Can you believe this..?
Martine Guerrier says that everything the Department of Education does starts with the parents...
Thats probably why Chancellor Joel Klein kept parents and CPAC off the reorganization task force...
And why they waited until for the summer when school was over to convene their hearings on the "Contract for Excellence"...
We all know how much they listened to all our concerns when they put together their bogus parent survey forms...when parents overwhelming said we wanted accountability at Tweed and smaller class sizes for our children...
It's also probably why cellphones are allowed in the schools for the safety of our children in these post 9-11 times...and why class size reduction is first and foremost in DOE's plans...
And why they plan to lease out Randall's Island to wealthy private schools when our children have no open spaces for physical education and gym classes...
What a joke...and whats even funnier is how the press buys their feeble responses...instead of calling them on it...
I guess more parents need to "rant" then...as they characterized my simple, forthright and direct questions to Ms. Guerrier...
For the record. I simply proposed that there possibly should be some outside steering committee possibly under the auspices of the Public Advocate Office that would oversee how Tweed spends our tax money...and that parents (tax-payers) help set priorities in the public school system instead of only outside consultants and non-educators at Tweed...
But why would Tweed include parents in any decision-making role when they can pay millions for outside contractors like high-priced consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal who did such a fabulous job with their school bus fiasco...leaving our elementary school children out on street corners in the dead of winter...for school buses that never arrived...
I guess my proposal was such a radical concept for Tweed and the press evidently - to allow the primary stake-holders to have a seat at the table or to have a role in the decision making process for our children...
Can you imagine asking Tweed to allow the public have some say in how the Public Schools operate...??
CEC 27 Welcomes New DOE Official
story and photo by Ralph Mancini
Bridging the gap between parents and schools topped the list of objectives set by the Department of Education’s new Chief Executive Officer of Parent Engagement at the Monday, June 18 Community Education Council District 27 meeting held at P.S. 225 in Rockaway Beach.
New Parent Engagement CEO
“We want to make parents feel more respected in schools,” said the recently-appointed Martine Guerrier, who didn’t see why parents had to live in a particular district to get updated on specific school matters including how district schools are rated.
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| The Department of Education’s new Chief Executive Officer of Parent Engagement, Martine Guerrier, talks about a variety of strategies aimed at getting families school-related information. |
Planning to bring groups, such as Community Education Councils, together to get information out to everyone at the same time, she said, would leave very little room for error.
Guerrier—who prior to accepting her new position served as a parent volunteer for eight years, in addition to being a school board member and lobbyist—also called for School Leadership Teams to become more viable in their planning and decision making.
Composed of a collection of administrators, parents, teachers and school staff members, School Leadership Teams are a DOE vehicle that analyzes individual schools and identifies the underlying dynamics and needs within their student population.
She also expressed the necessity of fortifying school district staffs in order for them to work in concert with borough personnel in reaching out to families and focus on student needs.
“It will take a long road to get there,” said Guerrier even if everyone is on the same page in regard to student learning.
“Goodwill will not be enough,” she continued, determining that the correct procedures be selected to ultimately ensure that an increased number of schoolchildren become “tax paying and law abiding” citizens.
When asked by CEC 30 President Andrew Baumann why CEC Council members have been “banned” from serving on School Leadership teams, Guerrier brought up existing conflicts prohibiting CEC members to join. However, she did state that Baumann and the rest of his group are welcome to attend School Leadership meetings as observers and provide oversight.
CEC 27 Council member Cynthia Dell’ Italia, on the other hand, asked the newly appointed DOE officer to fill the Council in on initiatives to foster parent interaction within schools.
Guerrier said that a District Family Day will be held on a monthly basis as a way to invite parents inside schools.
A number of grievances were issued by Community Board 10 member David M. Quintana, who claimed that school principals are discouraging learning leaders because “they don’t want parents in schools.”
Quintana continued his rant by proposing that an outside independent body be formed under the auspices of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum to have more say over how city funds are spent within the education system instead of having Schools Chancellor Joel Klein “dictating from the mountain.”
Guerrier brushed off Quintana’s allegations by stating that all changes made within the DOE start with the parents and not Chancellor Klein.
Student performance
M.S. 226 (South Ozone Park) Parent Coordinator Claudia Bethea commented on one parent’s gripe that her 11-year-old doesn’t know how many degrees there are in a circle, telling meeting attendees that it’s unfair to drag schools down when overwhelming crime and violence are preventing children from getting the most out of their education.
“I’ve told every parent ... I speak to that every child that enters New York City public schools, enters with baggage,” she said. “As staff members, we don’t know what type of baggage they carry. Every child across America ... has to face everyday gun violence and drug dealing. It’s incredible that these people are on the corner watching your babies go to school. We need somebody from the community to say, ‘This has to stop.’ “
Bethea decried a lack of police presence, pointing out that children from nearby schools are being followed home by strangers.
“They can’t learn because they have to face what’s out there on the street. First and foremost, we as a community have to deal with cleaning up the streets first,” she told the body. “I don’t care how many great teachers you put in, our children will never learn. If our children are living in a household where daddy’s beating mommy, where are our children going to learn? We just can’t blame everything on the education system.”
Student assessments
District 27 Superintendent Michele Lloyd-Bey touched on a number of periodic student assessments that will be issued beginning in September.
Children will reportedly be taking two predictive assessments measuring their performance levels during the course of the school year.
They will also be given three instructionally-targeted assessments to give the DOE “a sense of what’s going on in the schools “and also give them an idea of what each school’s tests look like.
A calendar listing all assessment dates, according to Lloyd-Bey, should be made available to parents and students by parent coordinators.
District 27 schools recognized
Lloyd-Bey read off a list of five District 27 schools recognized among the 226 rapidly improving schools from the DOE and the State Education Department, which were: P.S./M.S. 43 (Far Rockaway), P.S. 45 (South Ozone Park), P.S. 104 (Far Rockaway), P.S. 105 (Far Rockaway) and P.S. 215 (Far Rockaway).
The local schools on the list of 589 non-title one high performing gap closing schools were: P.S. 47 (Broad Channel), P.S. 114 (Belle Harbor), P.S. 146 (Howard Beach) and P.S. 232 (Lindenwood).
Stoplight request
P.S. 124 Parent-Teacher Association Co-President Debbie Capuano asked Baumann what would be required in order to have a traffic light installed at the intersection of 130th Street and 150th Avenue.
The CEC 27 Council president suggested that she put her appeal in writing and forward it to Council Member Thomas White and Lloyd-Bey.
Community Education Council District 27’s summer meetings will be held at district headquarters located at 82-01 Rockaway Boulevard (Room 302B) in Ozone Park.
