The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman (Movie Trailer) - Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC)...

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Parents and teachers on the front lines fighting for Real Education Reform.


A group of parents and educators with Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC) are responding to the "Waiting for Superman" film with a film of their own. They are the real reformers. As one patent activist says, "Are you waiting for Superman? YOU are the Real Heroes." This is the trailer. The film is expected to be released in late October.


For more info visit:


The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman


Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC)

Group Wants Parent, Student Unions To Have Say on Schools -by Elizabeth Green - The New York Sun

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To counter the power of the city teachers union and business leaders in shaping school policy, New York City should use taxpayer dollars to create two new unions complete with their own budgets and lobbyists, one for public school parents and one for public school students, a group is proposing.

The Independent Commission on Public Education is releasing its proposal as the deadline in Albany nears on whether to renew mayoral control of the city's schools.

The teachers union, the City Council, and both bodies of the state Legislature are already crafting proposals on the issue.

A co-founder of iCOPE, Ellen Raider, said its goal is to widen the number of participants in that conversation — and, as a result, widen what the conversation is about.

The group's recommendations, summarized in a six-page report, argue that while the teachers union, elected officials, and the Bloomberg administration all say they speak on behalf of children's interests, only parents and students can truly play that role.

Students and parents are also better situated to answer a question the report says is crucial but too often ignored: What is the purpose of public education?

Creating parent and student unions are two ideas among a slate included in the six-page report, all loosely aimed at giving community members more control over the public schools.

Ms. Raider said the unions could have independent staffs of lawyers and lobbyists, much like the teachers union and the business community have.

"They can go to Albany and get a law changed, because they have lobbyists and power," Ms. Raider said. "The power players make things happen. The parents don't have a chance in hell to make things happen."

A student union funded by taxpayers would likely be unprecedented, but the idea of a parents union is not. The city of Los Angeles has a new parents union, financed through outside donations and run by the charter school chief, Steve Barr.

In New York City, activists have tried to organize similar groups in the past. A longtime president of the city's now-defunct United Parents Association, Ayo Harrington, spent much of her tenure lobbying for a parent organizer's equivalent of jury duty, under which employers would be required to reimburse parents for time spent organizing.

Ms. Harrington said a parent union would be powerful.

"Parents have one hat: We want the best education for our children. That doesn't include, 'And we want the best paycheck and we want the best heath care and we want a process that allows us to be paid for the rest of our damn lives,'" she said.

Parent organizers who work at community education councils and outside groups are also trying to concentrate their voices and make them louder. Friday night, a group of more than 40 parents is scheduled to meet in Manhattan to launch a new Parent Commission on School Governance and Mayoral Control.

The membership of iCOPE includes public school parents, teachers, and academics. Advisers to iCOPE include the New York University education professor Pedro Noguera and some former members of the city Board of Education, including Esmeralda Simmons of Medgar Evers and Luis Reyes. The group draws on the views of students, including a core group of seven public school students who spent the last year working with Fordham University's National Center for Schools and Communities on a project to study student opinions on the public school system.

The result is a report by the group, which dubs itself Youth Researchers for a New Education System, out this week. The report includes a survey of 500 students, finding that only 13% believe that Mayor Bloomberg knows what is best for students.

The group also asked students whether they agreed with the statement, "I know the changes that need to be made in my school to make it better but the power to make these changes is out of my hands." More than three-quarters answered yes.

The YRNES Report 2008

Youth Researchers for a New Education System (YRNES) is a partner in the Education Is a Human Right Campaign. We are pleased to host the Internet launch of the The YRNES Report 2008. Drawing on surveys collected on the street and on line as well as focus groups that provided moving testimony, this carefully crafted report explores the uncensored opinions of New York City public school students.

Click here to read or download The YRNES Report 2008.

http://www.ncscatfordham.org/pages/YRNESreport.cfm

YRNES Problem Tree

Click here to view the Problem Tree developed by YRNES to display their analysis of the complicated system of root causes, systemic problems, and day-to-day symptoms facing students and parents in the New York City public schools.

Life without Lockdown: Do Peaceful Schools Require High-Profile Policing?
Despite the prevalence of zero tolerance discipline policies, some schools in New York City have succeeded in improving safety and discipline without punitive measures.

Who Rules the Schools? Mayoral Control After Bloomberg - The New School Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy

Chancellor Joel Klein & Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf Spun the Accomplishments of Mayoral Control Under Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein's NYC Department of Education to the High Heavens - followed by a lively and often spirited discussion by a prestigious panel of experts concerned with improving school results and achievements...Carmen Colon did an admirable job of voicing some of the parents concerns, but she was out-gunned by Chris Cerf...Cerf is a world-class s**t shoveler...he should be in the Bush Administration...he could even teach them a thing or two about propaganda...it's hard to believe..!

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office, one of his top priorities was to repair the city’s ailing public schools. The state gave him control of the school system five years ago and must soon decide whether to extend that power to future administrations. Are the schools more accountable today? Are students and teachers more successful? Are parents more fully engaged? Are principals more effective? What is the track record of mayoral control—and should it continue after 2009?

featuring a presentation by
Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education

SPEAKERS:
Christopher D. Cerf, Deputy Chancellor for Organizational Strategy, Human Capital and External Relations, New York City Department of Education
Carmen Colon, Executive Director, Association of New York City Education Councils
Ernest A. Logan, President, New York City Council of School Supervisors and Administrators
Alan Maisel, Member, New York State Assembly (D-Brooklyn)
Merryl Tisch, Vice Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents

MODERATOR: Samuel G. Freedman, columnist, “On Education,” New York Times, and professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Fred Hochberg, dean of the New School's Milano School for Management and Urban Policy

NYC Chancellor of Schools - Joel Klein

New York Times Columnist - Samuel G. Freedman

Left to Right - Christopher D. Cerf - DOE, Carmen Colon - Parent, Hon. Alan Meisel - NYS Assembly, Ernest Logan - CSA, Vice Chancellor Merryl Tisch - NYS Board of Regents

Christopher D. Cerf , Carmen Colon, Hon Alan Meisel, Ernest Logan & Merryl Tisch

Event Program - Page 1

Event Program - Page 2

My thanks for the Photos to

Hakikulislam Khokon - Editor -Bapsnews

Klein Touts NYC Gains at TC Colloquium - Teachers College - Columbia University: News

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At a Teachers College colloquium this past week sponsored by TC’s Office of Policy and Research, Joel Klein, New York City’s Education Chancellor, outlined gains New York City has made for its public school students via increasing mayoral control of the school system.

Klein cited gains across a wide range of academic markers, from significant increases in student math and reading scores to a surge in graduation rates after nearly 30 years of stagnation. A large part of the success, he said, was due to the Mayor’s ability to limit the power and funding of school boards, and tie the funding system to students instead of schools.

Klein acknowledged audience member Michael Rebell, the head of Teachers College’s Campaign for Educational Equity, who previously won a series of court orders against New York State to bring billions of dollars into the New York City School system. “What Michael has done is fantastic—money is extremely important to the system,” Klein said. “But it isn’t everything. What’s more important is that it is spent well.”

In particular, Klein touted a number of leadership incentive programs, such as a program that can give principals bonuses of $25,000 or more if they have an excellent record, mentor other principals and are willing to lead high-needs schools. “You’ll have some principals making more than $200,000 a year, which will increase our ability to attract and retain the best candidates,” he said. He also noted a similar program for teachers offering bonuses of up to $10,000.

There’s still work left to do, Klein said. It upsets him that tenure is awarded to 99 percent of the teachers who remain in the public schools after three years on the job. “It shouldn’t be that way,” he said. “It certainly isn’t the case at Teachers College. Tenure is something to be earned.”

In a question-and-answer session following Klein’s talk, Rebell asked the Chancellor about reports that the city’s lead teachers program was faltering. Klein said that policy results take time. “You have to create a new culture” before policies can take hold, he said.

Asked about impediments that might prevent other cities from replicating New York’s successes, Klein talked about the human element. “People make rational choices,” he said. “If pay scales are similar in successful and failing schools, most teachers are going to want to work with motivated students.” Also, he said, “policy choices that work for children aren’t always going to work for the adults. Reducing tenure is going to be controversial—I get it.”

Still, Klein said, “the best days are ahead for best practices in education.”

NYC Public School Parents: What's Wrong with Mayoral Control by Leonie Haimson NYC Public School Parents blog...

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New York City Hall

On Monday the City Council held hearings on Mayoral control; most of those who testified said that the current system was not working -- that the administration wields dictatorial powers with no checks and balances, exhibits an overwhelmingly arrogant and dismissive attitude towards parents and other stakeholders, and repeatedly introduces misconceived and badly executed policies.

Several speakers suggested that the Department of Education should at least be subject to city law, as are other city agencies. This would also allow the City Council to overturn the worst and most abusive policies. Others spoke of the need to reinvigorate district control and strengthen the authority of District Community Education Councils.

Much of the testimony was incisive. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer argued that the Panel on Educational Policy, now basically a rubber stamp for the administration, should be reformed to ensure more independence and actual input into policies; in his oral comments, he also pointed that he had never seen a bureaucracy that so enjoyed ignoring and refusing to meet with elected officials and parents. Other city agencies respond -- but not the DOE.

George Sweeting of the Independent Budget Office pointed out that the DOE routinely evades the sort of financial transparency required of all other agencies, making their job of providing adequate oversight nearly impossible -- and that Tweed's lack of disclosure had worsened over the last year. He also pointed out that rather than breaking down its budget by program as do other city agencies, "under the DOE’s current approach, a single unit of appropriation covers all of the $6.2 billion budgeted for general education purposes in the city’s schools."

Many parents expressed their frustration with the powerless they felt under the current system -- and stated that the unchecked imperial powers implicit in the current incarnation of Mayoral control is contrary to our entire system of government. As quoted on WNYC radio, retired teacher and gadfly Norm Scott pointed out that no one in power at Tweed has any experience in education:

" What would you think if Bloomberg suddenly called me up and said, "Hey Norm, I know you never dealt with money, but I'd like you to manage my hedge fund." This is basically what people are doing by turning the systems over to people who have never worked in the system."

See also testimony from Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, and a powerpoint from Chancellor Klein.

Susan Shiroma, president of the Citywide Council on High Schools, Lisa Donlan, president of Community Education Council in District 1, and Josh Karan, CEC member in District 6.

Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters, Diane Ravitch, educational historian and Randi Weingarten, President of the UFT.

Eugenia Simmons-Taylor, parent leader from Manhattan, David Quintana, parent leader from Queens, and Dorothy Giglio, parent leader from Brooklyn.

Ann Kjellberg, D2 parent and Political Action Committee, Dave Palmer of NY Lawyers for the Public Interest, and Cecilia Blewer of ICOPE.

Send us yours at classsizematters@gmail.com

Education Notes Online: My Birthday Present...City Council Hearings on Mayoral Control by Norm Scott

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Gee, how did they know that is what I wanted for my B-Day? (Well, I did get my Beef Wellington at "One if By Land..." last night.) I get to cover for The Wave and then switch hats and spew my 2 minutes of venom. Back later tonight with a report.

Update:
The very disappointing news is that every politician seems to want mayoral control in some form but just wants to tweak it. Later in the day, when real parents and teachers spoke they really got to the guts of the issue. Some of them are sending their testimony which I'll put up on the Norm's Notes blog but probably won't get to it till next week.

Randi flew in from Ohio and was actually very good - the UFT should put up her testimony. She wouldn't take a stand on mayoral control because she's waiting to hear the results of the UFT governance meetings. Okaaay!

Leonie Haimson spoke and so did Lisa Donlon, who pointed to some achievements under community control. Queens' David Quintana also made a strong statement. As did another parent from District 24. Ellen Raider from ICOPE and Gene Prisco from ICE, along with me were on the same panel when we spoke. I'm not sure anyone was listening.

I spoke about getting politics out of education. Sure! Ask politicians to do this. I pointed to how shameless they were about staying silent when Joel Klein got a waiver to be Chancellor. I said a bunch more but need to check my notes and I'm too lazy to do that now. You've probably read it here already.

Know what I think? They're all scared shitless of Bloomberg and his money. When he is gone, he will still exercise enormous influence over education to assure the monster will not be dismantled.

Check out Tuesday's NY Times for Jennifer Medina's story. I'll add some pics to this post tomorrow.

I tried to blog live from the Council chambers but only got this far before my wi-fi conked out (I was using that little XO laptop). I walked in towards the end of Klein and Walcott's testimony.

City Council Chamber, City Hall
March 3, 2008

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Courier-Life Publications: Human Rights Violations - iCOPE Levels Heavyweight Charges Against DOE by Michèle De Meglio...

Parents have a “human right” to be involved in the city Department of Education’s (DOE) decision-making process, education advocates assert.

The Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE), a Brooklyn-based organization of parents, educators and community activists, says the department’s policy of reorganizing the school system without prior consultation with parents is a human rights violation that must end now.

“The community has been shut out,” charged Warren Miner, a member of iCOPE’s planning committee. “Everything is controlled through the chancellor’s office or the mayor. There’s no community input.”

This has been a constant complaint as of late, especially as parents learn that their children’s schools, including South Shore, Canarsie and Lafayette high schools, will be restructured after the decisions to do so are made by DOE officials.

“This is a public education system,” says Ellen Raider, a member of iCOPE’s coordinating committee. “We don’t want three men in a room making the decisions…We want a dialogue in the city about what education should be like in the 21st century.”

“One of the biggest problems that we have today is that under the current mayoral system, the parents have been eliminated from the process,” said Assemblyman Alan Maisel. “And I think that is a big mistake because it basically returns us to the bad old days prior to the reorganization where all the decisions were top-down.”

But, he noted, during the structure under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, parents had a voice through the school boards, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg replaced with community education councils (CEC).

Although the school boards were labeled by many as corrupt – hence the reason they were abolished – CECs are often criticized for not really providing a voice for parents and having no power or influence with Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

The councils “have no role to play,” Maisel said.

Members of iCOPE say it’s the mayoral control of the school system that’s led to a decline in educrats’ interest in parental input.

“Mayoral control is not working because the community has been shut out,” Miner said.

Klein recently took action to better involve parents in DOE endeavors by attending various CEC meetings throughout the city to discuss new school reforms and the latest restructuring of the department.

Keeping with its human rights campaign, iCOPE says DOE’s strong focus on test prep must go.

Teachers spend too much time teaching for the test, and as a result, subjects like art and music suffer, Miner said.

“That’s not a satisfactory method of education,” he said. “You have a school that will spend five days before the state tests come in concentrating on math only to the exclusion of everything else. School after school is doing this.”

According to Raider, “This insistence on test prep doesn’t even touch the full development of the human personality. It decides if a student can fill out bubble forms.

“We want alternative ways of measuring the whole child. There’s a place for standardized tests but the way it’s being done now is silly.”

For more about iCOPE, log onto www.icope.org.

NYC Public School Youth Survey...

Please spread far and wide!

New York City youth aged 14-21 are needed to fill out a quick online opinion poll about NYC public schools.

This ain’t no mayor’s survey- it was created by youth to ask other youth about the real deal on schooling in NYC. Speak up and contribute to a redesign of the NYC school system. www.ncscatfordham.org/surveywiz

Why do we have to compete for things that we actually have rights to in our schools?

Why is it that I know the changes that need to be made in my school but the power to make these changes is totally out of my hands?

Since January 2007, the Youth Researchers for a New Education System have been working together to do research on school control and the purpose of schooling.
Part of a larger city-wide effort to redesign schools to be based on human rights, this participatory action research project seeks to understand what schools would look like if they were about collaboration, not control and competition.

Our goal is to get 1000 surveys by May 30th, 2007- and you can help! Just pass this link on to every NYC based youth, teacher, youth organizer/educator and parent you know!

www.ncscatfordham.org/surveywiz

For more information, contact the Youth Researchers for a New Education System at yrnes07@gmail.com