Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Before you get to Julie's takedown of Canada, here are a few more reactions to this NY Post "ad" for Canada (read it below the fold). On the lottery as PR:
Leonie Haimson:
“Geoff has described it as one of the only days of the year he does not look forward to coming to work,” Harlem Children’s Zone spokesman Marty Lipp said. “It’s a real roller coaster of emotions. It starts off celebratory, with parents shouting and beaming that their kids have gotten in. As we get to the waiting list and the room empties, it gets terribly sad. The parents’ hopes for their kids’ future just crash, and you can see the sadness etched in their faces.”
So why have a public lottery at all? This is a PR stunt and terribly abusive. Besides, there are several studies showing the HCZ results are not that good, despite all the money spent, and many say it is a badly run organization.
Diane Ravitch:
Why not just send a letter in the mail, as Gail Collins suggested after seeing Waiting for Superman? This is a marketing ploy.
Julie Cavanagh
The lottery and all of it are marketing ploys, it is so disgusting. Two things from this article that really send me over the edge: 1. They are acting like this is some big discovery and original concept that our schools, especially in more vulnerable and underserved neighborhoods, should be centers of community. PS 15, my school which was forced to give up its space to a charter, has a medical clinic and dental clinic through our partnership with Lutheran, offers mental health services, ged programs, nutrition and cooking programs, a wrap around partnership w/ Good Shepherd services, etc. The DOE's budget cuts and co-location policies put all of these things at risk and providing these kinds of services and programs to our community has become more and more difficult, even though we have been doing these things for years (except the dental clinic, we were fortunate enough to obtain that about two years ago). In the article they claim this project is a "first for NY"- that is complete BS, there are amazing public schools in NYC, including mine, who do all of these things and are fighting hard to maintain these programs and wish they could do even more. Instead of being supported we are starved and undermined by the DOE. 2. Look at the details of the school that is being built: two story library, dance room, on and on. These are things that are considered shared space or extra space at our public schools and can be taken away from public school children, but yet they are boast worthy when we are talking about HCZ. This same oxymoron exists in our community; the DOE has given PAVE 30 million to build their own state of the art facility with all kinds of "extras" that we have been forced to give away and deprive our children of. ALL of it, from the instructional footprint, to the lottery, to the so-called waiting lists, to the funding/stealing taxpayer dollars, all of it is nothing more than a scam, a shell game, wrapped up in marketing ploys and the goal is very clearly to transfer our tax dollars, and our public education system, into private and corporate hands. One only need to look at what has happened at PS 15 to know the truth; a school doing everything right, and we were forced to give away the space we uDiane Ravitch:sed for the very services and programs Canada gets rave reviews for as well as millions in matching funds. The only difference is we actually have had an "A" for four years while serving ALL children (with a 37% sp ed population and over 20% ELL population), while Canada serves far less needy children, kicks out the ones who don't make him look good and gets a "C" on his school report card. It is enough to drive you mad! -- Julie Cavanagh
In the educational battle ground, we often feel bombarded by info. The instinct is to duck, but there is so much good stuff on our side that is anti ed deform, we can only smile even if all we can do is read headlines without the content. Do you think the ed deformers have overplayed their hand? Arrogance and power begets an equal and opposite reaction. Ooops! I think an apple just fell on my head.
Parents Across America: Jean-Claude Brizard is leaving his post as Rochester Superintendent to become head of Chicago schools.
Here is a video of parents, teachers, students and community members warning Chicago about their new schools CEO. PAA has chapters in Chicago and Rochester, and our members have supported each other and shared information. http://bit.ly/mMIJc5
Rochester city newspaper discussing whether public should be involved in search for new superintendent.
Response from the Change.org “help desk” re deceptive Rhee petition
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Apr 30, 20111 Comment ››leoniehaimsonGoldenberg’s earlier post on this matter is here. If you’d like to weigh in on whether change.org should continue diverting nearly ALL signers of progressive education petitions to Michelle Rhee’s, promoting the elimination of teacher seniority protections, deceptively entitled “Save Great Teachers,” send a message to ben@change.org and cc. nonprofits@change.org Also check out Rheefirst.org on more on the Rhee record.
from Michael Paul Goldenberg, PAA member to Change.org: You’ve likely received other messages informing you of the exchange I recently had with the head of the Michigan Senate Education Committee that was spurred by my mistaking an anti-seniority petition from Michelle Rhee and her associates for one that was actually about SUPPORTING Michigan teachers and public education.
That petition was unceremoniously thrust in front of me in rapid fire order after I’d signed a different petition via your site. Normally, I’m rather circumspect about putting my name to something, but somehow the fact that it SEEMED on the surface to be in favor of something I do support (quality education) and that it came via your organization misled me.
In future, I will be very hesitant to consider signing other petitions that come my way from Change.org lest I be similarly sucked into supporting Rhee or anyone like her. I consider her to be one of the most dangerous, dishonest people with a loud voice in the fight to privatize US public education. Her group, “Students First,” is hypocritically named and has nothing to do with what it would like to mislead the public into think it is focused upon. Ms. Rhee is about Ms. Rhee and Ms. Rhee’s career and bank account.
Rhee’s absolute failure to properly investigate the cheating scandal she helped cause speaks volumes about her lack of principles and willingness to do anything to keep herself in the public eye as another fraudulent “miracle worker.” The only miracle about Ms. Rhee is that she’s still getting away with it. If your group allows her to mislead your readers, I’m afraid you’re going to lose quite a lot of support, at least if I have anything to say about it. Sincerely, Michael Paul Goldenberg
—- from Arturo Holloway, The Change.org Help Desk: Hi Michael, Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on this. We fully realize the current education debate is a complicated one, with many people that feel strongly about Students First — both in support and opposition. As an open platform that enables social change organizations to promote causes to people around the world, Change.org doesn’t take a position on the means or tactics those organizations use to achieve their goals. You can read our full client policy here:
http://www.change.org/about/client_policy
Thanks again for getting in touch about your concerns. I’ve made sure your communication was shared with the appropriate people on our team. Best Regards, Arturo
Saturday, April 30: As a follow-up to the post earlier this morning:
You can't go anywhere in District 14 without tripping over an elementary school. PS 147 where I taught is within no more than a 10 minute walk - or less - than 4 other elementary schools. But Eva is coming anyway because people want "choice." Ah, "choice" - the buzzword of corporate raiders everywhere. But the end game will be no choice - that's free market capitalism, isn't it? Drive out until you have a monopoly. Just check how we have gone from choice in phone companies after the Ma Bell breakup back down to basically ATT and Verizon. Here is a report from an ed notes correspondent on the follow-up CEC meeting, our final entry of the week of "Eva and District 14." The story will go on as things are brewing that will send more strong messages to the powers that be.
Everyone spoke so boldly on April 14 and showed the folly of Eva and her academies. However, Foster was back last night asking for three more co-locations "either for D13 or 14" as was Beginning with Children (Mr. Flowers) asking for another school that they wanted to co-locate. A DOE rep from Portfolio on Charters was also present. (She was not introduced.) There was hardly a soul in the audience. Three CEC members and I asked questions/made comments. The upshot was that D14 does not need any more elementary schools. One male CEC member kept asking why our public schools were not being funded and expanded. The DOE rep said she was not there for that discussion. People want "choice" (that should be a four letter word). Much discussion went on, but it was made clear that the community did not want more elementary schools. Our community schools are on the whole doing well; we have high parent satisfaction; we are meeting the needs or our community were the general agreements of the questioners.
Superintendent, Quail pointed out the positives in D14 schools even as he said he had to represent Tweed. He asked, "What does under-served mean?" No one can seem to define this, but the charters say they go into underserved communities. Ms. Wilson (CEC 14 Pres) ) asked Foster what her schools offer the community that is different. She could not give an acceptable answer. Our district 14 schools are declining in population and as children are lured to charters, the public schools lose funds and ultimately programs. All of the schools are planning K-8 charters and it was argued that what is needed in the community are more good junior and senior high schools. There was a lot of dialogue and questioning as well as criticism. This is a Portfolio Planning review phase. If anyone wants to comment they should do it by tomorrow (within 48hours of the meeting) at CharterSchools@schools.nyc.gov I feel that people need to keep coming to these types of meetings to have their voices heard before final decisions are made.
I hope you've seen some of the videos I've been posting from the District 14/Success Network meeting on April 14. This is the finale. A good question is why when so many charters have impacted on Williamsburg, Success has raised so much opposition? I'm not sure but I may seek to find out some answers. Whatever the reasons, it has been fun to watch. As Success now attempts to add 2 more schools we will watch carefully to see if the resistance crumbles.
Today's video is the final one I processed. CEC 14 asks why Success didn't reach out to CEC 14 or why there are not math or reading scores listed for HSA (how are they claiming their schools are such a success?). She reads a letter from Leticia James representing Dist 13 and 14 calling for no more charters in either district. I wonder what other charter chain operators think of Eva who may be killing the golden goose for all of them.
Last night's PEP meeting was as disappointing and deeply sad as all the others.
Walcott came out in the audience, in an obvious PR move designed for the cameras, to say that he intended to listen to parents and to ask that there be civility in return.
Yet as the educrats put forward their stupid, destructive, and irresponsible proposals, one after another, there was little indication that any of them had listened to a single word the audience had to say, and one after another, they were rubberstamped by the Mayoral appointees on the PEP, with no consideration of parents' views or their children's needs.
In fact, Walcott and the Tweed educrats continued on their mad and irresponsible course to undermine the quality of our public schools.
First up the capital plan, with new seats cut by almost 50% compared to the November plan; despite that now one quarter of all elementary schools now have waiting lists for Kindergarten next year. Last fall, the DOE finally admitted that we needed more than 50,000 new seats just to keep up with new development but there are only 28,000 in this new plan.
Though Kathleen Grimm admitted that the need had not suddenly disappeared, she insisted that this is all the city can afford to spend, despite the fact that the economic situation has IMPROVED since Nov., the state reimbursement was NOT capped, and the DOE intends to spend $540 M next year alone on new technology alone.
Despite Walcott's claim that there would be a change in attitude, the result was the same arrogance and refusal to consider the obvious overcrowding crisis and the need for more seats. The plan was approved without any questions, except from Patrick; and the PEP mayoral appointees voted like the puppets they are, in lockstep to approve.
Then there were hundreds of parents/students/teachers begging for their transfer school – Bronx Academy High School -- to be saved. The students, some of whom were in tears and had been sent there from other closing schools, were eloquent, explaining how the school had turned their lives around. And as usual, total arrogance and refusal to consider their choices from the Walcott and the educrats at Tweed, with the mayoral appointees voting in lockstep to close the school.
Parents from IS 303 in Brooklyn – bringing petitions with 11,000 signatures, pleading that Coney Island Prep charter not be allowed to invade their school and take their kids classrooms away. And as usual, total arrogance and refusal to consider their choices from the DOE, and the mayoral appointees, voting in lockstep, like the puppets they are.
Three more schools will begin closing next year, following a vote by the citywide school board last night that brought the total of schools closed this year to 27.
Members of the Panel for Educational Policy voted to close two transfer schools — Pacific High School and the Bronx Academy High School — as well as P.S. 30, an elementary school in Queens.
It was Chancellor Dennis Walcott's first panel meeting since Mayor Bloomberg named him to the post. Walcott said he hoped to change the tenor of the meetings by answering parents' questions and publicly debating policy issues at a deeper level than his predecessors did.
Walcott began the meeting by walking down from the stage and into the crowd, where he promised parents, teachers, and students that he and his staff would respect them.
"You will never hear me be disagreeable with you," he said. "The one thing we understand is these are emotional issues for you…the approach we're going to take moving forward is be responsive to those issues even when we don't agree."
If audience members heard Walcott's plea for civility, they betrayed no signs. The boos and catcalls that have peppered panel meetings for months reappeared last night, as did animosity between charter school supporters and the district schools they will have to share space with next year.
Wearing light blue shirts, parents and teachers from Coney Island Prep Charter School sat across the aisle from parents of students and teachers at I.S. 303, who wore orange shirts. Per tonight's panel vote, Coney Island Prep will move into I.S. 303′s building next year, claiming classrooms that the middle school's teachers said they need for high-needs special education students, but that city education officials have decided they can do without. Throughout the evening, parents and teachers from the two schools traded shots over which was the better school and why the charter school couldn't move to another building.
Of the three schools that the panel voted to begin phasing out next year, Bronx Academy proved the most controversial. A large group of students, parents, and teachers attended the meeting tonight to defend the school against closure, citing its students' improving credit accumulation and Regents passage rates.
In the last seven years, Bronx Academy has seen four principals come and go. It is currently on the state's list of persistently low-achieving schools. Yet in September, the school began the process of transforming itself. It was given a new principal, Gary Eisinger, and it formed a partnership with Good Shepherd Services, a community-based organization that offers students counseling and support. Bronx Academy also switched from semesters to trimesters, allowing students to 18 credits a year instead of 14.
"I've worked in transfer schools, and I've never seen a principal work this hard," said Kevin Towns, an advocate counselor with Good Shepard. "The data you're [the DOE] using is from the old regime. These people have been here eight months — let's be real."
But Department of Education officials said that they had seen enough of the school's progress to decide that it wasn't enough to justify keeping Bronx Academy open.
"The principal has come into a tough set of circumstances, and you do see the impact of his leadership in that school," said Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg. "Even if there has been improvement, it's well below what we expect to see. And well below what we see across transfer schools citywide."
Senior Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky said that only two-thirds of Bronx Academy students were showing up to school every day and only a quarter are passing their Regents exams. Many students are still earning too few credits to graduate on time, he said.
"What I'm seeing is the culture in that school has changed and that is powerful and that is what has generated the positive energy, but the academic expectations have not changed," Polakow-Suransky said.
Anita Batisti, who directs Fordham University's school support organization, which oversees Bronx Academy, said she couldn't understand why the city would want to close an improving school.
"I ask you, please give us more time," she said.
Monica Major, the panel member appointed by the Bronx borough president, said the DOE was rushing to close a school that was just beginning to show signs of improvement. Although Major proposed that the panel table its plans to vote on the school's closure, her motion was voted down. The panel also voted to open a new transfer school called Bronx Arena that will replace Bronx Academy.
"Marc, I'm really hoping Arena only gets eight months, the same amount of time you gave this school," Major said to Deputy Chancellor Sternberg.
Asked after the meeting whether eight months would be enough time to judge one of the city's 11 transformation schools — many of which have been given new principals and support after years of little progress — Walcott sidestepped the question.
"We can't tolerate slow, incremental change," he said
Let me take a brief break from out coverage of the Success Charter Network Traveling lie and misrepresentation show to bring you a message from Arthur Goldstein, chapter leader of Francis Lewis HS, the school that Dennis Walcott graduated from and which he has sat by over the last 9 years as it has double the number of students with many crowded in trailers. Did Walcott ever have to eat lunch at 9AM?
Date: Friday, April 22, 2011, 7:34 PM
It is very important that we all stand for our school on Friday, April 29th, right out in front at 4 PM. Let's tell Mayor Bloomberg that we are serious. We will have some special guest speakers, including Senator Tony Avella and UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Please wear your UFT shirts. This is what they are for. If we don't stand up for ourselves, I guarantee no one else will.
Chancellor Walcott is not worried about class size, a good thing, because his clever plan to lose 8.2% of working teachers will certainly cause class sizes to explode. He estimates this will be by 1-1.5 students per class. That's ridiculous, and even if it weren't, I've counted hundreds of classes at maximum in our building alone.
When Walcott said, in response to my question, the budget was so bad we couldn't afford to waste the 3.1 billion dollar surplus on teachers, I pointed out that Bloomberg estimated the savings in the reduction of the education workforce to be 369 million, a fraction of the surplus. He spoke for a long time, but did not respond directly.
From the UFT:
The annual Open Market Transfer Plan period began on April 15. The plan offers all pedagogues and paras access to job openings throughout the city through an online registration process. During this period, which ends August 7, you do not need a release from your principal to change schools. You may even apply to schools without current openings, and your application will be kept on file until an opening occurs. The Open Market Q & A on the UFT Web site offers more information about the process. Also, please note that full-time and part-time physical therapists and occupational therapists can now use a separate online application system to apply for vacancies on the open market this year. A letter from the DOE is going out to all OTs and PTs with details about vacancies and how to apply.
Make sure to watch this video when you get back from the wedding - look for me in case I decide to fly over.
This interchange is priceless. Juan Martinez asked if Success would share the names of those 1400 Brooklyn parents. Hey, if they are going to claim the right to expand due to "demand" based on these people who signed up, they should have to share the names and we should be able to ask people if they just signed up for information. At the end there's even a section with some old retired teacher who put down the video camera for a few minutes.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Reminder: Tonight is the PEP at Prospect Hts HS where loads of charters will be shoehorned into public schools. GEMers will be there. Join them.
In this video:
I was so proud of my old school when these 2 teachers, Ben and Michael, stood up and challenged HSA. Too bad the sound is not good, so listen carefully. I only met these guys once or twice but how nice to see the next generation of teachers who "get it."
On April 14th, I attended a District 14 Community Education Council meeting where Eva Moskowitz, the CEO of the Success Academy Charter School Network, was supposed do a small presentation about her plans to open three more Brooklyn Success Academies. She was also expected to field questions from the public. I have written about charter schools and this particular charter chain on more than one occasion, but I continue to be shocked by its approach and steadfast commitment to shirking the truth. For those who don't know, Success Academies is a network of charter schools in New York City. There are currently seven Success Academies open and all are co-located inside public school buildings. Moskowitz's schools have a track record of under-serving the neediest students and counseling out students who have significant academic and behavioral needs. In addition, Moskowitz's schools have received preferential treatment from the Department of Education and she has been allowed to open school after school despite mounting public opposition. (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-25/local/27057283_1_e-mails-charter-space-in-school-buildings)
There are many who believe that Eva Moskowitz’s schools represent the kind of change we need in education, and this is certainly the message Moskowitz spends millions to market. However, the reality is far different. At this CEC meeting I witnessed two Success Academy staff members avoid answering community member's questions and make numerous false statements—all in the hopes of preserving their image.
Before the CEC meeting began, we received word that Moskowitz would not actually be present at the meeting—she would instead be sending a couple of her marketing staff members to field questions and give her presentation. The meeting began with a small crowd seated in the auditorium of I.S. 71. After a rousing performance by the P.S. 257 marching band and a few CEC announcements, the microphone was given to a Success Academies employee, Nicole Foster. As she took the microphone, parents, teachers and principals in the crowd held up large signs expressing their opposition to Success Academy schools coming in to District 14. Before Foster even began speaking, the CEC president brought forth some concerns about the way in which this meeting was scheduled and pointed out some glaring errors on the part of the Success Academies staff. Right from the start, it was clear that this was going to be a tough crowd for the two, young Success Academies staff members.
Ms. Foster began by thanking us all for being there and stressed how excited Success Academies was to be coming to District 14. They were, she claimed, attending this meeting in order to start a "respectful dialogue" with the community. Yet, she did not address Moskowitz's absence. How important is dialogue with the community to your organization if your own CEO doesn't show up to meet the community? She talked briefly about her background, the Success Academies philosophy and their plans to open more charter schools in District 14. Next, she called upon two Harlem Success Academy parents to speak to the audience. They told brief stories about why they believed so strongly in their school. The two parents certainly seemed excited about their schools; however, they didn't refer to anything very specific about why their schools were so extraordinary. It seemed an odd move bringing in these parents. If there was, in fact, such a high demand for these Success Academies (as their staff members claimed), why bring parents in from Harlem to convince us?
Soon after the parents finished their presentations, the crowd had a chance to ask some powerful and critical questions. Throughout this back and forth, the Success Academies employees tried to make nice and appear gracious and respectful, but they were challenged by the community's questions and struggled to communicate anything more than half-truths.
One of the first questions was about why Success Academies felt any need to come to District 14. Foster responded that there was "demand" for their charter school. When asked to explain this demand, Jenny Sedlis (Director of External Affairs) joined her colleague at the front. She claimed there was a demand because 1,400 families had entered the lottery for the 168 spots available at their school slated to open in District 14. When probed further and asked repeatedly how many of these applicants were actually from District 14, Sedlis became flustered and said that all the applicants were from "Brooklyn." Success Academies is claiming a false demand for their schools. It is not accurate to say that there is a demand in District 14 for this school, if the applicants do not actually live in the district. Success Academies choose District 14; the district did not choose them.
There are some serious questions, too, as to how Success Academies got parents to enter their Brooklyn lottery. A special education teacher from PS 147 testified that during his school’s parent-teacher conferences, a man stood outside handing out Success Academy advertisements to the PS 147 parents. When questioned, the man admitted he was being paid ten dollars an hour to solicit parents for Success Academies. The PS 147 teacher challenged the consistent Success Academies line about parent choice: "When advertisements are given in the face of people, when they put them in front of them, without dialogue beforehand…that is not choice! That is ‘this is what you should do.’” He shared how parents at his school came in asking, “Should we be worried about our school?”
Foster’s response was evasive at best. She spoke lightheartedly about how their network has reached out to the community and daycare centers in the past. She failed to address any of the teacher’s concerns, but instead kept referring to how Success Academies is trying to engage, now, in a dialogue with the community. (Let’s not forget that the lottery for their school closed on April 1st. Seems like it might be a little late to be starting this dialogue.) While Foster put on a smile to respond to this public school educator, the outright disrespect her organization showed towards PS 147 (and so many other public schools where they do the same kind of soliciting after/before school) cannot be denied. While his school is in the midst of doing something positive and productive--conducting meetings between teachers and families--Success Academies shows up to tell these parents they should consider another school, creating confusion and sowing seeds of doubt.
Another educator from PS 147 challenged the Success Academies model. He spoke of high teacher turnover rates in their schools, and cited a case in which one Harlem Success Academy went through four principals in just five years. He asked Ms. Foster, “How can your school be a replicable model?” as they so often proclaim. He spoke also of their contradictory statements about testing and test prep. While they claim not to be a "test-prep" factory, their teachers don orange t-shirts with the words, “Slammin’ Exam Teacher!” Furthermore, the PS 147 teacher alleged, the schools’ CEO, Ms. Moskowitz, has openly advocated for rewarding teachers monetarily for high student test scores.
When Ms. Foster took back the microphone she began again with her previous tactic, to sound nice, but communicate little substance or truth. She made general statements about the Success Academies philosophy—“The tests are not our end-all…but they are our moral obligation. We have to ensure our students do well on these exams…So, we try to get the students excited about the tests.” While Foster seemed to be communicating the message the Success Academies schools are not unilaterally focused on testing and test-prep, a former HSA teacher tells a different story: "There is a one word focus at any HSA school: testing." (Anonymous comment left: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/04/harlembrooklyn-success-academy-video.html)
Foster's response to teacher turnover was even more misleading. She said that many of the teachers at Success Academies don’t leave, they simply move on to other positions within the network. She didn’t exactly specify what jobs these teachers took up, aside from mentioning a few school leaders who were former teachers. Surely the 50% turnover rate at Harlem Success Academy 1 (see for yourself on the State’s Accountability and Overview Report) is not due entirely to teachers becoming principals. Some teachers likely do move up, but what happened to the rest of them?
Throughout the evening, Foster and Sedlis continued to use three phrases repetitiously: “partnership, respectful dialogue and parent choice.” An educator from Harlem, whose public school has been forced to share space with a Harlem Success Academy, spoke strongly about how these empty phrases are tossed around by Success Academy employees. He spoke of how Moskowitz brought parents into his school for a co-location hearing and how they aggressively called his school, “a failure.” There was no basis for this accusation--Moskowitz had been pining for this school building and used this public hearing as an opportunity to attack and overwhelm this public school. (See http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxueWRuZG9jc3xneDoyMjFlOTliYmVlNjUxMmIw&pli=1 for access to the emails between Moskowitz and Klein. See pages 47 to 50.)
He spoke also of the numerous injustices his school and students have been subject too since the co-location began. Each year, Harlem Success Academy has taken more and more space away from his public school. Kindergarten, first and second grade students at his public school have been forced into classrooms in a sub-level basement—all to make room for Harlem Success Academy. Foster attempted to respond, explaining that in each co-location there is a team of people who work together within the building to divide space equally and fairly. The Harlem educator responded and shared how his school community consistently and opening opposed the move to basement classrooms, and how, in the end, they were not allowed to be a part of this decision. They were told to move their classes into the basement. Foster continued to stress how her schools work in partnership with their public school neighbors. It is easy to say you partner with a community or a school, but to actually do it requires a degree of honesty and consideration Success Academies have not shown themselves to possess. Partnership requires a give and take; Success Academies only know how to take.
As the evening continued, a consistent pattern revealed itself. The community raised concerns. Then, Sedlis and Foster deflected and attempted to minimize what the community brought forth. The most glaring untruths came later in the evening. Someone from the audience mentioned her concern that Success Academies fail to enroll equitable numbers of students with special needs and English language learners. Nicole Foster actually said that the new District 14 Success Academy school will have 25% English Language Learners. She then went on to say that Success Academies enroll more special education students and more ELL’s than the public schools with whom they share space. Her statements could not be further from the truth.
Let’s look first at English Language Learner enrollment. New York State complies information on all schools and creates an “Accountability and Overview Report” for most schools in the city. The 2008-2009 reports can be found online. See the chart below to see the enrollment of English Language Learners at three Success Academies and their co-located neighbors.
For some reason, “Accountability and Overview Reports” do not yet exist for the other Success Academies schools. Most likely, this is due to their youth—some have only been open a year or two. However, the public schools they share space with enroll significant numbers of ELL students.
English Language Learners in other Public Schools co-located with Success Academies
P.S. 241, co-located with HSA 4
24%
P.S. 123, co-located with HSA 5
20%
P.S. 30 Wilton, co-located with Bronx Success 1
28%
P.S. 146 Edward Collins, co-located with Bronx Success 2
16%
Foster also claimed that her schools enroll higher numbers of special education students, but the numbers just don’t add up. On the Department of Education website (schools.nyc.gov) you can view all kinds of statistics for each public school in our city. Statistics for charter schools are not as easily accessed. In the beginning of February, I came across a new link with enrollment data on each school’s page. It was titled, “CEP School Demographics and Accountability Snapshot, 2010-2011.” This was, at the time, a snapshot available for all schools—public and charter. I recorded the data for the Success Academy schools, as well as the public schools that have been forced to share their space with this charter chain. Within a couple of weeks, this link was removed from all of the charter school web pages, however it is still available on public school pages. (It is listed near the bottom of each school's “Statistics” page.) The data used in the graphs below comes from these snapshots. If the Success Academies schools would like to provide updated and detailed enrollment information, I would love to see it.
The first graph shows the percentage of students enrolled in special education classes, both Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) and self-contained classes.
While it is undoubtedly clear that our public schools serve more students in need of special services, the differences are even more glaring if you examine the number of students in self-contained classes alone. Students who need self-contained classes typically have the highest needs.
The Success Academies Network is not interested in serving high-needs students and have counseled out many students when they felt overwhelmed by their needs. Go into any of the schools co-located with a Success Academy and you will find former Success Academy students—students who “won” the lottery, but were then asked to leave. Success Academies seem to have adopted an attitude now shared by many charter schools—it is accepted practice to exclude students instead of giving them the support they need to succeed. (The NY Post just ran an article about these exclusionary practices, "Charters Nix 23% of kids: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/charters_nix_of_kids_jXEEhJtQx9eQiGUiD3vInN)
The job of a public school is to work with all of the students who enroll, regardless of their strengths, weaknesses, needs or shortcomings. When a student presents with a need, it is up to the school to help meet that need. Although they receive substantial public funds, charter schools are not public schools and easily avoid doing the true and hard work of educating our neediest children.
As the CEC meeting ended around 8:15 pm, two tired and weary Success Academies employees exited I.S. 71. I wondered, how they do it every day? How do they work for an organization that, in the name of educational equity, creates division, tension and inequality in our communities? Moskowitz invests extraordinary resources in the presentation and preservation of her organization's image. But as one community member said at the end of his testimony, "Imagine if that money went to kids!"
In advertising and marketing, truth is usually obscured or manipulated in an attempt to convince people (consumers) of something--to buy a product, to take a trip, to take a drug, to buy a kind of food, to go to a school. McDonald's spends millions of dollars every year marketing and promoting its food. It fills its advertisements with images of seemingly healthy people stuffing their faces with unbelievably unhealthy food. It slaps up joyous slogans and avoids including the information about their food's damaging nutritional content that might dissuade people from buying it. McDonald's advertising campaigns are not focused on sharing any truths. Rather, they hide the truth in the name of increasing profit. The Success Academies Charter School Network is guilty of similar practices. Moskowitz wants us to believe what her organization says and ignore what it does. But if we ignore what is happening, our children are the ones who will pay the price. They deserve honesty and integrity, not lies and deceit.What is it going to take for more people, especially parents, to see through the empty slogans of Success Academies?
