Thatcher. Though I could raise political questions about the message - the destruction of a 200,000 member union in some ways takes a back seat to giving the kid a chance to fulfill his dance ambitions ("see, it all turns out well in the end.") Well, it is a Broadway musical and probably goes further than anything else you will see.

Monday night is the wife's birthday piece de resistance at the River Cafe and Tuesday she starts the last 3 days of work before retirement, upon which time I can expect lots of honey do's. Oh, and next Monday the gang at work are taking her out to another nice restaurant and I can come along.

In the midst of this, all the political work continues. ICE is involved in petitioning for the UFT elections and that is one big chore. (We could use some help getting on the ballot at our petition signing party this Friday. Email at normsco@gmail.com if you want to help.) I'm also getting invitations to schools so speak about the state of education and the UFT and why it will keep getting worse - if are interested in a school visit let me know.

Of course the main event is the PEP meeting at Brooklyn Tech on Tuesday with the UFT holding a demo at 4pm and GEM and CAPE will be there in force to support the closing schools and PS 15 in their battle to keep PAVE to their word to leave this year.

Well, gotta go and get the food ready for the opening of the next Jets season.

Protest at Bloomberg Home

UPDATES:

Press Conf Video at Norm Siegel Office Re: Police Photos of Rally at Bloomberg

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9kJUMtwKo

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTrLin5KVHY

part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoxGG5Cuuw4

Why did the police need to take pics when they can check out the blogs?

Pissed off teacher went and took some nice pics.

More photos at GEM:
Rally to STOP School Closures at Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Home 1/21/10

Protest at Bloomberg Home, Jan. 21, 2010. The finale at the gathering area on Central Park and 79th St. Led by GEM's Angel Gonzalez, student speakers Rachel Ali and Chris Petrillo, CAPE/PS 15'a Lydia Bellahcene an Julie Cavanagh,Jamaica HS James Eterno, Norman Siegel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0F16OS7wIY




Please feel free to use this video from the: "Teachers Protest School Closing and Charter School Invasions" event.

http://vimeo.com/8931307

In Solidarity

ArtAndStruggle.Com
artist & activist collective

Do I Really Care About the Results in Massachusettes? HELL NO!!!

Call it tunnel vision, but I am so livid at the beyond-Bush education policies of Obama, that it taints everything else he does. His pro-corporate (which dovetails perfectly with the ed policy) and pro-banking policies don't make it any better. So when they - I mean the Democrats - try to scare me with the prospect of Sarah Palin beating Obama in 2012 and ask me to get up at dawn to schelp over to Allentown Pa. to volunteer for Obama, I ain't a marchin' anymore. Practice saying it now: President Palin. At this point, I don't give a crap.

One Big PARTEEEE at Bloomberg's

I was at a planning meeting for yesteday's rally/protest/picket at Bloomberg's abode. (He was downtown at a Jets rally so the poor guy missed all the real fun.)

We were talking about the time frame and someone said, "Two hours ought to be enough. Less if the media is gone. People start drifting when the media leaves."

"What about the catharsis," a prominent activist said. "Two hours is not enough."

I was thinking: "Two years is not enough."

Well, yesterday's rally of around 350 people was one fun and cathartic event. No one seemed to notice whether there was or wasn't media. As a matter of fact, many viewed me, with my fancy Wave press pass and my video camera with the light on top, as "the media."

One aspect that made people feel really great was that almost all the players/activists/resisters came out. It is not easy to get this crew in one place, so people who have been educating and organizing and mobilizing felt great. And there were lots of grassroots/rank and file teachers and parents from the schools. And kids too. One recently activated student activist who played a role in getting this together said, "Wow. I can't believe this." He and many of the other students may have learned one of the biggest lessons in their schooling careers.

No matter what the media coverage, it made everyone there feel great about what they are doing and will hopefully spur them to greater action.

This is only the beginning.

Oh, and the UFT/Unity/New Action slugs were nowhere to be seen.

I put up some photos people sent on the GEM blog and a comment from Angel.

Got to go now, but I am processing some of the video and will have something up by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check out this report from Steven Thrasher at the Voice:

Here's a blog post I wrote about yesterday's protest. I shot video of the NYPD snapping away from the rooftop next to the mayor's house. Check it out and feel free to add comments, especially if you were there and want to add to the conversation:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/01/protest.php#more

I interviewed some of you but didn't use it here. I am working on a much longer piece about schools, so keep me informed of what you are up to. Yesterday, I just wanted to show how the NYPD was dealing with the"mayor's sidewalk."

Steven

--

Steven W. Thrasher
Staff Writer
The Village Voice
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/
sthrasher@villagevoice.com

Does Mulgrew Get It?

This cross-post from Under Assault, who doesn't blog enough, seems to think he might be. And lots of others seem to think so too as satisfied reports come from within and without Unity, as Randi-wear seems to have made almost anyone look good in comparison. One Unity flack said with glee, "Randi's gone." Ding Dong!

I still maintain it is just style over substance and with an election coming up Mulgrew must sound militant. As always, watch what they do, not what they say. The delegate assembly is as undemocratic as ever (with visitors banished to the 19th floor as the leadership cries "no room" while holding a meeting that could attract over 3000 people in a room that holds 850) and the Unity goon squad roams free around the schools to urge supervisors to go after certain dissident teachers.

Randi looked like gold in the post-Feldman years. It took me almost 4 years to realize Randi was full of bullshit. And many others didn't get it until she was just about leaving. My guess is Mulgrew's honeymoon will not last as long as the only way to stop the privatization mayhem is to organize and educate the membership (vs. the current misleading "the DOE mismanagement" campaign) effectively, which would require creating a more open and democratic union, something too dangerous for Mulgrew to risk.

Today's rally at the Bloomberg abode is being totally ignored by the UFT hierarchy and behind the scenes, schools are being discouraged from attending. So to me it's the same old, same old.

---

Finally.

Delegate Assemblies ain't what they used to be, that's for sure.

Today Mulgrew gave a President's Report that sounded like a playbook from ICE and GEM.

My only question is: What took him and his Unity caucus so long.

For Mulgrew to talk about how bad it is in some communities reeling from the "separate and unequal" charter schools shoving their way into our public schools, he had to have boned up pretty well on the Sept. 13 '09 post in the GEM blog:

The protest denounced the chaos precipitated by the HSA charter takeover of PS 123 classrooms, the disarray to their supplies and furnishings, the DOE’s dictatorial imposition of charter schools, privatization and the resulting “separate and unequal” conditions.

Or this one from even earlier, on June 15th:

“We need to support quality and democratic processes for all public schools. Charter schools, such as Equality Charter, split communities and sow inequality instead. They ‘cream the best students’ and evidence shows that charters service fewer percentages of the neediest of students such English Language Learners, Special Education and the poorest of the poor. We need to organize a citywide fight-back against the mayor’s undemocratic imposition of these charters that take away resources from public schools. Charters union-bust and undermine the necessary unity parents and teachers against government’s failure to properly provide for all public schools.”

That comment was made by GEM co-founder and long-time activist Angel Gonzalez. GEM put up its first post last April, and it's been pretty much one report after another over on that blog about all the demonstrations, rallies, protests and activism against the charter school movement.

Mulgrew's just discovering this now? What took him and his Unity caucus so long.


Back at today's meeting, he congratulated the teacher activists at PS 15 defending their school against a charter (PAVE) trying to extend its stay in the building. There's no question that these members and the parents should be commended for their fight, but it wasn't Mulgrew or his caucus spearheading that effort either. Ednotes put up a post and video on the PAVE encroachment last September. GEM (in this post) and a newly formed group in the area, Concerned Activists for Public Education (CAPE), took up the fight in the fall and haven't let up since.

In fact, Ednotes has been publishing a virtual almanac of the whole charter school invasion citywide, and it looks as if Mulgrew's been prepping for this moment on all that reportage. As he said at today's meeting: "That's the type of fight we want to be on top of all the time." And so they are — jumping right on board after all the groundwork has been laid by everybody else.


I worked a lot this past summer on the charter school takeovers in Harlem with members of ICE, GEM, CPE (Coalition for Public Education), CIF (the Center for Immigrant Families) and the office of Senator Bill Perkins. We've been to community board meetings, confronted DoE and charter school administrators, talked with politicians and the press, blogged a lot, and made some spectacular videos of most of the events.

Not many Unity/UFT members ever showed up at these events. If they did, they mostly hung around at the edges — interested enough to see what was going on, but not enough to actually roll up their sleeves.

And I've written before about how UFT managers have co-opted some of the fundamental principles on which groups like ICE and GEM are founded. What was Weingarten's ACES program last May but a reworking of ICE's 2004 platform.

It seems they're doing it again, jumping onto a movement that activist groups have been building for a year. They published a picture of GEM's 10-ft banner in the NY Teacher, and they spout our words. "Fix our schools, don't shut them down" appeared in the Jan. 11, 2010 of their rag, but see the April 6th '09 post GEM put up on its blog nine months earlier focusing on the message to "keep schools open, fix our schools, don't close them."


Facing the assembly this afternoon, Mulgrew spread his arms wide and thanked the delegates for all their work "reframing the argument." The DoE, he said, can no longer close schools without rhyme, reason or accountability. We [presumably the union and the communities] demand clear criteria, and these arguments are now resonating with elected officials all over town.

The majority of delegates at that assembly did nothing to earn his praise. It was the work of our grassroots oppositional union groups that plowed this field so that Mulgrew and his Unity hacks could muck their way through it to our side.

I keep coming back to the same question. What took them so long.

Rebellion in Detroit Teachers Union Against Race to the Top

We had a report on the recall of Detroit Federation of Teachers President last week:

Weingarten Ally, Detroit Teacher Union Leader Recalled After Disastrous Contract

We surmised that this would never be allowed to stand and Kevin Johnson refused to accept the results and has just ruled the meeting out of order. They never give up power. If ICE/TJC were to win the election, Unity would find ways to invalidate the results. Or some other trick.

We have more reports coming in from Detroit. Angel put up a post with some comments at the GEM blog: Detroit Teachers Union Members Take Over Union Meeting in Recall Fight!

And we just got this one from what looks like a caucus challenging in the union elections, with a focus on winning delegates to the AFT convention in Seattle. I hope they do and greet the 800+ Unity Caucus slugs who feed out of the patronage trough from the UFT with a Bronx cheer. (Ask some of them why they are not going to support the rally at Bloomberg and they will tell you they don't want to lose their free trips.)



There is a major rebellion against the Race to the Top policies in the teachers' union in Detroit, led by BAMN (see bamn.com) member teachers.

The president of the DFT , Keith Johnson, has been working hand in hand with Robb Bobb (appointed pro-charter Czar over DPS) to ram through all the revisions in the teachers' contract required to attract charters and qualify for Race to the Top, and he prevented a traditional vote at the December mass meeting attended by 3000 teachers on the tentative agreement because the majority was against it.

Johnson then basically cheated to get the contract passed, and as a result we have had about 80 teachers attending weekly caucus meetings to plan how to recall Johnson (we've got about 1400 signatures on a recall petition so far - 400 more than required). The last two DFT membership meetings have had over 400 teachers attending, and Johnson was forced at both meetings to surround himself with gang squad cops, turn off the lights, etc. because the rank and file was demanding that he step down and let them run a democratic meeting. The Feb. 11 mtg should be the trial on the recall charges.

The caucus is running a full slate for convention delegates to challenge Randi Weingarten's leadership of the AFT nationally and bring down the pro-Duncan policies she is advocating. I've attached the most recent flyer that gives a general description of what is happening and what the caucus stands for and the particular strategies we are using to unravel the contract. Even if we don't succeed at this or that tactic, the overall rebellion is sure to make any charter company think 2,3,4 times about investing in Detroit.

We want to encourage like-minded teachers in AFTand NEA to run for convention delegate (nominations are due next Thursday for AFT delegates) so that we can have a national, united attack against Arne Duncan's policies at this summer's conventions.


For more information see:

www.bamn.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/DFTmembers

Defending Public Education in Detroit

Sincerely,
Donna Stern
BAMN National Coordinator

2nd Circuit denied the city’s request for a stay, and affirmed Judge Hellerstein’s decision: The march is on!

The rally at Bloomberg's tomorrow has captured people's imagination. Teachers, students, parents and education activists are coming together from the grass roots. Let me reiterate: this protest has come from the bottom with no activity from the UFT, other than to discourage people from getting involved. With a groundswell, we might see that change today so they don't get totally left out in case of press coverage. Off to the Delegate Assembly to see if we can interest any Unity Caucus and New Action slugs into coming on down. Then off to a meeting to finalize plans. More later.

Norm's Column for The Wave, Jan. 22 Edition

Just made this morning's deadline for The Wave.

Resistance is NOT Futile: Federal Court Issues Injunction Protecting Right to Protest at Bloomberg Residence

by Norman Scott

Email: Normsco@gmail.com

Well, we've certainly had a busy two weeks since you received my last communication – from outer space. Where to start? In the middle, of course. I mean, why should I try to help decipher the gibberish in this column any more than I have in the past?

Last time I told you about this protest planned at Mayor Mike's home at 17 East 79th street on Jan. 21. It's a day after my deadline, so you will have to wait for the breathtaking results until my Feb. 5th column. (Unless you check my blog, http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com.) Civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel handled the case in front of Judge Alvin Hellerstein. As one of the organizers, I was in court on Jan. 15 when the decision was handed down. Lucky I didn't have to testify because I'm sure my big mouth would have blown it.

“The decision reaffirms the rights of citizens to protest on a city sidewalk, and prevents the mayor from turning a public city street into his own private front yard. Furthermore, it will allow parents, students, teachers, and members of the 22 communities affected by school closures to have their voices of discontent heard by the Mayor,” said Seung Ok, a teacher at Maxwell High School, one of the schools being closed down. Maxwell suffered from a massive influx of students when nearby Thomas Jefferson (my alma mata) closed down, similar to Beach Channel's fate when Far Rockaway closed. Seung is a charter member of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) members of which have been attending and documenting closing school hearings.

"Today is historic for protesting in the City of New York," said Julie Cavanagh, a teacher at P.S. 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Julie is a member of Concerned Educators for Public Education (CAPE) which has been fighting off the invasion of their school by the PAVE charter school, under the control of the son of billionaire Bloomberg pal Julian Robertson who contributed $10 million to Bloomberg school projects ("Daddy, buy me a school!") That investment has paid off in spades, as BloomKlein will be handing Spencer $26 million dollars of our money from a charter school support slush fund to build his own play school. "I am so proud to stand with the parents and students I serve," Julie continued, "as we fight not only for our right to organize, but as we advocate to protect and preserve public education in our great city. It is not lost on me as an educator that this decision was made on Martin Luther King’s birthday. His legacy of peaceful and loving activism captures the culture of our school, P.S. 15. It is in this spirit that we bring our voices and concerns to the Mayor’s block in the hopes that there, we will be heard.”

Kudos to Seung and Julie, both in their early 30's and teaching for a little over a decade, for standing up for public schools and the children, parents and teachers of this city. In a sea of fear, their bravery is well worth noting. It is also worth noting that Norman Siegel was so impressed, he offered them his support for life if there should be one iota of retaliation against them.

Kudos also goes out to the now famous Beach Channel student Chris Petrillo, whose passionate defense of his school has garnered citywide attention. At the Jan. 6 meeting at BCHS, reported on so well by the Wave's Miriam Rosenberg and Howie Schwach, I introduced Chris to Jamaica HS chapter leader James Eterno, whose school is also being closed and was having their hearing the next day. (James came to show his support for BCHS. CL Dave Pecoraro, who like James has been popping at school closing hearings all over the city, returned the favor the next evening.) We talked to Chris about going to Jamaica to meet with student leaders there the next evening.

And sure enough, Chris was first on line at Jamaica to speak about student solidarity. He and Jamaica's student leader Rachel Ali got together later in the evening and they both went up to the microphone to make a joint statement. When I left Jamaica at 9PM, Chris and Rachel were still hatching plans and over the next week, became a dynamic duo, heading up the Choir Academy closing hearing in Harlem the next evening - a Friday evening, of all things and other school closing hearings. I ran into Chris at the Maxwell hearing on Jan. 12 and he approached the arrogant Tweedie John White and wangled an invitation to Tweed for later that week.

Chris and Rachel popped up at Leonie Haimson's Class Size Matters' emergency parent conference on January 16, which attracted a surprisingly large group of parents and teachers for a SAturday on a holiday weekend. Norman Siegel was the keynoter and James Eterno and Rachel Ali made presentations on Jamaica, as did a teacher and a very impressive recent Columbus HS alum. A central theme of the conference was fighting back and the rally at Bloomberg's home is looked at as a beginning.

As the week wore on, the Jan. 21 rally at Bloomies seemed to capture the imagination and as I write this on the morn if Jan. 20, there were rumors of support from surprising groups, with even some politicians hankering to get on board. The UFT, of course, was nowhere to be seen for this demo because they didn't think of it or organize it and behind the scenes were working to keep people away. Attempts will be made at today's Delegate Assembly to shake the tree.

GEM is also organizing protests and actions for the Jan. 26 Bloomberg rubber stamp Panel for Educational Policy meeting at Brooklyn Tech where all the school closings will be voted on. (Bring cots and food, as this will be a long one.) Beach Channel and Jamaica will be watching how Queens BP Helen Marshall orders her PEP rep Dmytro Fedkowskyj to vote. Send him a message at pepofqueens@yahoo.com. And call Marshall's office, (718) 286-3000, before Jan. 26.

The UFT IS focusing on the PEP and holding a 4PM rally before the meeting. Will the UFT tell people the vote is final and "we put up the best fight we could, now go back to your schools and wait for their death?" Or will the fight continue?

GEM is already planning follow-up events with forums and rallies, even contemplating visits to PEP members and borough presidents who ignore the outcries of their constituents. (See ya soon Helen.)

I can't leave you without talking about State Senator Malcolm Smith. The charter school he founded in Rockaway stands to benefit from the Beach Channel HS closing. A Daily News article pointed to how Smith, with impoverished Rockaway schools enveloping the district he supposedly represents, gave a hundred thousand dollars to the charter school he founded. His supporters argued that he "divested himself" from the school. Don't you love the corporate terminology? And we find that the Victory Schools charter management company took over $750,000 in "management" fees. Victory's CEO is Margaret (Peg) Harrington who ran NYC high schools - you know, those "failing schools" that people like her supposedly ran into the ground to the extent that BloomKlein had to come riding to their "rescue" - by destroying them.
To top it off, the article said: "In 2006 and 2007, Smith received a total of $12,000 in campaign donations from Steven Klinsky, who founded the school's management company, Victory Schools Inc. Victory officials said that Klinsky's donations were meant as a show of support for Smith's pro-charter school stance. Smith recently introduced a bill to double the amount of charters allowed under law."
Gee, I'm sorry I didn't buy that bridge in Brooklyn Malcolm Smith was selling.

CAPE In Action: PS 15/PAVE Redux, UPDATED

UPDATED Jan. 20, 9am:

CAPE Communique:

Oh what a feeling...

Juan Gonzalez on PS 15/PAVE in Daily News:

Nothing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein can say will calm the furor and sense of betrayal parents and teachers at Public School 15 in Brooklyn have felt for the past few weeks.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/01/20/2010-01-20_paveing_way_over_bklyn_school.html


Jan. 19, 11pm

Just back from taping a rigorous debate at the meeting tonight at PS 15 over the extension of PAVE at the school, with an overwhelming majority of people urging the PEP to vote down the PAVE extension. Even the local politicians broke new ground tonight in supporting PS 15 and urging a rejection of the extension. I have 2 hours of video with some very good speeches. Jim Devor was such an amazing prosecutor I was ready to plead guilty. To anything.

A bunch of GEMers (who are also ICEers) showed up to show support and speak, along with parent activists CEC13 Pres. Khem Irby and CEC1 Pres. Lisa Donlan, along Brooklyn College Professor David Bloomfield, who heads the Educational Leadership school that trains principals (we assume in a slightly different manner than the notorious Joel Klein Leadership Academy.) As a retiree, I never cease to be amazed at the working teachers in GEM/ICE/CAPE who show up to meetings and events all the time.

CAPEers sent these notes:
THANK YOU!!! WOW!
You all are an amazing group! What a great GEMTASTIC bunch of people. I am so glad to have met all of you and to be working with you! Thank you for your time, energy and support, you rule!

We want to thank you so much for coming tonight, especially out to isolated, little Red Hook, to support us and 'the cause'. It means so much to all of us to have such amazing people in our lives and behind us. Regardless of what happens in the coming days, it is comforting to know that we have what is just on all of our sides and that we are all committed to fighting the destructive educational policies of this Mayor together. You are all in our fondest thoughts.


A GEMer responded:
The energy, information and commitment that you and your colleagues in CAPE put forth have motivated us to continue on with our united struggle. Thanks to all of YOU.

Press Release

Media Contact: John Battis: JBattis@chpnet.org ,

Lydia Bellahcene: lillytigre@yahoo.com,

Brooklyn, New York
January 19, 2010

Parents and Teachers Fight to Protect Their Community Public School:

Red Hook, Brooklyn’s AAA School, PS 15, The Patrick F. Daly School at the Center of New York City’s Charter School Invasion Struggle

---

When and Where:

· Rally and Public Hearing: 1/19/10, Rally, 4:30 on the corner of Richards and Sullivan Street in Red Hook, Public Hearing, 6:00 at PS 15, 71 Sullivan Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn

Upcoming Events:

· Citywide Rally and March on the Mayor’s Block: 1/21/10, Rally begins at 4:00 on the corner of 5^th Avenue and 79^th Street, the park side, Manhattan.

· Rally and PEP Meeting: 1/26/10, Rally begins at 4:00 across the street from Brooklyn Tech High School; PEP meeting begins at 6:00.

Today concerned parents, students, teachers and community members rallied and made public comment in opposition to a DOE proposal that would continue the placement of PAVE charter school in their public school building, PS 15, beyond the two year agreement made in 2008. The proposal would allow PAVE to remain in PS 15 until 2015, which would cause irreparable harm to the services and programs provided to Red Hook’s students. Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and Councilwoman Sara Gonzales both made statements on PS 15’s behalf noting the destructive and less than transparent actions by the DOE that have promoted the division of the Red Hook community at the expense of our children’s successful public school.

“Expanding PAVE within our school is unfair and detrimental. It does not promote “choice” or “reform”. The EIS is a “cut and paste” job void of any meaningful information about the real impact on our community. We demand an honest and public assessment that dares to identify the real and obvious problems with this proposal.” John Battis, Parent, PS 15

“What the DOE is proposing will hurt my three children who attend PS 15, and in particular our special needs population. Children should not have to receive services in closets and hallways. The DOE should not be treating our children like they can be thrown away like garbage.” Lydia Bellahcene, Parent, PS 15. “The DOE says that special education services, science rooms, art rooms, and intervention are luxuries, parents disagree. PS 15 is an AAA school, and the Mayor and Chancellor should not be setting policies to divide, shrink, and undermine our great school.”

“I have seen PS 15 grow dramatically over the last nine years and know firsthand the valuable services and programs we provide to the Red Hook Community. The proposal to extend PAVE’s stay beyond the two year agreement is an outrage and devastating to our community. It will destroy Red Hook’s AAA public school.” Marie Sirotniak, Teacher, PS 15.

“The policies being put forth by the DOE are a clear attempt to privilege charters at the expense of our public schools. No one at PS 15 questions a charter’s right to exist, but we seriously question the destruction of public education, particularly successful public schools, to benefit charters. It is clear now, that from the beginning PAVE and the DOE intended this stay to be longer. It is also clear they are very connected, as the DOE has just allocated 26 Million dollars to PAVE for a building, which at the earliest would be completed in 2013. This while our school budgets have been slashed and students and families are going without. The implementation of these policies robs Peter to pay Paul; this is not what our education system should be reduced to.” Julie Cavanagh, Teacher, PS 15.

Please find below an open letter from concerned parents of PS 15K:

January 19, 2010
Dear Chancellor Klein, Mayor Bloomberg, Panel for Educational Policy Members, and the Office of Portfolio Development,

We, the parents of PS 15, The Patrick F. Daly School in Red Hook, Brooklyn, respectfully demand that the Educational Impact Statement regarding the extension of the co-location of PAVE Academy in PS 15K be withdrawn. Simply put, the EIS is wrong and cannot be the basis on which PEP members decide the fate of our school. The most glaring and galling error is in the assessment of the building's current utilization percentage. The assessment does not reflect reality. For example, many of our school's rooms are serving children with special needs and current regulations do not allow these rooms to have higher occupancy. Also, the EIS anticipates that PAVE Academy will continue to exponentially expand its enrollment over the next 5 years while our school will be compelled to cut enrollment. Yet the EIS states that no child will be displaced and that there will be "no impact on PS-15." The EIS is contradicting itself! The fact is that the co-location of a charter school within our school's building has already had negative repercussions for our children who attend PS 15.

The Educational Impact Statement posted in December of 2009, for a 45 day comment period leading to a January 26th PEP vote should be deemed invalid. This document simply does not represent the true educational impact of the change in utilization the document supports. Once the EIS is amended, our community will ask for the proper 45 day review period, as required by law. Therefore, we ask that the vote on this proposal be withdrawn from the 26th PEP meeting date so that the Department of Education can not only re-examine the contents of the current EIS, but we also ask the DOE re-evaluate the desire to force a continued co-location on our school community. Our community was promised a 2 year limit on this arrangement. We have already seen the negative impact the co-location has had on scheduling, program offerings, and related service providers. We currently have no empty or underutilized rooms in our school building - should the EIS authors actually visit our school this would be evident to them.

PS 15 is a thriving, successful school. Its great improvement in every realm, over the past decade, has been based on many things: teachers, parent involvement, community support, and a properly sized facility to house all of 15's excellent programs. Cutting our building in half will set back all of our efforts which have resulted in the only successful public school serving Red Hook.
We respectfully ask the DOE to withdraw the EIS, remove the PAVE extension issue from the January 26th PEP meeting, and fully re-evaluate the policy and the ramifications of this proposed change in utilization. We stand united in fully supporting the original two year agreement and ask that PAVE Academy vacate PS 15 in June of 2010. We do not accept further sacrifices at the expense of our children.

A copy of the School Leadership Team’s public hearing presentation is attached to this release.

Norman Siegel Talks to Parent Meeting About the Protest at Bloomberg's Residence

Norman Siegel tells a parent conference sponsored by Class Size Matters in NYC on January 16 about the recent court victory that gives protesters over Mayor Bloomberg's education policies the right to hold a protest on the side of the street (17 East 79th St) where he lives. Amongst a sea of objections, this protest focuses on the unfair and arbitrary closing of schools, the imposition of charter schools into public school buildings and the unfair treatment of public schools by the BloomKlein administration vis a vis charter schools. He lays out the conditions the protesters will be under. If you intend to attend, heed what Siegel says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fF_QyyTYxA

Metropolitan Corporate Academy Rally, January 14, 2010

Metropolitan Corporate Academy students, parents, educators, and alumni came together in powerful unity on Thursday, January 14, 2010, speaking passionately and courageously about their school.

While the building doesn't present itself as much from the outside, we instantly felt the sense of community and family upon entering the door. Testimonies focused on students and staff's love for their school, despite its many challenges. The school's debate team proudly held their first place trophies in front of John White and presented him with a large stack of student signed petitions. The video not only captures the passion and spirit of the Metropolitan Corporate Academy, but it clearly demonstrates how far off course the New York City Department of Education has gone.

Click below:

http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/2010/01/metropolitan-corporate-academy-high.html

Who owns the media, even the “public” media? A Teacher in Bed-Stuy Posts to Beth Fertig's Blog

A teacher posted this today on Beth Fertig's News Blog on WNYC's website:

When will the press expose the “distraction”, to use Obama’s term, that charter schools provide for a system that is truly unwilling to reform itself? I am a teacher with 30 years in the DOE. My elementary school in Bedford-Stuyvesant experienced reform in the early 1990s, sponsored by the Office of School Reform and the UFT. It worked and transformed us in meaningful ways.

Twenty years later we are reaping the benefits of that initiative and are expanding our enrollment while all neighboring schools are losing theirs and subsequently having to share their building with a second or third school, sometimes a charter school. We benefited from funding opportunities then that no longer exist for us now, because funders are putting their money into charter schools.

We have devastating midyear budget cuts that they don’t have. Who will expose the fact that while they may have a lottery for their students, ultimately they get to pick and choose them and their parents? They cap their numbers by the late October head count and begin to weed out the troublesome and academically low-performing students from then on in time for the state exams.

Of course, they are going to look like they are doing a great job. We have to take those students back and work with the students they don’t want. In the end this exclusive private system within the public system is being supported by cuts to our budgets. The majority of public school children, who will never attend a charted school, will lose out in overcrowded classrooms in schools that have had to drop arts-in-education partnerships and after school programs, the services that made us great and helped to bolster their achievement and love of learning.

Who in the media is going to question a system that won’t spread reform to every school in order to benefit every child? Who wants to understands what is really happening in our midst, in the name of “school reform”? There is a travesty going on and they get away with it, because no one will report it.

Begs the question: Who owns the media, even the “public” media?

Origins and Purpose of "No Child Left Behind" and AFT/UFT Complicity

Susan Crawford wrote on the NYC Ed News listserve:

In looking up the site reference for Kathy Emery's dissertation on the Business Roundtable's 1989 conference on education (which I sent to these lists last June, and for to there is link below), I came upon this speech which she gave a few years later, but which gives a short, concise version of the material she explored in her dissertation and subsequent book.

I suggest we each forward this to every member of the state legislature before they vote on the charter school cap on Tuesday ... or anything else they are contemplating related to how our children are being educated or miseducated.

It's all here -- right down to the bifurcation-by-charter-school of the college-bound versus drop-out track, replacing the previous college versus vocational tracks. Closing this next batch of schools would seal the deal here in NYC. Anyone who wants to pursue a vocational track after that can go to a for-profit tech school and wrack up obscene student loans.

Re the testing mania cited, it would be interesting to see, if the PEP votes to close these schools, what would happen if HS students decided to sit out Regents week as a result. And the Acuity tests. And if lower grade students sat out the upcoming state tests. And Regents week in June. What exactly will it take to restore our educational system to the people who actually use it?

Susan Crawford

Kathy Emery was a participant - along with Bill Cala (read his current piece: COMMENTARY: Mayoral control doesn't work and is wrong) and Susan Ohanian and 20 others- at the meeting John Lawhead and I attended in Birmingham Al (thanks John for getting me to go) in March 2003 that helped open up my eyes to the "agenda." Boy I wish people had listened to what they had to say then. I put Emery's piece up at Norms Notes:

Origins and Purpose of "No Child Left Behind"

Note this point by Emery:

No Child Left Behind represents only the latest manifestation of a bipartisan bandwagon of standards based advocates – a bandwagon built in the summer of 1989 by the top 300 CEOs in our country. At this meeting, the Business Roundtable CEOs agreed that each state legislature needed to adopt legislation that would impose “outcome-based education,” “high expectations for all children,” “rewards and penalties for individual schools,” “greater school-based decision making” and align staff development with these action items.

I can't put my hands on it the Kahlenberg book right now but I remember reading just how embedded Shanker and the AFT/UFT were with the Business Rountable agenda and how Shanker participated in either their meetings or the national governors meeting that endorsed a lot of what turned into today's nightmare. So those who were surprised at the UFT/AFT capitulation to the ed deform plans, look to the roots.


Susan Ohanian wrote last year on just this issue:

A Nation at Risk, Al Shanker, and the ‘Accountability’ Movement

“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”

With this introduction, the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 is a good starting point, not because there weren’t other corporate screeds attacking public schools before then, but because it provided such a powerful rallying point, and it really is the grandfather of NCLB.

Incoming American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten confirmed this in her presidential remarks. Embracing A Nation at Risk, Weingarten claimed it “affirmed that we should accept nothing less than universal attainment.” Weingartem continued, “We believed in high standards — and we still do.”

Democratic (small “d”) educational theorist David Gabbard has observed that we should consider A Nation At Risk as the greatest lie that the state has ever produced regarding America’s public schools.

In that same piece she wrote:

The mantra is everyone should go to college. But the facts have always been clear that the number of jobs requiring a college degree have not increased nor are they projected to do so. Read Richard Rothstein. Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. In The Shell Game, Clinton Boutwell postulates that Corporate America wants to increase the number of college educated engineers and computer programmers to increase the supply of college educated workers well beyond the need for them, thereby paying them less. I set up my website against NCLB — www.susanohanian.org — in 2002, a couple of months after it was signed into law. By now, I feel rather like a reverse of Dickens’ Mme. Defarge, keeping track of what’s going on, knitting a register of outrage.


Susan's full piece "How the Educational Testing Industrial Complex Was Created" is at http://d2route.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/how-the-educational-testing-industrial-complex-was-created/

She also wrote about it at Substance: Read Susan Ohanian's piece at Substance:

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?section=Article&page=552

The predicted results are now coming in from Chicago where so much of this mayhem all began - materials from George Schmidt I started distributing in ed notes at every delegate assembly as far back as 2001,

See the Chicago Trib report out yesterday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/chi-renaissance-2010-17-jan17,0,3877012.story

ICE Petition Signing Event at Murray Bergtraum HS, Jan. 29, 3-7 PM

NOTE: YOU MUST SIGN UP IN ADVANCE FOR THIS EVENT SO YOUR INFO CAN BE PREPRINTED ON PETITIONS TO SAVE YOU LOTS OF TIME

From Ellen Fox, ICE Election Committee

Help ICE-TJC get on the ballot, so it can launch a campaign against a Unity leadership that seems lost in a moment of crisis that it helped to create.

We really, really need everybody to pitch in for this important activity, so that a strong ICE-TJC slate can stand up against a UFT "leadership" that has allowed a situation of true crisis to develop.

Before our eyes, the threats continue to proliferate, as we watch more and more schools slated for closing; charters siphoning off students, space and resources that once belonged to neighborhood public schools; seasoned teachers turned to ATR's; others relegated to TRC's (aka Rubber Rooms). Now the corporate voices of Bloomberg, Klein, Arne Duncan, Weingarten and their ilk are calling for teacher ratings, and perhaps tenure, to be tied to student performance on standardized tests. Remember when our biggest problem was what to do with the 37 1/2 minutes?

In the face of all of this, Unity leadership looks more and more like a deer caught in the headlights, shifting the burden of defense increasingly to individual schools, without any effective and unified plan to ward off the threats.

We need your agreement to sign ICE petitions on Friday, January 29, as well as your personal data, including your complete name, file number, and the school where you are working, so that we can prepare petitions in advance for you to sign. You'll enjoy congenial company, perhaps a pizza or two, and the knowledge that you've taken a step to help us get on the ballot.

If you can attend email your name, school (or where you work) and file number or last 4 digits of SS to ellenunion@yahoo.com

J-E-T-S

Friday Night Fights! from CAPE

Our pals at CAPE have been monitoring communications between Joel Klein, PEP member extraordinaire Patrick Sullivan, and parent activists - CEC 1 president Lisa Donlan and CEC 15's Jim Devor. Both were at the fantastic parent conference sponsored by Leonie Haimson's Class Size Matters yesterday (Sat.) I have 3 hours of delicious tape. Norman Siegel wowed them all, as did all the others.

I also want to say a few words about the amazing people at CAPE, who are holding a rally in Red Hook on Tuesday at 4:30 on the corner of Richards and Sullivan followed by the Public Hearing (same day 1/19) which begins at 6, sign ups to speak begins at 5:30. If you can make it show them your love for they are standing up for all. I will be there to tape it.

CAPEers have been willing to put themselves on the line. Amazing when we hear about the fear teachers have. Julie, a CAPEer, was one of the signers of the document that led to the court ruling that gave us the right to walk a picket line this Thursday at Bloomberg's residence. It was wonderful to hear Norman Siegel tell her at a meeting Thursday night, "You have me for life for doing this. If there is one hint of retaliation I will be there for you."

I can't tell you how many people contact me with complaints about the union and the DOE but are paralyzed by fear. What does it mean for a 10 year teacher with a long career ahead to take such action? It means the kind of guts and moxie that has been missing from all too many of our colleagues and certainly from our union.

Also, kudos to GEM and ICE member and 11 year teacher Seung Ok for signing on as a contact person for the rally. It was Seung who followed a parent at Maxwell's lead and proposed the demo at Bloomberg's in the first place. Ironic since the Unity Caucus slugs at Maxwell are urging administrators there to "go after" Seung. (Mark my words. Mulgrew will turn out to be as big a thug as any leader in the past.) Whenever I offer to keep Seung's name out of it, he says, "I'm not afraid." There are times his passion causes him to "lose it" at the DA, but there are few people I've met in the last few years who I have more respect for. He is running on the ICE/TJC slate for VP of Vocational Schools (Mulgrew's old position).

The emergence of Julie and the other CAPEers and people like Seung has provided strongly needed rank and file leadership to THE RESISTANCE. Give us even a hundred people like them and we have a game changer.

CAPE says:

What were you doing on Friday night? PEP member Patrick Sullivan, Joel Klein, CAPE members from PS 15, Lisa Donlan from CEC 1 and Jim Devor from CEC 15 were having a lively discussion regarding the forced co-locations and extensions of charter schools in our public schools beyond the agreements made to their respective communities while knowingly, over crowding, shrinking, and undermining, successful community schools. Please take note as to how Mr. Klein completely ignores the parent letters and voice in this discussion. His narrow view of the issue, and lack of attention to any real substance, only highlights the Orwellian nature of the destructive school policies he and his boss propagate across our great city. The public, Borough Presidents and PEP members should take note of the Chancellor's disregard of stakeholder voices. We should all question BloomKlein and their policies, particularly the school closures-charter invasions-drive to privatize movement that they blindly seek to implement. The time is now! Enough is Enough! We must fight to protect public education, the pillar of our democracy. WE are in this for ALL children.
The full transcript is below.
Friday Night Fights!

Parent, Student, and Teacher Protesters Win Right to Rally on Bloomberg’s Block

This is all over the internet already (ICE, CAPE, NYC Parents) but I might as well put it up for those too lazy to hit the links. Ed Notes was in the [court] house today trying to take notes as the case proceeded but the brain works faster than the hand and Julie really is becoming an expert press release writer.

I was pretty fascinated by the case preceding ours where a minor Madoff character named Anderson was sentenced to 90 months. He looked sort of old and pathetic and suffers from all kinds of stuff. When his lawyer said he was 64 I got the willies since I'm just 6 weeks shy of turning 65 (gulp). But I do get my half fare card. And senior citizen access to every movie theater. And social security. And hardening of the arteries.

Well, this thing is building, with even some politicians coming (we won't tell the UFT which ones since they would call and try to dissuade them.)

Knock, knock, UFT. Are you home? Ignoring this protest because it's at your buddy Bloomberg's place? That old sham you've been pulling that somehow it's all Klein's fault and Bloomberg is the good guy is wearing a bit thin. Mismanagement my ass. These "mismanagers" have run rings around you. Look within for the true mismanagers.

All along, I thought we were organizing a protest at Bloomberg's place in Bermuda. Had my shorts all ready. Next time.

Oh, and at the meeting at Norman Siegel's office Thursday night, he told the teachers involved they have a lifetime guarantee of his support if the BloomKlein admin makes any attempt at retaliation. Not knowing I was retired, he turned to me and said, "you too." Almost makes me want to go back to work. Almost, I said.

For Immediate Release

January 15, 2010

Contact: Julie Cavanagh, 917-836-6465, juliereed15@hotmail.com

Norman Siegel: 347-907-0867

Herbert Teitelbaum: 518-441-9412

Parent, Student, and Teacher Protesters Win Right to Rally on Bloomberg’s Block

Victory for the first amendment and for those struggling to protect public schools from closures and charter school invasions!

Today, Judge Alvin Hellerstein delivered a ruling granting parent, student, and teacher protesters, who are members of The Emergency Coalition to Stop School Closures, the right to protest on Mayor Bloomberg’s block in New York City. Judge Hellerstein ruled that we live in a democracy, and to the greatest extent possible, we have to find ways to protect our citizens, while not compromising the constitutional rights of others, to demonstrate and express their views. He went on to say that in assessing those values, he found that First Amendment rights support the kind of orderly and peaceful protest the plaintiffs sought to organize. Judge Hellerstein also added that the plaintiffs have the right to a peaceful picket to express their views in relation to important educational policies, particularly the increase in charter schools in the city. Attorneys Norman Siegel and Herbert Tietelbaum successfully argued the case.

“We are very pleased with the Judge’s decision. It is a major win for the right of New Yorkers to peacefully protest including on East 79^th Street where the Mayor resides,” attorney Norman Siegel.

“This is a victory not only for the plaintiffs, but for all who want to express their views to elected representatives,” attorney Herbert Tietelbaum.

“I am proud our efforts were successful and that we can take a stand in front of the city and the mayor to prevent the closing and phasing out of our school. Most of all I am happy we can voice our opinion on the city pushing out students in need in order to make room for charter schools and small schools that are very selective,” Khalilah , student, Maxwell High School.

“I am humbled that a homemaker from Red Hook, Brooklyn can take a stand against City Hall and win. The struggle to save our schools and public education is just beginning. Please join us on January 21^st on the Mayor’s block to send a message that says no, to the expansion of charter schools in schools like my children’s, P.S. 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. We also say no, to the ill defined school closings that pave the way for more charter schools and continue the dismantling of public education,” Lydia Bellahcene, parent, P.S. 15.

“Today is historic for protesting in the City of New York. I am so proud to stand with the parents and students I serve as we fight not only for our right to organize, but as we advocate to protect and preserve public education in our great city. It is not lost on me as an educator that this decision was made on Martin Luther King’s birthday. His legacy of peaceful and loving activism captures the culture of our school, P.S. 15. It is in this spirit that we bring our voices and concerns to the Mayor’s block in the hopes that there, we will be heard,” Julie Cavanagh, teacher, P.S. 15, “We want to thank, with much admiration and respect, Mr. Siegel, Mr. Tittelbaum and their staff, for their tremendous hard work and their dedication to protecting not only our rights, but the rights of all New Yorkers. I also want to thank the amazing parents and students I am so proud to stand behind and support.”

“The decision reaffirms the rights of citizens to protest on a city sidewalk, and prevents the mayor from turning a public city street into his own private front yard. Furthermore, it will allow parents, students, teachers, and members of the 22 communities affected by school closures to have their voices of discontent heard by the Mayor,” Seung Ok, Teacher, Maxwell High School.

“The right to demonstrate is not a given, it must be fought for, and we must be vigilant,” Gustavo Medina, retired teacher, Jamaica High School.

Parents, students, and teachers will hold their peaceful protest on both the North and South side of Mayor Bloomberg's block; East 79st, between 5th and Madison Avenue on Thursday, January 21st, between 4-6:30 pm. Protesters will meet at 5th avenue, on the southwest park side of the block, which will be the staging area and starting point of the protest. In the event of an appeal from The City of New York, the protest will continue on January 21^st, in compliance with the NYPD.

Media Contacts:

Lydia Bellahcene: lillytigre@yahoo.com, 347-463-9809, PTA PS 15- 718-330-9280

Julie Cavanagh: juliereed15@hotmail.com, 917-836-6465

Seung Ok: possitivelypessimist@gmail.com, 646-244-4468

Norman Siegel: 347-907-0867

Herbert Teitelbaum: 518-441-9412

Khalilah Dickerson- 347-264-4527/lilahmissco@hotmail.com

Richard McDonald- 347-445-3927/mcdonald_richie@yahoo.com