News & Notes from NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio...

FDNY CUTS PUT RESPONSE TIMES OVER NATIONAL "RED LINE"

May 21, 2011

Public Advocate De Blasio: 18 of 20 Cut Companies Won’t Meet Basic Standard

A report released today by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio shows the cuts to 20 fire companies in Mayor Bloomberg's Executive Budget will seriously imperil emergency response times. According to the report, 18 of these companies will exceed a national 4-minute standard after cuts are implemented—-some by over a full minute. The National Fire Protection Association urges a 4-minute response to prevent fires from spreading beyond a single room, after which the risk of civilian death triples and property damage increases more than eight-fold.

"The neighborhoods targeted by these cuts will see their safety go up in smoke," said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. "If the Mayor succeeds in cutting these companies, some communities won't meet the response times needed in places like Fargo, North Dakota, let alone a city where we need to fight fires on the upper floors of big apartment buildings."

Council Member Elizabeth Crowley (D-30, Queens), Chair of the Fire & Criminal Justice Committee stated, "In addition to the findings in this study, the FDNY is not counting the time the 911-caller is spending with the 911 operator which could be up to two minutes. Response times are significantly higher than what the Administration is reporting--and these false response times are being used to justify closing fire companies.  The Administration's policy for reporting response times is misleading, inaccurate and dangerous."

The Public Advocate's report is based on response time increases estimated by the FDNY. The National Fire Protection Association standard is modeled on responding to a fire at a two-story, single-family home where firefighting can commence soon after crews arrive. In a dense city like New York, firefighters require additional minutes to ascend multi-story buildings, making any response times above the national standard even more alarming.

Read the report at:http://advocate.nyc.gov/files/DeBlasio_Fire_Company_Closures_Brief.pdf

Read it on Scribd at:http://www.scribd.com/doc/55945084/Public-Advocate-de-Blasio-Report-on-FDNY-Budget

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON FIREHOUSE CLOSURES

May 19, 2011

“The list of fire company cutbacks shows what the Mayor’s budget really means for the safety of New Yorkers and their families. In my own neighborhood, Engine Company 220, which is a block from my house, now faces an estimated 30-second jump in response time. As Fire Commissioner Cassano has acknowledged, higher response times mean greater risks for New Yorkers. I will fight to keep every one of these firehouses open so that no family is put in harm’s way.”

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON EXTENSION OF “TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS” FOR HAITIANS IN U.S
May 17, 2011

“I applaud President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano for extending Temporary Protected Status to Haitian nationals living in the United States through 2013. Thousands of Haitians living in our city will be better able to support their friends and families as Haiti continues to recover. Haiti still remains in desperate need of assistance, and I encourage all New Yorkers to continue showing their tremendous generosity by donating to relief efforts.”

New Yorkers can make donations to Haiti relief efforts through the following organizations:

International Rescue Committee

https://www.rescue.org/donate/donate-now-haiti

Clinton Foundation Relief Fund for Haiti

www.clintonfoundation.org/haitirelief

International Red Cross

Mail a check with “Haiti” in the memo line to:

American Red Cross

P.O. Box 37243

Washington, DC 20013

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON DOE PLEDGE TO REDO COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL ELECTIONS
MAY 13, 2011

“The Department’s revamped plan for CEC elections is only a partial victory for parents. I remain deeply concerned that a few days are insufficient to fully investigate what went wrong with this year’s elections, and that there may still be parents who were blocked from the ballot without just cause. While it was the right decision to postpone elections and restart voting, we need a lot more consideration from Tweed including a plan that ensures parents their rightful place in school decisions.”

STATEMENT FROM PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER IN BRANDEIS HIGH SCHOOL COURT CASE

MAY 13, 2011

“As a public school parent, I do not see any sense in spending taxpayer dollars to renovate Brandeis until the outcome of this lawsuit is settled. The Department of Education should take this decision as an opportunity to find a more appropriate home for Success Academy, and to enable the students at Brandeis to continue to thrive.”

STATEMENT FROM PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON ARRESTS OF SUPSECTS PLANNING TO ATTACK MANHATTAN SYNAGOGUE
MAY 12, 2011

“As President Obama has said, we need the vigilance and dedication of City and State government to successfully fight terrorism. Today local law enforcement has once again protected our city by dismantling a hateful and anti-Semitic plot to attack a synagogue. I commend all officers involved as well as Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Ray Kelly and District Attorney Cyrus Vance for their leadership in keeping New Yorkers safe.”

AN OPEN LETTER CHALLENGING BRADLEY A. SMITH OF THE CENTER FOR COMPETITIVE POLITICS TO A CITIZENS UNITED DEBATE
MAY 11, 2011

The following open letter has been sent to Bradley A. Smith of the Center for Competitive Politics in response to an op-ed in today’s New York Post. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has invited Mr. Smith to debate the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, and its relevance to New Yorkers.

May 11, 2011

Dear Mr. Smith,

The protection of our democratic process is the responsibility of all citizens. As New York City’s Public Advocate, I take that charge especially seriously.

Your assertion in today’s New York Post that the excessive corporate political spending let loose by the Citizens United ruling doesn’t matter to New Yorkers proves just how little you know about our city. For us, this is both a matter of economic interest and a moral imperative.

As a trustee of a $40 billion pension fund, I know firsthand that the rash political ventures of corporate America can have major consequences for the retirement and security of thousands of working people in New York. Citizens United has opened the way for companies to make political contributions right out of the corporate treasury, and by extension, out of our pension investments. The financial future of hard-working retirees shouldn’t rest on the political whims of corporate executives.

To contend that New Yorkers and Americans don’t care about the corrosive influence of money in our elections is blatantly untrue. Our city has blazed the trail of campaign finance reform by instituting a system of public matching funds that helps serious candidates of any income level to run for office. Just last fall, NYC voters overwhelmingly enacted a ballot measure to require disclosure of independent expenditures in City elections. There can be no question where New Yorkers’ hearts and minds are on this issue.

In short, the avalanche of corporate money into our political system does matter to New Yorkers, and all the more so because it happens in our own back yard. Just yesterday, American Crossroads—Karl Rove’s latest assault on democracy—announced its intention to drop $350,000 on a single special election for an upstate New York House seat.

I would welcome the chance to challenge you on these points so New Yorkers can see and judge for themselves. I invite you to debate in person the impact of Citizens United on our political system in New York and nationally.

I believe you will find New Yorkers both interested, and opinionated, on this critical issue.

Sincerely,

Bill de Blasio

Public Advocate for the City of New York

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON TEACHER LAYOFFS

MAY 6, 2011

“Despite the fiscal challenges we face, the Mayor is making the wrong choices for our children’s future. Even a cursory look at the millions we spend on teacher recruitment and technology consultants shows that the Administration has not made a real effort to strip down other expenses before firing teachers. The Administration also cannot afford to continue making the political fight around Last In/First Out a higher priority than keeping teachers in the classroom. As a public school parent I am outraged by how these choices jeopardize the stability of our schools. I will be organizing parents across New York City to demand that this budget makes our children the number one priority.”

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON MAYOR BLOOMBERG PICKING NISSAN TO BE TAXI OF TOMORROW
MAY 3, 2011

“The Taxi of Tomorrow should be creating the jobs of today for New York City, New York State and America. Instead, the Administration is giving away a $1 billion contract to a company based overseas without seeking any commitments for investment in our local and national economies. This failure, along with potential conflicts of interest between the TLC’s hired consultant Ricardo Inc. and Nissan, cast serious doubts on the legitimacy of the Administration’s final decision and its focus on bringing New York City out of the recession.”

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON INSPECTIONS OF ILLEGALLY SUBDIVIDED APARTMENTS
May 2, 2011

“Illegally converted apartments are a clear hazard to the safety of New Yorkers. It should not take the Department of Buildings weeks to dispatch inspectors, only to have many of them stymied by locked doors. The Department must accelerate its inspection process and increase its attempts to gain access to illegally subdivided units. We need to hold irresponsible landlords accountable and shut."

DOE Names New Director - Ojeda Hall - for Family Engagement by Pamela Wheaton - Insideschools.org :: Blogs

Read original...

Ojeda Hall, a community organizer and youth minister, was named today as the director for family engagement and advocacy at the Department of Education, effective Aug. 2. She replaces Martine Guerrier who left  in June to become a senior policy advisory in the mayor’s office.

Hall will work with parent associations, Community Education Councils, and oversee the family engagement office’s outreach efforts to parents.  Unlike the former “chief mom,” as the chancellor liked to call Guerrier, Hall is not a parent.

As a “citizens’ organizer” for East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC) and Empowered Queens United in Action and Leadership (EQUAL), her work involves “parent and safety issues at large-scale traditional public schools, small schools founded by EBC, and charter schools,” according to today’s announcement.

She organized local church leaders to support the founding of a new charter school in southeast Queens, the Rochdale Early Advantage Charter School. The school, which will be housed in the New Jerusalem Baptist Church, will open in September with a kindergarten and 1st grade and will grow to include a 5th grade.

“The transition from supporting families in the community, to serving as an advocate for families at the Department of Education, will be seamless for Ojeda,” Chancellor Klein said in a statement. “With her experience working with troubled students and their families, Ojeda will bring an important perspective to debates over school policy.”

EBC, a community organization in Brooklyn, was instrumental in founding several small high schools including the EBC High School for Public Service, and the Bushwick Leaders High School for Academic Excellence. A third school, the EBC/East New York High School for Public Safety and Law is being closed for poor performance. On its website, the organization states its support of  “Mayoral Control and Accountability, which has been critical to many of the improvements in the school system over the last seven years.”

In addition to her work as a community organizer, Hall, a graduate of Harvard College and Drew University Theological  School, is actively involved in the Bethany Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens as a youth pastor, mentor, and teacher. She talked about her experiences there in a New York Times “One in 8 Million”  profile last August.

Prior to her work in the non-profit sector, Hall worked as a manager as J.P. Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup).

Click here to read the press release with today’s announcement.

Do We All Really Serve the Chancellor, and Do the Buildings Belong to Him? by Cathy Albisa, Public School Parent - NYC Public School Parents

Read original...

On June 23, 2010, the Office of Portfolio Planning (OPP) from the NYC Department of Education attended a Community Education Council meeting in District 1 on the Lower East Side. This was in response to an invitation from our CEC to hold an initial needs assessment, before deciding how space should be used in our neighborhood’s schools.

When a CEC member asked, “What happens if there is a conflict between what the community wants and what the Chancellor wants for our district?” Elizabeth Rose, the OPP representative, responded, “We all serve the Chancellor, the buildings belong to him.” You could see the entire room full of parents bristle.

As a parent from a local elementary school who went to the hearing in a furious panic because word had gotten around that new charter schools were opening up and they might be shoved (given space constraints this is the only verb that is appropriate) into some of our public schools, I had a deeply mixed reaction to this statement.

Not surprisingly, I think most of us, including myself, took deep offense at what could only be described as a despotic message that utterly disregarded any value that a genuine democratic process would afford. Yet, there was something so deeply honest and clear about that answer, and so different from all the other vague and evasive answers given when hard questions were posed, that I almost wanted the thank her for at least stating things as they are.

So there it is, if the Chancellor’s buddy wants to start a pet project in the form of a charter school, parents beware and children be damned. Your art classroom, your class sizes, and your principal’s office are all up for grabs.

I was told by CEC members that OPP had agreed to come because parents and the community as a whole had strongly opposed inserting a charter school at the expense of the high need schools in our district, without even a needs assessment being undertaken. Given this context, the community input required as a trade-off for mayoral control was practically a farce.

The underlying bone of contention at this meeting was the formula for how space in measured in our schools. In my son’s school, our principal isn't even quite sure whether the space where he sits is considered “underutilized” (which also demonstrates how confusing the formula is). Right now, he shares an open space with eight administrators, the PTA was relegated to a what feels like a dungeon in the basement because as enrollment increased from 250 to 320 we have had to give away the parents room to create a new art room (a good trade, as the kids come first).

When our principal needs to meet with anyone, he has to wander the halls looking for any empty room because he has no office, and some classes (physical education for example) are held in the back of the large lobby due to space constraints. I have no idea whether the DOE thinks our library even counts.

In light of all this, when I look at the DOE latest "blue book" (or annual utilization report) that claims to show how much capacity each school has in terms of space, it appears that our school has room for a hundred more children! I have images of classes being held in the bathroom and our principal, wandering the hallways with a push-cart carrying all the school files.

One parent who also attended the meeting described this as the “fire code” approach to defining how much space a school has. So long as it doesn’t violate the fire code, they will keep shoving children into increasingly crowded spaces. But clearly we need a learning approach to counting space, and until we have one, none of the conversations with the Office of Portfolio Planning or any other DOE official will be in any way constructive.

The foundation is rotten, and so conflict, disaffection, and deprived children are the result. Until we have a formula that is based on what kind of space a child needs to actually learn, a “learning-based formula,” we won’t be able to say that “we all serve the children, and the buildings belong to them.”

Report On The NYC Schools Closing Lawsuit Appeal by Richard Barr - NYC Public School Parents blog...

Read original...

Oral arguments in the City's appeal of the State Supreme Court Decision by Judge Joan Lobis -- which blocked the DOE from its threatened closing of 19 schools -- were heard yesterday (5/13) in the State's Appellate Division, at 27 Madison ave., Manhattan. One reason why it was of particular importance to me (neither of my 2 children has attended one of the schools threatened with closure by the DOE) is because I am a graduate of one of those that is -- Christopher Columbus H.S. in the Bronx.

The case is known as Mulgrew vs. Board of Ed.

First up before the 5-judge panel was NYC Corporation Counsel attorney Alan Krams appealing the decision on behalf of the DOE.

Mr. Krams said that in her decision, Judge Lobis -- who had ruled that DOE had provided insufficient notice and impact analysis about its plan to close the schools -- had mistakenly applied the higher standards of environmental statutes (SEQRA, the State Environmental Quality Review Act) rather than education law, which does not require as much in the way of impact analysis.

One of the judges pointed out to him that the extension of Mayoral control of the schools which passed the State Legislature in 2009 was predicated on requirements such as community notification re: school closings.

Mr. Krams acknowledged that DOE had failed to give School Leadership Teams (SLTs) formal notice, but he reiterated that the lower court had treated it like SEQRA and had applied too high a standard for notification. He said that education law gives the school officials the power to make the sole determination about school closings.

A judge pointed out to him that the 2009 education statute requires that educational impact of a decision like this be determined. Various judges expressed skepticism about whether the impact of the closings on students and community was adequately taken into account by the DOE.

Mr. Krams said the process can't work if the DOE must take into account how each student can get the same programs at a new school as he or she had at the school they want to close. He also said that the UFT, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the closings, does not have standing to sue, a claim greeted with skepticism from the bench. The reason, he said, is because the UFT is an unincorporated association, so it would only have standing to sue if ALL of its members were affected.

Now it was the turn of the attorney for the plaintiffs, Charles Moerdler of Stroock and Stroock and Lavan. He said the 2009 statute was negotiated between the DOE and the State Legislature, with the Chancellor having a direct role in the negotiations, and that the DOE was reneging on the agreement in the way they've handled this matter. He said there is no compliance with the requirements of the statute and that the DOE is essentially saying that students and teachers must be held accountable for their behavior and performance, but there is a different standard for us.

Mr. Moerdler said that Judge Lobis had briefly referred to SEQRA in her decision, saying it is instructive in this instance, but that she in no way suggested that its provisions were binding on the process here. He said that the DOE was required to give proper notice to the CECs, and that the CECs and SLTS were supposed to have joint hearings with the DOE on this and they didn't get them.

He said that DOE gave no notice to the Bronx and Manhattan Borough Presidents or the Chair of the City Council Education Committee, all of whom became co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He said that of the 19 schools slated for closing, 14 were proficient by the DOE's own measures and 5 of them in every respect. The DOE then, he said, came up with NEW standards to justify the closings.

A judge asked Mr. Moerdler if negotiations between the 2 sides are taking place, and he said they are trying to avoid having to request a contempt motion against DOE (for failure to comply with all aspects of Judge Lobis' order), and are attempting to negotiate an outcome to the suit.

He reiterated that DOE violated a statute they'd jointly negotiated, deliberately failed to comply with it, and had pretty much admitted that they (DOE) had not invited CECs and SLTs to participate in the process because they were afraid that those groups "would thwart the process" of the closings.

Mr. Krams then spoke again, returning to his contention that the UFT had no standing to sue. A judge asked him if he was really saying that a teacher in a school being closed would not be injured by that closing. Mr. Krams said the elected officials did not have standing to sue because they would not be injured themselves by the closings -- only their constituents would. Judges were skeptical of that one as well, as you might expect.

He then said that CECs are not in the picture for the high school closings, because only K-8 schools have CECs. He said high schools are under the sole control of the Chancellor. (This of course leaves out that there are borough-wide high school councils and a citywide council on high schools. I mentioned that to some of the plaintiffs outside the courtroom after the oral arguments were concluded, and they said they were aware of that omission and had mentioned it in their papers.).

Mr. Krams concluded by saying that the public was heard loud and clear in the 19 individual hearings and in the PEP hearing about all 19. (Having attended the December hearing at Columbus for it and a smaller school, Global Academy, which is located in the same building and was also targeted by DOE, and having attended the subsequent P.E.P. meeting, I can say unequivocally that the public may have been heard, but what they said was totally discounted in the decisions, because just about everyone who spoke objected to the closings.)

That was it. It is not known how long it will take for a decision to be announced. For what it's worth, it seemed to me that the judges reacted more positively to the attorney for the plaintiffs than to the attorney for the DOE.

How Not to Publish a Campaign Website When Citing Your Experience in Education - 38th Assembly District Version - Part 2...

Click on image to enlarge...

As stated in my previous posting, I would think that if you are running on an education platform, you might want to spell things correctly on your campaign website..!

It's nice to see that the campaign must have seen my previous posting since they corrected the spelling error...but now an egregious grammatical error has appeared on the site...The following is directly from the web site (see screen grab above)...

"Our community has been experienced Overdevelopment that is destroying the character of our communities…"

Remember, this person is the President of Community Education Council 24, and is responsible for overseeing the Department of Education for the local community...I suggest that some remedial classes in basic English composition and spelling might be necessary...

I might add that if the campaign is in need of a proofreader, I might be available...

Woodhaven-Metro School Seating Disputed by Dan Bush - Leader-Observer

Read original...

A debate over seating priorities is delaying community action on the new high school being built at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

The Department of Education (DOE) plans to open the 1000-seat high school in phases.

In September of 2010, the school is slated to open for a freshman class of 250 students, leaving the school 75 percent under capacity for its first year of operation.

In subsequent years, the DOE would phase in the remaining students and grades, possibly one grade per year.

The school is primarily zoned for School Districts 24 and 28. Seating priority for the incoming freshman class has been evenly divided between the two districts.

Critics of the plan say District 24, and all of Queens generally, is getting short shrifted by the zoning and plan to phase-in students.

Community Board 5 voted December 9 to wait an extra month before issuing a resolution on the project, shooting down a proposal to green light the school as is.

Vincent Arcuri, CB5’s chairman, said the DOE’s zoning proposal makes little sense. He argued that census data shows that, when combined, the sections of districts 24 and 28 included in the zoning don’t have enough freshman to fill the incoming class.

“The zoning they currently have does not contain 250 freshman,” Arcuri said.

If it isn’t changed, he said the remaining open spaces would go to students from elsewhere in Queens and around the city. Arcuri has suggested expanding the District 24 area included in the school zoning farther west to capture more high school-aged students.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, the Queens representative on the Panel for Education Policy, voiced strong opposition to the DOE’s plan to fill the school slowly by phasing in students over time. He said the DOE told him they believe opening the school at full capacity will set it up for failure.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of waiting in Queens,” said Fedkowskyj. “We have high schools bursting at the seams.”

He outlined an alternative plan to open the school for 9th and 10th graders at once. That way, Fedkowskyj said, the school would open at 50 percent capacity right away, alleviating overcrowding at other high schools such as Grover Cleveland and Newtown high schools.

A DOE spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

While impasse over zoning continues, the DOE is finishing construction at the Woodhaven Boulevard-Metropolitan Avenue campus.

Besides the as-of-yet unnamed high school, the site will also house a second, 900-seat school, I.S./H.S. 167. Seating for that school is being split between districts 28 and 75, which will get 700 and 200 seats respectively.

It remains unclear exactly how the opening of another high school being built in nearby Maspeth might impact the two new schools.

Fedkowskyj said the Queens needs as many high school seats as it can get. “I don’t think that we have enough high school seats to serve the borough of Queens as it is,” he said.

Boom in New Classrooms: More Seats for Kids Opening Up All Over Queens by Clare Trapasso - NY Daily News

Read original...

The Blessed Sacrament School at 34-23 93rd Street, Queens was closed as a Catholic School but will possibly gain new life as a public school. Pace for News

Relief is on the way for overcrowded Queens schools.

The city is on track to open five new schools next year and expand three more in Queens - the borough with the most overcrowded classrooms in the city.

"We are very pleased that we are continuing to open a number of new school facilities in Queens in the neighborhoods that need them most," Education Department spokesman Will Havemann said. "We hope to alleviate the burden at other nearby schools through rezoning as well."

The largest of the new projects is the $158 million Metropolitan Ave. campus in Forest Hills. It is to house three new schools, including a special ed program. The city is also constructing a $23 million building for Public School 273 in Richmond Hill, Havemann said.

The Education Department is also in talks to lease two buildings that made up the former Blessed Sacrament School in Jackson Heights, which closed in June. An elementary school is expected to open in one of the buildings next fall, Havemann said.

"We need seats," said Isaac Carmignani, president of Community Education Council District 30, which discussed proposals for the Blessed Sacrament site on Nov. 19. "We are just overcrowded in all of our schools over there."

Carmignani said he's thrilled about the new school, but that it's not nearly enough.

"We probably need to add a few thousand seats in that side of the district to get us where we need to be," he said.

The city is gathering community feedback to help decide what kinds of schools should be opened in these buildings, Havemann said.

"We hope to make our decisions either in December or early January," Havemann said.

It is also looking into creating new schools in existing education facilities.

The city is also planning to open a $71 million building for the Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School in Jamaica, adding about 150 seats.

Public School 13 in Elmhurst and the Young Women's Leadership School in Astoria are also slated to get more space, Havemann said.

Andrew Baumann, president of Community Education Council District 27, said he is pleased that his district is expected to gain a new school - PS 273 - next year. But he, too, believes the city should be doing more to reduce overcrowding in the borough.

"Opening up a new building will most definitely alleviate some of the overcrowding," he said. "But we need to be a little more proactive when we have a housing swell."

Baumann would like the School Construction Authority to be notified of new housing developments. "We should be able to plan for that," he said.

CEC says: ‘Waste of Time’ with Klein by Michèle De Meglio Courier-Life

Read original...

Community Education Council (CEC) presidents are no longer meeting with schools Chancellor Joel Klein each month — and some Brooklynites could care less.

“They were a waste of time,” said James Dandridge, president of District 18’s CEC, which advocates for public schools in Canarsie and East Flatbush. “You never had any results coming out of it.”

There were several problems, Dandridge said. One, many CEC presidents opted to discuss issues affecting their districts and not the entire city. Two, the chancellor attended only part of the meetings.

“What I found was that individual council members would basically discuss the issues from their district,” Dandridge said. Also, “The chancellor always had a timetable where he was looking at his watch because he had another meeting.”

The meetings were imperfect but they should continue, said Christopher Spinelli, president of District 22’s CEC representing Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach and parts of Midwood, Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay.

“Did anything come of them? I would say no. We got a lot of, ‘We’ll look into it,’ and, ‘We’ll get back to you,’” Spinelli said. “But it was an opportunity to at least talk directly to the chancellor or to one of the deputy chancellors.”

Explaining its reasoning for ending these meetings, the city Department of Education (DOE) told this paper, “Many CEC members indicated to us last year that the citywide CEC meetings were exclusive and offered insufficient opportunity for meaningful dialogue between CEC members and DOE officials. In fact, CEC representatives from the Bronx, southeast Queens and Harlem declined even to attend these meetings.”

The DOE has replaced the forums between Klein and CECs with new “borough-wide meetings,” which will feature DOE officials and, in some cases, Klein.

The DOE said, “We organized the borough-wide meetings to be more inclusive and relevant than the citywide meetings. We hope they’ll help to foster stronger and better communication between DOE officials and parent leaders across the city. Already this year, Chancellor Klein has attended the Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan meetings. He’ll continue to attend the meetings as his schedule permits.”

Some Brooklyn CEC presidents believe these meetings will be unproductive.

“It’s the same thing,” Dandridge said. “When you don’t get results, it’s a waste of time.”

During the meetings with the chancellor, “CEC presidents had substantial input in [planning] the agenda,” explained Jim Devor, president of District 15’s CEC, which represents Red Hook, Park Slope and Sunset Park.

For the borough-wide meetings, “no one knows what the agenda is. There’s no reaching out to anybody to try to set the agenda,” Devor said. “And there’s no assurance that the chancellor will appear. I’m not overly enthused.”

“It’s a very poor substitute because they have someone come in and do a little PowerPoint presentation and a little question and answer and then send people on their way,” Spinelli said.

Laurie Windsor, president of District 20’s CEC representing Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, Borough Park and part of Bensonhurst, urged her fellow council presidents to give the new borough-wide meetings a chance.

“See what comes out of it before we say let’s go back to having the meetings with the chancellor,” she said.

The borough-wide meetings are private meetings between the DOE and CECs and are not open to the public.

Missed Opportunity at CEC 24 Debate by Denis Deck - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

Parents and community members in attendance at the Community Education Council 24 meeting at P.S. 49 in Middle Village on Tuesday came with questions and concerns, but didn’t get to see the education debate they hoped for.

Although Republican candidate for City Council District 30 Tom Ognibene and current Democratic incumbent Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) were both present, Crowley left after a brief statement to the crowd, citing she and Ognibene had another forum to attend in Woodhaven.

“Education has been a main focus since I took office,” Crowley said. “I hope to continue what I’ve started for the past nine months over the next four years.”

Ognibene opted to stay and field questions from the CEC board and the community.

CEC 24 president Nick Comianni requested that all questions be limited to the area of education. The primary concern on the minds of parents in attendance was the overcrowding of school classrooms. Strategy for reduction of class size was questioned by some who fear that programs like Gifted and Talented and Pre-K are being marginalized to make room for more standard classes, while others complained of uneconomical use of space in design for new schools like P.S. 7 in Elmhurst.

New school superintendent Madelene Tuab-Chan recognized “Space is of the essence. The only solution (for overcrowding) is re-zoning.” Crowley’s chief of staff, Lydon Sleeper, fielded questions on the councilwoman’s behalf. He agreed with Tuab-Chan, “We’ve worked closely with Beacon program parents. They know best. We’re seeing how zoning fits and making sure it’s fair to all areas.”

Ognibene’s stance is different. “The most important thing is finding areas to build new schools.” He referenced his past as the first councilman for the 30th District from 1991 to 2001, saying, “We didn’t rely on the SCA (School Construction Authority) to find areas for schools. We made contact with brokers and we’d find areas for schools.” He cited examples like P.S. 28 and the land acquisition for an addition to P.S. 87, although nearly 10 years later he says it is regrettable that construction still hasn’t begun.

Comianni offered an opportunity to Sleeper to speak about what Crowley’s office has done to find potential school sites recently. Sleeper started to mention that Grover Cleveland High School is being looked into but Comianni quickly interrupted him, “No, I found that, what have you found?”

“Nothing, yet, but we’re open to suggestions,” Sleeper replied.

While Crowley had proudly touted recent endorsements from organizations like the United Federation of Teachers and Council on Supervisors and Administrators in her statement earlier that evening, Ognibene had to defend his own endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg, whom he ran against in 2005.

“CECs have been at odds with the mayor,” David Quintana said, a Community Board 10 member who was in the audience. “Bloomberg has failed us and has lied to us. Why are you endorsing him?”

“He’s head and shoulders above his competition,” Ognibene said. “Overall he’s the best candidate for mayor.” He admits he’s had disagreements with Bloomberg but said that he also has a personal relationship with him and can easily address issues and concerns.

Bloomberg had Ognibene removed from the GOP ballot in his 2005 run for mayor due to an inadequate number of petition signatures. Ognibene had expected to get the Queens County Republican Party endorsement for that race and has gotten Bloomberg’s for this one.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson from Crowley’s office, Meredith Burnak, called the CEC ‘debate’ unorthodox and inappropriate. “This was Comianni using education for political ends and an abuse of power.” Burnak said that no other area council candidates have been asked by the CEC to hold a debate on education.

Crowley’s office wasn’t able to say with certainty when the next scheduled debate with Ognibene is, but promises there will be at least three more before the Nov. 3 elections.

Council Candidates Discuss Education Views by Conor Greene - Forum News

Read original...

The two candidates for the 30th District City Council seat – Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Crowley and Republican challenger Thomas Ognibene – discussed their views on education at a forum hosted by Community Education Council 24.

Residents in attendance on Tuesday night at PS 49 in Middle Village heard mostly about Ognibene’s views, as Crowley left early and missed the question-and-answer portion of the session. Instead, her chief of staff, Lydon Sleeper filled in for her to respond to questions on topics such as parental input and overcrowding.

Both candidates were first given a chance to introduce themselves and present their general stance on education. Crowley began by asserting that “there is no greater issue now facing the city” and touted her experience as a former educator and endorsements by the United Federation of Teachers and the Council of School Supervisors, which represents local principals.

“I have an investment like many parents here tonight” as the mother of two school-age children. She vowed to “make sure our children have the best tools” available and said education has been a “main focus” for her since taking office nine months ago. Of the $5 million she funded for local capital projects, a “large chunk” went towards schools. “I’m going to continue what I started,” she added.

Ognibene reminded the audience that he represented the district from 1991 to 2001, when he was forced from office due to term limits. “Not much seems to have changed” since he left office, as the community still “has to confront the same challenges” including overcrowding, which he said is “again a significant issue and really has to be addressed.”

The Middle Village Republican focused much of his comments on parental input, which was one of the major aspects of the recent debate over mayoral control. “The parents were supposed to have a lot more input into the educational process,” he said. “Parents don’t have that kind of input.”

He also recalled serving as principal for a day at PS 87 in 2001, shortly before leaving office. The school doesn’t have enough bathrooms or a proper gym and parents have been pleading with the city Department of Education for an expansion since the school expanded to a PS/IS facility nearly a decade ago. “It struck me as unusual,” said Ognibene, adding that he was “stunned” to learn the addition project never occurred.

“If I were councilman, that’s the first thing I would address because that’s really unfair to the children of PS 87,” he vowed. “I thought it was something we had accomplished” during the tenure of his predecessor, disgraced former Councilman Dennis Gallagher. By that point, Crowley (D-Middle Village) had left to go to other local meetings. Ognibene decided to stay to answer audience and board members’ questions, with Sleeper filling in for Crowley.

During the question-and-answer portion, the biggest difference that emerged between the candidates is their efforts to identify potential sites for new schools, which Ognibene said was a priority during his two terms in office. “The most important thing facing us then and facing us now is finding space to build new schools,” adding that he had staffers dedicated to searching the district for appropriate sites. “We didn’t rely on the SCA [School Construction Authority]. We were more aggressive.”

When Sleeper mentioned that a site near Grover Cleveland High School is being looked at as a potential school site, Council President Nick Comaianni interjected that it was actually him that had identified that site. He asked Sleeper, “What have you found?” to which the chief of staff responded, “None so far, but we’re open to suggestions.”

When asked about PS 87, Sleeper said Crowley “started fighting for PS 87 immediately” after taking office. “We understand how ignored that school has been,” adding that the council member wrote letters and had SCA officials tour the facilities with her. “We’re fighting very hard to make sure that expansion happens,” said Sleeper.

Throughout the evening, Ognibene stressed that he would have an advantage in terms of getting a response from city agencies due to his relationship with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is supporting his campaign. Ozone Park resident David Quintana asked Ognibene why he is aligning himself with the mayor, who “has failed us over the past eight years.”

Ognibene responded that he feels Bloomberg is “head and shoulders” above his opponent, William Thompson. However, he stressed that he and the mayor have disagreed on many things, and he isn’t afraid to let the mayor know when that’s the case. “Once he’s elected there are going to be things I’ll be able to work with him on,” he said.

Finally, board member Brian Rafferty asked whether they feel Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has the best interests of District 24 in mind. Sleeper said he doesn’t know Crowley’s exact stance on this issue and declined to answer. Ognibene said he doesn’t think Klein is an “evil man” but said overall, “the answer is no.” While he doesn’t think that Klein should be fired, he added, “I believe I can get that message across” if elected.

On Wednesday, Ognibene criticized Crowley for leaving early and accused her of scheduling other meetings to avoid having to answer questions from board members and residents. “This is typical. She made the appointment to go to these other meetings after she had confirmed this educational panel, and that’s offensive to me,” said Ognibene. “To use a decent, non political organization such as the Sons of Italy as an excuse, that was very, very offensive.”

In response, Crowley’s press secretary, Meredith Burak, said the CEC meeting was one of five stops the council member made that evening that had been scheduled for months. Instead, Burak argued that it was inappropriate for the CEC to even hold a candidates forum. “The bottom line is the forum never should have been held,” she said, adding that this is the only race the CEC is focusing on, even though that district includes parts of six separate council districts.

Burak accused Comaianni of having a “vendetta” against Crowley. “This was based solely on political purposes and had nothing to do with education. Politics should not be brought into the mix, and by bringing politics into this arena, Nick Comaianni is jeopardizing his position because he is abusing his power.”

Crowley expressed her concerns in a letter to the DOE. In response, a department official wrote, “Prompted by our inquiry, our legal office reviewed the matter and advises that holding such a candidates forum as part of CEC’s regularly scheduled calendar meeting is not an appropriate exercise of the CEC’s statutory powers and duties.”

Comaianni wasn’t available for comment on Wednesday morning. However, during the CEC meeting he alluded to the fact that the DOE didn’t want the forum to take place and said the board decided to go ahead with it anyway so that parents would have a chance to hear directly from the candidates on education issues.

Attention Queens Public School Parents: Deadline to Run for CEC is Tomorrow

Only 24 Hours Left for Public School Parents to Register to Represent Their Kids, Community

Queens public school parents, your kids need you now! Midnight, March 19^th, is the deadline for public school parents to register to represent their children and local school district on NYC’s Community and Citywide Education Councils (CECs). Although many parents have applied to run for a CEC seat, there are still District schools that have yet to put forward candidates, including those in Queens neighborhoods.

CECs were formed in 2003 to replace the City’s school boards. CEC members advise the Department of Education on issues impacting parents and schools like instructional programs and zoning.

“You can register online to be a CEC candidate for your District in a matter of minutes at www.powertotheparents.org,” explained Jeff S. Merritt, Founder and President of Grassroots Initiative, the New York City-based nonprofit organization partnering with the Department of Education to recruit and assist CEC candidates.

Parents who have any questions about applying to run for a CEC seat are encouraged to call the election’s toll-free help line immediately: 1-877-NYC-VOTE and to look at the www.powertotheparents.org website to get answers to frequently-asked questions.

For more information about the elections or how to run for the CEC, log on to powertotheparents.org or call 1-877-NYC-VOTE.

City May Launch Eminent Domain Fight for Site of School by JOhn Lauinger - NY Daily News

Read original...

THE CITY has quietly begun laying the groundwork to use eminent domain to acquire land for the construction of an 1,100-seat high school in Maspeth.

The school is proposed on the site of a former Restaurant Depot on 74th St. at 57th Ave., but a city official said the School Construction Authority has reached an impasse in its effort to buy the property.

"It has not been possible, as of this point, to negotiate a purchase," Education Department spokesman Will Havemann told the Queens News.

"As is our right, we are proposing to acquire the property through eminent domain," Havemann added, noting it is unclear if and when a condemnation proceeding would head to court.

The property owner, Lucky Star Elmhurst LLC, bought the industrial property in 2006 for $12.6 million, city records show. The warehouse is now used by a food distribution business, said Lucky Star attorney Hayes Young. Previous attempts to sell the property have been unsuccessful because the city's interest in buying it, starting in 2007, have "tied our hands," he said.

A public meeting required under state eminent domain law has been scheduled for Thursday at Public School 58 in Maspeth.

The new high school, projected to open in the fall of 2012, would serve grades 9 through 12.

One hundred seats would be reserved for special-education students. The remaining students would be divided between two high schools under the same roof.

Since the city introduced its plans last year, opposition has centered on the community's desire to have local students get priority.

Nick Comaianni, president of the local Community Education Council, noted that the district is the most overcrowded in the city. He also pointed out that there are two other schools in the vicinity of the proposed site.

"If it is not locally zoned, we don't see it as necessary for another school to go up in that area," he said.

City officials have said priority will be given only to Queens students. But Havemann said giving priority to local students to alleviate high school overcrowding in the district has not been ruled out.

"We believe strongly in the value of school choice at the high school level," he said. "Zoning a high school limits that choice, and can keep students from attending the school that will serve them best."

Plans for the new school, funded in the Education Department's 2005 capital plan, must be approved by the City Council.

Newly elected Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) has said she would not support it unless it is locally zoned.

The plan was scheduled to be taken up by Council subcommittees yesterday and today and could be voted on by the full Council as early as Thursday, Council sources confirmed last week. But Crowley announced yesterday that the Education Department has agreed to a one-month review period for the new school.

jlauinger@nydailynews.com

Education Council Meets on Issues Around New School by BY Christina Heiser - The Queens Courier

Read original...

Some members of the District 27 Community Education Council (CEC) are worried that a new elementary school set to open this September in Woodhaven lacks a safety plan for the students.

The new school, P.S. 306, New York City Academy for Discovery, is located at 89-15 Woodhaven Boulevard, formerly St. Anthony’s Hospital.

“How can we open the school without some kind of safety plan?” asked Andrew Baumann, president of the CEC, at a meeting held at M.S. 226 in South Ozone Park on Monday night, May 19. “It is our charge to make sure that the children in this district are safe and secure.”

However, Bernard Lopez, a safety administrator for the New York City Department of Education (DOE) said, “Until the school officially opens, [we] can’t work on the plan.”

He said that a safety plan will “start to be developed in late August once [the] principal and staff are in the building.”

Lopez added that since 14 new schools will be opening in Queens this September, it would be difficult to put together a safety plan before the school year starts.

Another safety concern came from Dawn Marie LoBello, a CEC member, who said that parents are unable to obtain copies of their children’s school safety and evacuation plans.

But Lopez said that this information is not available to parents anymore.

“Until 9/11 [schools] gave out evacuation plans to parents,” he said. “As of 9/11, we are no longer allowed to divulge the information to parents.”

Lopez told the members of the CEC that if parents want to know where children are taken if a school is evacuated, they have a few options.

He said that parents could call 3-1-1 or visit the DOE web site and that “hopefully in the near future” parents will be able to receive text messages or phone calls alerting them to where their children have been taken if a school is evacuated.

Members of the CEC are also concerned with the safety of students who have to cross Woodhaven Boulevard to get to P.S. 306.

David Hooks, Jr., a CEC member, said that because Woodhaven Boulevard is wide, it could potentially be dangerous for students to cross.

But Richie Scarpa, director of the Office of Pupil Transportation for the DOE, said that his people have done a preliminary review of the area and found that there are two crossing guards at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and 89th Avenue and two crossing guards at the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue.

He did however, say that he “would like to send an inspector to see if students who aren’t eligible [for transportation] should be granted a variance.”

In other news, three Chapter Leaders from public schools in District 27 spoke about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s school budget cuts.

“[We] need money for textbooks, for activities, especially in [the] needy inner-city,” said Taneeka Jones, chapter leader for P.S. 42 in Far Rockaway. “[We will] definitely see a dramatic change if money is taken away.”

Residents Want School Boards Back by Ben Hogwood - Queens tribune

Read original...

No communication, no leadership and absolutely no improvement.

This is what members of Community Education Council District 24, as well as area parents and local education officials, had to say Tuesday about the current mayoral form of control over public schools.

Nick Comaianni, President of CEC 24, said the schools may have had some issues under school boards – the previous form of control – but it was nothing compared to the current system.

“Though the school boards aren’t perfect, I would take them any day over mayoral control,” he said.

The comments came at the request of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who at the urging of the State Legislature established a Commission on School Governance to study the effectiveness of the mayoral control system. The Legislature will decide next year whether to continue, modify, or do away with the mayoral control system, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg acquired in 2002. Gotbaum’s commission is compiling input from a wide swath of the populace and will make recommendations to the State.

“We’re trying to be extremely objective,” she told an audience of around 35 in PS 49 in Middle Village, adding that opinions had varied, though they often differed depending on whom she spoke with.

While many parents have blasted the system, officials – including City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott – have praised it, she said.

There was no praise coming from attendees at this meeting. Comaianni said a major problem now is that local boards and superintendents have no control and no one in the Department of Education will listen and respond to questions and concerns.

When the Department of Education does respond to questions, the answers are never straightforward, he said.

“The Department of Education has lied to me 99 percent of the time,” he said. “I’ve come to the point where I really can’t trust what they say.”

Education Council Member Peter Vercessi said it took the department two years to respond to questions regarding how to test and place gifted students. Comaianni added under the former system, it would have only taken a matter of weeks to get a response.

Audience member Bob Cermelli said the mayoral system was supposed to encourage a more democratic approach to controlling the schools. Instead, the opposite has happened.

And Marge Kolb, a former CEC member and a parent, said “mayoral control” was a misnomer. “We have mayoral autocracy,” she said. “We’re trusting the school system to take care of our kids and it’s not working.”

She said the chancellor is not an educator but a lawyer, and in less than seven years there has been four different chancellors, scuttling continuity.

Giving an example of the lack of local control, Comaianni said the mayor had banned students having cell phones in schools despite districts voting in favor of them.

“We are not happy with this system,” he said.

Boro Coordinators Get Better Marks by Jess Wisloski - NY Daily News

Read original...

Read report...

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is less than impressed that 78% of the city's parent coordinators did not return calls in a survey by her office.

But Queens did better than most, she found.

Out of 20 schools contacted, coordinators at 75% of them either picked up the phone or called back her office workers, who were posing as parents new to the school.

Parent coordinators fumed at Gotbaum last week.

"It's a deceiving number," said Public School 128 coordinator Melissa Phillips.

"The phone calls are such a small part of what we do for parents," she said at a Community Education Council meeting for District 24 on April 29.

A District 24 worker added that 16 of the district's city-issued cell phones - more than 30% - were broken and never replaced.

The parent coordinator job was created in a 2002 mayoral initiative to provide better access to school administrators.

A coordinator must convene parent meetings, attend other parent meetings, organize school events, maintain contact with community groups, increase parent involvement and act as a facilitator between parents and the school.

After-hours work is mandatory and the city provides cell phones so coordinators can take evening calls.

The average salary is less than $40,000 a year.

Most parent coordinators do not pick up calls after 5 p.m., according to Gotbaum's survey.

"I'm not damning the whole program," said Gotbaum. "I'm just saying this survey just keeps getting worse."

In 2004, 62% of messages left for parent coordinators were not returned.

Gotbaum's study of 100 schools found coordinators with nonworking numbers, no voice mail to leave a message, and in some cases, the position was unfilled. The city spends $68 million a year on the positions.

New School Zones Anger Parents by Lee Landor - Queens Chronicle

Read original...

A new Woodhaven elementary school set to open in September for the purpose of alleviating overcrowding is creating as many problems for parents as it is solving, a local education council heard Monday night.

A number of worried and angry parents told members of the District 27 Community Education Council they are losing out on property investments as a result of the incoming New York City Academy for Discovery, P.S. 306, for which school zoning lines were redrawn.

One parent, who did not want his name used, said he spent months searching for a school that would serve his soon-to-be kindergartener well. He found P.S. 64 in Ozone Park and, to guarantee that his 4-year-old would be zoned for the school, bought a house with a backyard facing it.

Now, his daughter is zoned for P.S. 63. To make room for the new school, the CEC and District 27 Community Superintendent Michele Lloyd-Bey changed the zoning lines for six elementary schools in Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Richmond Hill.

They moved the borders that determine which neighborhoods are zoned for each school and the new school, which will be located at 89-15 Woodhaven Blvd.

Students already enrolled in one of the six schools — public schools 60, 63, 64, 65, 97 and 254 — will not be removed. The school will open with Pre-K and kindergarten, and eventually expand to the fifth grade, CEC President Andrew Baumann said. The zoning changes will only apply to young children just entering school.

Jennifer Flandro, P.S. 306’s new principal, said there is a possibility the new school will open with a first grade as well.

This was also a contentious subject for parents who worried that having a school open with only two grades would force them to separate their young children.

Sandra Rodriguez, who lives across the street from P.S. 64, has four children who could potentially attend three different schools. The eldest is in junior high school, while the two middle siblings attend the school across the street. The youngest child will enroll in kindergarten this fall at P.S. 63, about a mile away from her home.

Rodriguez asked CEC members to review their zoning changes. “It’s ridiculous that people who live across the street from a school are zoned for a school a mile away,” she told them. Angrily, Rodriguez suggested the CEC refrain from rezoning the four residential blocks surrounding each school.

Baumann attempted to explain to the displeased crowd that “the lines had to get drawn somewhere.” He noted the difficulty of rezoning the area surrounding P.S. 64 — the district’s highest ranking and most overcrowded school.

There were only so many streets the CEC could rezone, Baumann said. About seven blocks west of P.S. 64 is the border of Brooklyn and to the east is P.S. 63. Some concessions just had to be made, he insisted.

The CEC changed the plans at least 50 times, Baumann said. “We knew we couldn’t make everyone happy, but we did it for the betterment of the community.” It’s not often that an overcrowded school community has the opportunity to open a new school, CEC member David Hooks Jr. added.

Unrelenting, Rodriguez told the CEC to return to the drawing board — but first they should “go to the schools, look around. Look at the neighbors, not just a map.”

Baumann tried to calm parents, telling them this reoning is not permanent: school zones will be changed again next year because another school is scheduled to open in the area in 2009. Parents did not receive the news well and complained of instability.

Other parents voiced concerns about safety for students attending the new school. Hooks said all the precautions were taken, and problematic spots are being examined.

“The CEC went to great lengths to minimalize traffic concerns to ensure that kids don’t have to traverse through dangerous roads,” Hooks said. There will be more crossing guards and possibly more traffic warning signs.

The goal, Hooks added, was to avoid disrupting the students’ education. “We wanted to protect and insulate the kids in this district as best we could.”

Parents were invited to the CEC’s May meeting, where it will present a safety and security plan created with local precincts and the Department of Transportation.

'Chief Mom' Gets Mixed Report Card by Carrie Melago - NY Daily News

Read original...

When Martine Guerrier was named "chief mom" by Mayor Bloomberg last year, relations between parents and education officials were at a frosty standstill.

A year into the job, Guerrier believes she has opened avenues of communication and parent participation - but critics maintain friction still runs deep.

"I think she's trying, but she's attached to the word DOE [Department of Education]. She's getting the backlash," said Brooklyn parent and activist Zakiyah Ansari.

Some parents say they believe Guerrier has abandoned her watchdog role and instead walks in lockstep with the administration.

"It's a difficult situation to serve two masters. Part of her wants very much to be an advocate for parents, but at the same time, she is a staffer for the Department of Education," said James Devor, a Brooklyn parent.

Guerrier was a surprising choice for the newly created $150,000-a-year chief family engagement officer slot, having repeatedly butted heads with Chancellor Joel Klein as a member of his Panel for Education Policy.

Her charge was to harness support from public school parents by bringing them under the umbrella of the new Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, which has a budget of $15.5 million a year.

She quickly became a highly visible official, hosting a series of "Ask Martine" public meetings in every borough and creating an e-mail address of the same name so parents could easily remember it.

But the increased attention brought scrutiny.

Parent guidebooks weren't available for the first few weeks of school. Guerrier was responsible for proposing changes to school leadership teams that critics say stripped power from parents and gave it to principals. And on her watch, a citywide parents group pulled their support from the department's lobby day in Albany, and her office's Web site is still not up and running.

Guerrier told the Daily News that she was prepared for friction. "I didn't walk in believing that it would be a cakewalk, and I certainly didn't believe that it would be a giant lovefest either," she said. "There was a lot of work to be done."

She acknowledges bumps in the road but believes her office has made tangible changes, particularly in providing translation services and holding training sessions for parent leaders.

Vacancies are down from a year ago on the city's 34 Community Education Councils, all of which now have quorums, she said. And, according to the mayor's management report, more than 660,000 parent-teacher conferences were held last October, compared with about 485,000 a year earlier.

"There are days where we are wildly successful helping people with their individual issues, and I look forward to those days," she said. "And there are days when we didn't get people the answers they wanted."

Klein clearly believes that the office has been a success, telling a City Council hearing last week that he wished he had created Guerrier's position sooner. And some parents easily tick off instances where Guerrier intervened on their behalf.

"There is a definite difference because now there's a point person for the parent," said Dmytro Fedkowskyj, a parent from Middle Village and vice president of Community Education Council 24.

NY1: Lawmakers Weigh Pros, Cons Of Mayor's Control Of City Schools by Michael Meehan

Read original...

Watch video...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has nearly total say over how to run the city's schools. But the state law that gave him that power expires in June of next year and already there's a debate about whether that power should continue.

Has putting so much power in the mayor's hands meant kids are learning more? Education reporter Michael Meenan filed the following report.

In 2002, the state legislature gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg the reins to the school system...and the men he's picked to run that system say, as you might expect, it's paid off.

"The school system prior to our control was a hodgepodge of different districts that were unstable, chaotic and at times corrupt,” said Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott.

But many at a Monday City Council hearing also say all the power has made Bloomberg's Department of Education very arrogant.

"That they don't have to invite elected officials to meetings, that they don't have to consult with parents – it's almost a DOE badge of honor,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

Now there are calls for a blue ribbon commission to study how the law is working and if kids are learning more because of it.

"A blue ribbon commission with qualified professionals who can tell us really if our schools are improving, how they are improving,” said city Councilmember James Vacca.

The law came with checks on the mayor's school power, first in the form of the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, the board that took over from the old Board of Education. The PEP has to approve every major school initiative. But since the mayor appoints and can un-appoint a majority of the members, critics charge the panel is little more than a rubber stamp.

“You either must go along with what the mayor says or the chancellor says or else you will be removed and that… is intimidating to those on the PEP,” said City Councilmember Robert Jackson.

The second power check consists of 32 Community Education Councils, or CECs, made up of elected PTA members. The CECs replaced the 32 old school boards where that corruption Walcott mentioned used to happen. Bloomberg fought in federal court to get the CECs, but Vacca says, according to school parents, he never bothered to get them really up and running.

"They may want to corner a CEC member, which used to be a school board, but they have no idea what a CEC member is,” says Vacca.

The education department concedes the CECs could be more effective. Perhaps that’s the sort of humility city lawmakers and others are looking for as they get ready to send on their recommendations to the state legislature.

Ultimately, it is state lawmakers in Albany who get to decide whether or not Bloomberg's successor gets the same power he has had in running the city schools.

– Michael Meenan

DOE Press Release:Chancellor Klein Announces Measures to Help Parents Engage in Their Children's Education NYC Dept. of Ed. 20070919_parent_engagement

A new press release (spin) from Tweed, it all sounds good on paper, let's see how DOE implements it...

NYC Dept. of Ed. 20070919_parent_engagement

Chancellor Klein Announces Measures to Help Parents Engage in Their Children's Education

Department of Education Enhances Outreach to Parents, Responsiveness to Parent Concerns

Support for School Leadership Teams and Community Education Councils

Date: 09/19/2007 Last Modified: 9/19/2007 1:27:41 PM
Press ID: N-11, 2007-2008

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott, and Chief Family Engagement Officer Martine Guerrier today announced measures implemented by the Department of Education (DOE) this year to help public school parents become better informed about, and have greater influence over, their children’s education. The announcement took place at PS 11, an elementary school in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn that enjoys active parent and community support. The Chancellor, Deputy Mayor, and Chief Parent Engagement Officer were joined by Borough President Marty Markowitz, Principal Alonta Wrighton, and community and family advocates.

Building on earlier improvements, including creating 1,400 parent coordinator positions in schools, the DOE restructured its outreach to parents during the past six months to provide more responsive and far-reaching support. Examples of enhanced services for parents in the 2007-08 school year include:

• Access to dedicated Family Advocates in each of the City’s 32 community school districts. These professionals are trained to address issues involving enrollment, special education, English language education, safety, and other matters of concern to parents.
• The Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy’s (OFEA) year-long, citywide public information campaign, with town halls, presentations, and public forums in each borough—including forums for immigrant families in their native languages. Additionally, beginning this past summer OFEA is mobilizing “subway and bus teams” to distribute key materials to parents as they commute to and from work. OFEA will also host district-wide family events to facilitate information sharing.
• Referral information for interpretation services that all Parent Coordinators and District Family Advocates will carry in their cell phones and Blackberry devices to further ensure that families who do not speak English receive all available interpretation services.

In conjunction with new accountability measurements that provide parents with detailed information about schools and student performance, and along with better support for parent-led Community Education Councils, the new measures insure that every parent and guardian has access to the information they need and is promptly and effectively served if a problem arises.

“Parents and families play a crucial role in ensuring children’s success in school,” Chancellor Klein said. “They should always have resources and information that allow them to be deeply involved in their children’s education. We’ve made a lot of progress and now we’re building on that progress, creating a more far-reaching and responsive parent engagement structure. We are also giving parents an unprecedented amount of information about their children’s schools and performance in school so that they can make informed decisions that will help their children learn.”

“The investment of families in their children’s educational experience and in the life of schools is critical, and every child deserves a quality education,” Deputy Mayor Walcott said. “We are committed to reaching all families with important and comprehensive school information that will help them make the best decisions for their children’s education, and will continue providing strong support to parent leadership at the school and district levels.”

These initiatives are part of a comprehensive effort led by Martine Guerrier, the district’s first Chief Family Engagement officer, since her appointment by Mayor Bloomberg last February. Since that time, she has met personally with more than 1,500 parents and community organizations, conferred extensively with parent advocates and elected officials, convened a Mayoral Task force on Parent Engagement, and organized numerous community meetings at which parents could share their views and concerns. On the basis of ideas and recommendations generated through this engagement process, Ms. Guerrier recommended, and the Chancellor approved, a number of significant structural and policy changes.

Most notably, the DOE has now consolidated under her leadership all of the parent support and engagement functions that previously had been distributed throughout the organization, including: 1) training and oversight of the 1,300 parent coordinators serving New York City public schools; 2) coordination of engagement efforts with the 32 Community Education Councils; 3) management of the translation unit; 4) leadership of a major initiative to ensure that every school has a well functioning Senior Leadership Team, 5) coordination with other city agencies to improve responsiveness to parent inquiries; and 6) replacing the regional parent support structure with a Community School District based organization to ensure greater access and responsiveness to parent concerns.

The DOE has also implemented new measures to enhance parent leadership. Principals will be evaluated in part based on the effectiveness of their School Leadership Teams, half of which is comprised of parents. The Chancellor’s regulation governing School Leadership Teams is being revised to articulate more extensively the roles and authority of parent members.

At a district level, the Community Education Councils, nine of whose eleven members are parents, will be asked to serve a more consultative role regarding the siting of new charter schools. Council members will also be asked to consult with internal Department of Education workgroups on issues like student achievement, school budgeting, facilities, and English Language Learner and Special Education services.

“The voices of parent leaders in New York City public schools are vital and irreplaceable,” Chief Family Engagement Officer Guerrier said. “We cannot have great schools without the participation of parents who are deeply committed to the success of schools. We are fortunate to have many diverse and passionate parent-advocates in every part of the City.”

Families will also have access to a rich vein of school and student performance data through accountability measurements first announced by the Mayor last fall and implemented across the system beginning this school year. These will all be available publicly and include:

• Progress Reports that give each school a grade of A, B, C, D, or F based on student achievement and progress and assessments of the school’s learning environment. Parents will have a direct impact on a school’s grade based on their responses to a survey about the school’s performance. Teachers and students will also complete surveys.
• More frequent and highly detailed assessments of each student’s progress in literacy and math.
• Quality Reviews performed by experienced educators that ascertain how well a school is designed to raise student achievement.

###

Contact: David Cantor / Dina Paul Parks (212) 374-5141