My name is David M. Quintana, I am a parent and graduate of the NYC public education system...
I feel the six year experiment with Mayoral control of the NYC Department of Education has not achieved improved student performance...Many speak about tweaking the system but I think it is in need of a massive overhaul to make it more responsive to the concerns and needs of their primary stakeholders, parents, teachers and students...
I believe that the development of a whole child requires the reinstitution of the Arts, Music, Physical Education (Gym), Student Governments and the teaching of basic American Civics – so students can learn how a basic democracy works so they can make intelligent political decisions in their own and their families self interest as adults and concerned citizens of our society...these skills have been neglected to make time for endless standardized test preparation...
I call for the elimination of the massive NYPD presence in our school buildings, which I feel creates a prison-like atmosphere in our schools...As the New York Civil Liberties Union has also noted, in its determined effort to bring these official vigilantes under control, that "this massive presence would make the NYPD's school safety division the fifth largest police force in the country—larger than [those of] Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston, or Las Vegas."
I feel that we should put Educators back into Tweed Courthouse and not corporate “media spin doctors” who misinform the citizenry about the conditions in our schools..I would call for a serious reduction in the staffing of the DOE press/public relations departments, this department has succeeded in convincing most people in NYC that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the “Education Mayor”, this in my opinion is pure propaganda...
Mayoral control has eliminated the public election of community oversight bodies which violates the basic rights of our communities and parents to participate in our children’s education...As you will recall, Community School Boards were one of the first things on the Mayor's chopping block...effectively silencing and neutering the public from any public discourse on this paramount issue...
Mayoral control of the NYC Department of Education has not achieved improved student performance...According to the most recent NAEP for NYC, tests scores are stagnant, there has been no significant gains in scores during this period of Mayoral control...
Mayoral control has resulted in educational leaders being replaced by lawyers and corporate consultants as policy makers and decision makers, causing widespread demoralization within the system...
Mayoral control has resulted in costly no-bid contracts...such as the multi-million dollar ($80 million) ARIS computer system, thereby taking money out of the classroom where it is urgently needed...
Mayoral control has ignored the basic rights of our children and had a major negative impact on an entire generation of student's elementary school experience; all of which has been driven by...
- high stakes testing and constant test preparation...
- limiting the scope and depth of a comprehensive curriculum...
- lack of fulfilling special education mandates... and;
- constant upheaval causing high anxiety...
The Panel for Educational Priorities (PEP) membership needs to be reconstituted in a fair manner to eliminate the total control the Mayors Office has on upon it - with 8 of the members of the 13 member Panel being named by the Mayor – furthermore, the Community Education Council's have virtually no power and are basically ignored by the DOE...
I would recommend the dissolution of the the DOE Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy (OFEA) to be replaced by an independent Parents Union (or a suitable replacement) and for the transfer of OFEA's budget ($55 Million) to this body...This will provide NYC Public School Parents a greater voice in the education of their children...
I believe that City Council members should have authority to monitor schools within their districts...
I feel the NYC Public Advocate and/or the NYC Comptroller should have authority to oversee and assess the Department of Education performance city-wide; and;
I implore upon the New York State legislatures respond to this educational catastrophe and malfeasance by eliminating Mayoral control in it's current form and remodel the school system based with a governance plan which incorporates local autonomy, school based decision making, parent and community involvement with strict oversight by independent bodies - NYC Public Advocate and/or the NYC Comptroller and the City Council...
Thank you to Assemblymember Nolan and all the Assemblymembers present for the chance to voice my concerns and suggestions regarding this serious matter.
Additional comments concerning Learn NY
Earlier this week, I received an email from Robin Warren at Learn NY, asking me to post on my blog an invitation to parents to testify at these hearings on behalf of their agenda to retain Mayoral control. There is nothing wrong with their attempt to reach out to parents. What is wrong is the deceptive language they use, to try to entrap them in their web of deceit. For example, they say:
“With the law coming up for renewal, now is the time for discussion and improvements, particularly when it comes to increasing transparency and ensuring more parental engagement in the New York City school system. That is why parents from across the city are getting involved with Learn NY.”
Instead, this administration has done everything it can to eliminate transparency and real parental engagement – and I can only assume that Learn NY will do the same – including by attempting to eliminate the right of parents on School leadership teams to have any say when it comes to the educational goals of their schools. Here is another excerpt from the Learn NY website:
“In 2002, the state legislature voted to abolish the Board of Education and put the mayor in charge of the city’s schools. Since then, a series of reforms have led to real and measurable progress. Classes are smaller. Schools are safer. Test scores are up. …”
Classes are smaller? The city has received more than $1 billion in additional state aid over two years that could and should have been used to reduce class size. Instead of doing so, last year class sizes and/or student-teacher ratio increased in more than half our schools, according to the State Education Department.
What happened to these funds? The state has no idea and has asked for audited statements. They demanded improved accountability and results. But this fall, instead of shaping up their performance, class sizes increased in all grades but one – for the first time in ten years.
Test scores are up? According to the most reliable measures, the national assessments called the NAEPS, there has been no improvement in any subject except fourth grade math – and even in that subject, there were so many accommodations made that “several testing experts are saying the results should be considered invalid,” according to an article in the NY Sun. Why?
New York state gave accommodations to more fourth-graders than any other state in the nation, and New York City gave more help than any of the ten other major cities that participate in a separate city-by-city comparison. On three of four tests the accommodation rate hovered around 20%. On the last a fourth-grade math exam city officials are trumpeting as evidence the Bloomberg administration's schools program is working the rate was 25%.
What’s also very disturbing to active, involved parents like myself, who have volunteered for years at our children’s schools, as well as at the district and citywide level, is how dismissive and contemptuous the administration is in terms of our concerns on issues like class size, overcrowding, and the DOE’s obsession with standardized testing.
As the former Co-President of my daughter’s PA at MS210 in Ozone Park, the former District 27 Representative to the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC), the Recording Secretary at the High School for Art, Imagination and Inquiry and presently a member of Community Board 10 Education Committee, I resent how Learn NY is attempting to discount or minimize the views of active parents, by saying:
"Part of Learn NY’s argument for keeping mayoral control is that, though some very vocal parents loudly criticize the system, a silent majority of non-loud parents support it — or would, if they properly understood what mayoral control is.”
This reminds me of President Nixon’s invocation of the Silent Majority who supposedly supported him – during the era in which his administration was causing havoc throughout our country and the world. What I believe instead is that if “non-loud parents” really understood the lawless and unaccountable actions of the current administration, and their insistence on wielding absolute power, they would be as outraged as we are, and would be protesting at our side. Instead, they are inundated with the half-baked lies and slanted statistics propounded by well-funded, ostensibly non-profit organizations that are shilling for the Mayor, including Learn NY and the Fund for Public Schools
According to Gotham Schools, Learn NY is coming to these hearings, having enlisted non-profit allies to its cause. I urge this committee to question the representatives of these non-profits closely, to ascertain whether they are the beneficiaries of the Mayor’s largesse, either through the city’s coffers or from his own personal fortune. Because I know few if any non-profit advocacy or community organizations that support either this administration’s misbegotten policies or its ruthless methods when it comes to our schools.
I also hope that you question them closely about what Learn NY proposes in terms of “improvements.” If parental engagement simply means more hearings, forget it. Parents have participated in countless hearings during the last six years, and the administration has never listened to a single word we’ve said.
David M. Quintana
